Frédéric Michel, a man of influence at the Elysée

Emmanuel Macron intends to leave a trace in history. Stand out among the presidents of the V^e Republic, as had been able to do, before him, General de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, his references. While his second and last term is just beginning and his successors are already rushing, the tenant of the Elysée must make it clear what macronism really is, a political doctrine that is elusive for the time being. Frédéric Michel, 50, will have the heavy task of helping the Head of State in this plan.

Appointed special adviser in communication and strategy at the Elysée, the native of Poitiers, with an international career essentially dedicated to the promotion of social democracy in Europe, will take office from Monday 12 September. He takes over from Clément Léonarduzzi, who left for Publicis the day after Emmanuel Macron’s re-election, and Quitterie Lemasson, who had taken over the interim and announced his wish to join the private sector.

Sometimes described as a “lobbyist” or “spin doctor”, American-style, Frédéric Michel, former News Corp, the media group of Australian Rupert Murdoch, is not quite the “middle”. That of Franco-French policy, of course. Son of a university economics professor father, a militant socialist, and a secondary school language teacher mother, the graduate of Sciences Po Bordeaux, the European University Institute in Florence and the London School of Economics in London has spent most of his career internationally. According to one of his relatives, it is pushed by a kind of “patriotism” that he would have agreed to return to French soil to serve the president, quite incapable of refusing such a proposal.

Leather thickened by crises

The 50-year-old, who has previously worked from New York as a partner in the investment fund Lupa Systems, chaired by James Murdoch, Rupert’s son, is writing the first lines of his CV in the United Kingdom. There, he put himself at the service of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to promote the “third way” and a modernized social democracy in Europe through the think tank Policy Network.

From abroad, sailing from London to Milan, Frédéric Michel does not totally lose sight of French politics and maintains a link that he describes as “affective” with the Socialist Party. He participates in the publication of the work of Lionel Jospin, My vision of Europe and globalization (Plon, 2001), collaborated for a time with Dominique Strauss-Kahn before the latter was overtaken by scandals over his private life and became passionate, as a Poitevin, for the campaign of Ségolène Royal during the regional elections of 2004. But his vision of a more European and international left, more modern, pragmatic and liberal, today brings him closer ideologically to the Head of State.

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