In the courtyard of Bercy, this September 12, Bruno Le Maire thanks those who do not have “Nothing would have been possible” during his seven years at the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. First of all, his deputy ministers, who received a courteous applause from the approximately 500 officials present. The members of his successive cabinets then, “who have sacrificed themselves, who have exhausted themselves in the task, with a sense of commitment to the exceptional service of the State”supports the resigned minister.
Emmanuel Moulin, who was his chief of staff (2017-2020), especially during the Covid-19 crisis, is hailed. Bertrand Dumont, who succeeded him in office in 2020, is applauded despite his absence. Finally, Jérôme Fournel, who replaced Dumont at the beginning of 2024, is the third hero of “this beautiful and great adventure”as described by Mr. Le Maire when he said goodbye. In the front row, MM. Moulin and Fournel enjoy the applause of the “Casa Bercy”.
Since 2017, these three senior officials have shared the top posts of the top administration: head of the Treasury, head of the office of the Minister of the Economy and head of the office of the Prime Minister. When one leaves a post, one of the other two takes his place. A ballet orchestrated, from the Elysée, by the powerful Secretary General of the Presidency, Alexis Kohler. Because, as in the novel by Alexandre Dumas, the three musketeers are four.
“Friends of thirty years”
The Essec business school and the National School of Administration (ENA) for Alexis Kohler and Emmanuel Moulin, HEC and the ENA for Jérôme Fournel, Normale-Sup and the ENA for Bertrand Dumont… These “friends of thirty years” They embody the country’s administrative elite, although neither of them left the ENA in the “boot” that gives access to the major organisations. They met at Bercy in the 1990s and have never lost contact.
Thirty years later, in their fifties, Alexis Kohler, Emmanuel Moulin and Bertrand Dumont are still friends and see each other outside of work. With Jérôme Fournel, the connection is established mainly through work. “It is a reconstruction of a dissolved league”“Exclaimed Jean-Pierre Jouyet, former Secretary General of the Elysée, when Emmanuel Moulin took over in January as head of Gabriel Attal’s office in Matignon, in permanent contact with Alexis Kohler at the Elysée.
A former tenant of Bercy describes “a gang, firmly entrenched in power for seven years”with the arrival of Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée. Emmanuel Moulin invokes a “succession of opportunities” to justify the constitution of this “gang of four” at the top of the Macronian state. Bruno Le Maire, who had crossed paths with Jérôme Fournel in Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin’s cabinet between 2005 and 2007, then with Emmanuel Moulin and Bertrand Dumont in Sarkozy’s cabinets, introduced them into the Macronist sphere in 2017. “There are not many people who have spent a lot of time in administration who accept very demanding cabinet director positions”praises Emmanuel Moulin, tired of the trial for inbreeding.
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