Media: Macron’s close circle starts to drift away

As Emmanuel Macron enters the final year of his presidency, a wave of departures from his inner circle is raising questions about cohesion at the Élysée Palace and prompting aides to position themselves for post-Macron roles.

Four senior advisers have left his team in the past two months, including two deputy chiefs of staff responsible for coordinating policy within the presidency, Caliber.Az reports, citing Politico.

The turnover comes as Macron, barred from seeking a third consecutive term, faces a fragmented parliament that has limited his ability to advance his legislative agenda.

“A year before the end of his term, people are thinking first and foremost about their careers,” said a ministerial aide, speaking anonymously.

Further changes may follow. Emmanuel Moulin, Macron’s chief of staff, is considering leaving to pursue the leadership of the Bank of France, according to officials close to the president. The post is widely seen as one of the most powerful in the French administration, reflecting Macron’s highly centralised decision-making style.

“There’s a hard core of loyalists around Macron that is becoming smaller and smaller,” said a former ministerial aide.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has acknowledged the atmosphere of transition.

“The closer we get to the presidential election, the more there’ll be an atmosphere of winding down, which is very normal, I’m aware of it,” Lecornu said in an interview with Le Figaro.

Two of Moulin’s deputies, Emilie Piette and Constance Bensussan, are among those departing, moving respectively to head the RTE electricity network agency and France’s CNAF benefits agency.

Macron’s top Middle East adviser, Anne-Claire Legendre, left in February to lead the Arab World Institute. She had been involved in diplomatic efforts linked to France’s push for recognition of a Palestinian state.

An aide to Macron said Moulin’s ambition to lead the Bank of France would be difficult to realise, as the appointment requires parliamentary approval, where Macron lacks a majority.

“They want to block [the nomination] just to piss Macron off,” said an ally of the French president.

Former chief of staff under President François Hollande, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said the departures could reshape internal dynamics at the Élysée.

Jouyet said the presidency now needs “fresh blood” with the right expertise to handle the final stretch of Macron’s term, but attracting new talent for a limited tenure may prove difficult.

According to officials, Macron may instead turn to experienced insiders such as Pierre-André Imbert, a former deputy chief of staff, as a potential replacement for Moulin.

With key aides leaving and uncertainty over senior appointments, officials say the remaining team is likely to focus more on managing day-to-day crises than launching new initiatives as Macron’s presidency approaches its conclusion.

By Aghakazim Guliyev