Although he was at the head of the Renew group in the European Parliament until his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs last January, Stéphane Séjourné remains particularly discreet in the campaign for the European elections which are taking place this Sunday, June 9. “I was preparing to be top of the list, I knew it was going to be difficult”even confided the 39-year-old politician to the daily The world. He finally appears in 80th position, ineligible, on Valérie Hayer’s list.
Anyone who has the confidence of Emmanuel Macron remains a politician apart in the French landscape. Gabriel Attal’s former companion, in fact, flees worldly affairs. The reason ? He is uncomfortable in public. So much so that at the end of January, while the royal palace in Stockholm organized a state dinner given in honor of France, the head of French diplomacy declined the invitation. A reaction which challenged the tenant of the Élysée. “You’re funny! The others rush, and you don’t…?”, he replied, according to the daily. A close friend of the minister revealed: “Stéphane is a shy ambitious man. He is afraid of the light, but it attracts him.”
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Stéphane Séjourné, a discreet but passionate man
The arrival of Stéphane Séjourné as Minister of Foreign Affairs was not without tension. Indeed, the one who suffers from a dyslexia problem was taken down by the diplomats. The reason ? The latter were used to seeing former Prime Ministers in his place and would have felt entitled to manhandle him. “Macron sent his collaborator to humiliate them”had even launched Olivier Marleix, the president of the Les Républicains group in the National Assembly at the time of the appointment of Stéphane Séjourné, according to The world. It is clear that a few months later, the officials revised their position. “There is a certain snobbery at the Quai, it’s a caste. But Stéphane Séjourné is smart, he understands that we must not let ourselves be swallowed up by the machine”, noted former ambassador Gérard Araud. If he managed to pass this milestone, there is another one awaiting the Minister of Foreign Affairs: the Renaissance party congress this fall. Indeed, he is currently the party’s general secretary and could run for a new mandate. Some are asking questions about his dense international agenda which could prevent him from taking good care of the party, but he has already told him that “seven or eight foreign ministers are party leaders in Europe at the same time.” The one who spent his childhood abroad avoided confirming that he would run again, confident that he will position himself “after summer”.
Article written with the collaboration of 6Medias
Photo credits: Stephane Lemouton / Bestimage