Maïa Wirgin and Sibyle Veil should not have the opportunity to greet each other on Monday, December 19, on their way to the headquarters of the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom, formerly CSA). The hearing of the first of these candidates for the presidency of Radio France must begin at 11:15 a.m., when the second is expected for 2:30 p.m. Before them, at 9 a.m., Florent Chatain must defend his own case before the nine members of the instance.
Neither of the two adversaries really fears competition from the journalist and entrepreneur. Its strategic project consists of eight “first decisions” and an objective directly inspired by his negative experience at Radio France: to carry out social and human management “virtuous” rather than “failing, costly and esoteric”.
The two women put forward more structuring ambitions (in fifteen pages for one, sixty proposals for the other), which the microcosm likes to summarize in an opposition.
Maïa Wirgin, secretary general of the Court of Auditors, pleads to unite Radio France, France Télévisions, France Médias Monde and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) in a holding company, when Sibyle Veil defends above all the integrity of the company for which she is seeking a second term. The two enarques of 43 and 45 years old met at Radio France, when Mathieu Gallet had attached their presence at his side and those of Frédéric Schlesinger, then deputy director of antennas and content.
Cross paths
Shaken by the great strike of spring 2015, the CEO had welcomed Sibyle Veil to the delegated management in charge of operations and finance, and promoted his chief of staff since 2014 to the general secretariat of the “round house”. “Where Maïa Wirgin had the confidence of Mathieu Gallet and managed institutional relations, Sibyle Veil was more operational, particularly as President of the CHSCT [Comité d’hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de travail] »remembers Jean-Paul Quennesson, SUD trade union representative.
For a former executive of the house who prefers to remain anonymous, “the beginnings of the 2022 candidacies are to be found in what happened in 2017”when the CSA decided to dismiss the leader after his conviction for favoritism when he chaired the INA. “Maïa was in shock at the dismissal of Mathieu Gallet, she took longer to recover than Sibyle”remembers one of her close friends.
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