Should we expect change at 57 rue de Varenne? The director of cabinet of Elisabeth Borne, Aurélien Rousseau, would indeed think of leaving Matignon while dissonances at the head of the executive have revived speculation on an upcoming reshuffle.
“It is not abnormal that the question (of the departure of Aurélien Rousseau) can arise after a very intense year at Matignon during which many texts were voted on in Parliament – in a context of relative majority – and the reform of retreats carried out,” said the Prime Minister’s entourage on Tuesday evening. However, “there is no precise timetable or fixed date” for this departure. According to the daily The worldAurélien Rousseau should leave Matignon on July 1.
Already in March, rumors of a departure
Already on March 17, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff had denied wanting to leave his post, as the weekly Point. “That’s absolutely false,” he replied.
This 46-year-old senior official was appointed on May 17, 2022, on the proposal of Emmanuel Macron. A historian by training and enarque attached to the Council of State, Aurélien Rousseau had previously directed, including during the health crisis, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of the Ile-de-France region. From this experience, he drew an essay, published in September, (The injury and the rebound, in the black box of the State in the face of the crisiseditions Odile Jacob) to tell “how the things of the State are played out, the decisions are made”.
A “decisive” but “exhausting” position
Coming from the left, he previously worked in the cabinet of the former mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, then with the Socialist Prime Ministers Manuel Valls and Bernard Cazeneuve. Aurélien Rousseau is married to Marguerite Cazeneuve, pension specialist and former adviser to the Elysée. His father-in-law is the deputy Jean-René Cazeneuve, rapporteur of the budget.
Aurélien Rousseau, “he is the counterpart of Alexis Kohler”, the powerful secretary general of the Elysée, noted Tuesday a deputy of the majority. He occupies “a decisive position on the way in which you organize the debates and the arbitrations” but this position is “exhausting, it is a permanent steamroller”. “And with this climate of tension” in the Assembly, “it plays on people’s ability to hold out over time,” she added.
While reaffirming his “confidence” in his Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron recently expressed his difference with Elisabeth Borne on how to counter the far right, which has revived speculation about a reshuffle.