To speak of a Lampedusian change would be an exaggeration. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, promised on the night of his reelection a “refoundation” of his way of governing, but continuity has been imposed at the beginning of his second term. Much less media coverage than the appointment of the new Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne or the recomposition of the Government, an announcement last week confirms this continuous line: the permanence as general secretary of the Elysee of alexis kohla figure so little known by millions of French as fundamental and influential in the exercise of power by the centrist leader.
“He is the leader who has the most influence over Macron, his right hand without which he does nothing. Many people say that the real president of the Republic is called Alexis Kohler”, assures Ellen Salvi, head of the Politics section of the digital newspaper Mediapart, in statements to EL PERIÓDICO. The position of secretary general of the Elíseo “is one of the most important” of the Fifth Republic, adds this journalist. In fact, he has a monthly salary of about 15,000 euros, higher than that of the president.
“This position does not appear in the Constitution, its powers are not defined and are a bit opaque. They depend on each presidency,” explains Romain Bongibault, co-author of the book In the name of the presidents on the various leaders who held this key position in the French presidential system. This political analyst compares his figure with that of “the vice president of the United States.” But with the significant difference that Kamala Harris is world famous, while Kohler acts away from the media radar.
Macron’s right-hand man since 2014
“In the past there have already been very powerful general secretaries like Jean-Pierre Jouyet (with François Hollande) or Claude Guéant (Nicolas Sarkozy). But none of them had as great an influence as Kohler,” says Salvi. This shadowy leader not only accumulate numerous opponents in the macronista ranks —his closeness to the president generates jealousy— and among big businessmen —he is his main interlocutor in the Elysee—, but he is also the subject of a judicial investigation by a potential conflict of interest for his family ties to the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) cruise and maritime trade company. The founder of this Swiss multinational is a first cousin of her mother.
Born in 1972 in Strasbourg, Kohler has the typical pristine CV of a good part of the high technocracy, like Macron himself. He completed his university studies at Sciences Po Paris, at the Essec business school and at the ENA, the incubator of the French elites. This sympathizer in his youth of the theses of the deuxieme gauche by Michel Rocard —the French equivalent of Tony Blair’s Third Way— began his professional career in the general directorate of the Treasury, made the leap to the United States in the IMF and the World Bank and then returned to the administration of his country as deputy director of the Agency of Participations of the State (APE).
With Hollande’s victory in 2012, this technocrat linked to the circles by Dominique Strauss-Kahn —the former socialist minister and former president of the IMF ousted for his affair sexual acts — became the deputy chief of staff to Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici. When Macron assumed that position in 2014, both joined their careers in a binomial that has already lasted more than seven years and seems inseparable. “He is much smarter than me,” assured the French president in a profile that The Figaro dedicated in 2017 to its secretary general.
Decisive in the appointment of Borne
His tasks can range from supervising the declarations of ministers in the media, controlling the progress of the reforms or other more transcendental ones, such as the preparation of the electoral program —his opinion was key in the proposal to extend the retirement age to 65 years— wave prime minister election.
“Their influence was decisive for the appointment of Borne as prime minister”, highlights Salvi. According to this journalist, “she had been Kohler’s candidate from the beginning”, while Macron sounded out other names and was about to opt for the conservative Catherine Vautrin. But under pressure from Kohler and other leaders of the left wing of macronism, in the end the president changed his mind.
“If he had wished, Kohler could have aspired to an important position in Bercy (Ministry of Economy). But he seems to prefer to act from the shadows. When a leader is investigated judicially, it is logical that he prefers to move away from the light of the media”, says Salvi. In fact, he is involved in an alleged corruption case, in the hands of Justice since 2018. The prosecution filed the investigation in the summer of 2019, a few weeks after Macron sent a letter to defend his main collaborator, in an unusual case in France of a president intervening in the middle of a judicial process. But the investigation was reopened the following year after an appeal from the Anticor association, which specializes in the fight against corruption.
decision against the current
As revealed media part, Kohler could have committed a conflict of interest crime during his time at the APE and the Ministry of Economy. Between 2008 and 2010, he represented the State on the boards of directors of the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire and the port of Le Havre. One of its main clients was MSC, whose president and founder is Kohler’s second uncle.
Related news
According to a report from the national financial prosecutor’s office, as vice president of the APE, he participated in five votes in favor of MSC in the council of Saint-Nazaire and in three in the port of Le Havre. In addition, when he was working as cabinet director at Bercy, he received numerous emails about dossiers that affected the Swiss multinational, which has benefited from very significant financial support from the French State, of more than 3,000 million euros. Faced with this information, Kohler responds by assuring that he was never involved in the matters that affected his family’s company and that he informed his superiors from the beginning about this possible conflict of interest.
After leaving the Ministry of Economy in 2016, he worked as financial director of MSC, with a salary of 28,000 euros per month, at the same time that he directed Macron’s presidential campaign. Shortly after the election in May 2017 of the centrist leader and the appointment of Kohler, a surprising decision took place in the summer of that year, going against the grain of the liberal economic vision of macronism: the temporary nationalization of the Saint-Nazaire shipyards to avoid its acquisition by the Italian state company Fincantieri. Was that measure taken only to defend the general interest of France? Or also to help MSC that was totally opposed to the purchase of Fincantieri?
www.elperiodico.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.