Emmanuel Macron has begun the last line of his five-year term before the presidential election. Between the departure of close collaborators, an increasingly weak weight on the French scene and the fear of what comes next, the last months of the presidents have never been obvious.
Another year as head of state, but already an end-of-reign atmosphere for Emmanuel Macron? With the early departure of the Secretary General of the Élysée, Emmanuel Moulin, who hopes to soon take the helm of the Bank of France, the ballet of departures has gained momentum in recent months on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
The phenomenon is nothing new, however, illustrating how difficult the last months of all presidents can be.
“When the presidential election begins, the cameras are no longer focused on you and that is not obvious when you have been in the spotlight for years,” recognizes Gaspard Gantzer, in charge of communications for François Hollande when he was in office at l’Élysée with BFM.
“No departure is trivial”
First big change for the presidents: the departures, therefore, of their closest collaborators. Around ten of Emmanuel Macron’s advisors have already left the ship since the start of the year for new horizons in the public or private sector. The two deputy general secretaries, Emilie Piette and Constance Bensussan, have already left, one to chair the Electricity Transmission Network (RTE) in March, the other the National Family Allowance Fund at the end of April.
In February, North Africa and Middle East advisor Anne-Claire Legendre took the helm of the Arab World Institute to replace Jack Lang, in disagreement with the Élysée for his links with Jeffrey Epstein. The Culture Advisor, Catherine Pégard, succeeded at the same time Rachida Dati at the Ministry of Culture.
“We underestimate the extent to which the Élysée works with few people who often have an immensely close link with the head of state. No departure is trivial, neither professionally nor humanly,” recognizes a former collaborator of Nicolas Sarkozy.
“Daredevil”
Especially since finding replacements for the president’s colleagues is not easy in a very limited pool. XXL CV, extended hours, very strong responsibilities… The list of candidates is not necessarily thick, even less so after soon ten of Macronism.
“Concretely, that means looking for people who already have a very good job, asking them to leave it and join you for a fixed-term contract which ends next May. It’s a bit of a daredevil choice,” recognizes a former project manager at the Élysée.
A near end
Second difficulty for the president: accepting to know that he is on borrowed time with the deadline for the second round. As if to ward off fate, Emmanuel Macron intends to show up at work until the end. The head of state will be “on task until the last second” of his mandate, the president has repeatedly asserted during his international travels.
Proof by example: as at the beginning in 2017, the head of state continues to travel at a frantic pace, one day head of the armed forces, the next day champion of the disconnection of the networks for those under 16 or even leader of support for Ukraine.
Poland and the EU summit in Cyprus at the end of April Greece, military exercises in eastern France on the 30th, Armenia at the beginning of May, African tour with several strong sequences, G7 in Evian in a handful of weeks… Emmanuel Macron has multiplied in recent weeks.
Vague à l’âme
And for good reason: with the failed bet of dissolution in 2024, the president, deprived of a majority and room for maneuver on the domestic scene, decided to bet everything again on the international, in a global context more uncertain than ever, between the war in Iran, the return of Donald Trump to the White House and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia But the phenomenon is nothing new there either.
“It’s a great classic at the end of mandates to redeploy internationally because that’s often where you have the main levers left,” observes Jacques Chirac’s former minister Dominique Bussereau, who assures that the former president “never had a feeling of end of the race.”
“We will never tell you that the last months of being president are hard, but you definitely have the blues. It’s still a whole page of your life that is turning,” says a good connoisseur of the state machine.
Reinventing a life outside of politics
Last difficulty: projecting yourself into the future. Elected youngest president of the Fifth Republic, Emmanuel Macron will not even be 50 years old when he leaves the Élysée. The head of state does not officially seem to be worried about what happens next.
“I haven’t been in politics before and I won’t be in politics after,” he said on April 26 during an exchange with French students during a visit to Cyprus.
Should we really believe it? With the exception of Jacques Chirac who left his presidential mandate at the age of over 75, weakened by a stroke, the last presidents have all sought to return to the game.
Nicolas Sarkozy thus tried his luck during the right-wing primary in 2016, before being swept aside by Alain Juppé and François Fillon. François Hollande became a deputy again in 2024 thanks to the surprise dissolution and would see himself embodying a left-wing appeal with a view to 2027.
“Emmanuel Macron has at least 20 years of professional life ahead of him. How can you reinvent yourself when you have been president and politics is your whole life? When we see the precedents, it is not obvious”, recognizes a pillar of the macronie.
In the presidential camp, many believe that Emmanuel Macron could position himself to run again for the presidential election in 2032. Even for Jacques Chirac who had therefore noted that he would no longer do politics, at least in official functions, the outcome had not been obvious.
“He very much hoped that right-wing deputies would come see him to ask his opinion regularly. And that was not as much the case as he hoped. People quickly forget you,” sighs Paul Poudade, former head of protocol at the Élysée.
In the meantime, when asked about a possible candidacy for 2032, Emmanuel Macron assured in May 2025 “that he had not thought about it”. For now.
