Patrick Strzoda, current chief of staff and one of Emmanuel Macron’s oldest collaborators, is preparing to leave his post and will be replaced by Patrice Faure, former prefect of Morbihan.
The start of a shake-up? One of Emmanuel Macron’s most loyal collaborators, Patrick Strzoda, director of the cabinet at the Élysée since 2017 and at the heart of the Benalla affair, will leave his position on January 2, 2024, according to information from Le Monde. At 71, he will be replaced by Patrice Faure, 56, former high commissioner in New Caledonia. This change within the head of state’s inner circle at the Élysée comes in the midst of a majority crisis after the adoption of the immigration law and the desire of the President of the Republic to relaunch his second five-year term.
The replacement was planned more than a year ago but was delayed, Emmanuel Macron not wanting to “offend” Patrick Strzoda, according to the prefect of Yvelines, Jean-Jacques Brot. Several times prefect, the senior official is a specialist in delicate files and found himself on the front lines of the Benalla affair. He led a cabinet made up of around sixty people which has been significantly renewed several times since 2017. He took care of the smooth running of the Elysée by participating in closed-door meetings and streamlining certain files. .
In 2024, Patrick Strzoda will remain in the mysteries of power. Still within the Élysée, he will occupy a position as mission manager, and should keep control of several thorny subjects: Corsica, prefectural movements, or the principalities of Monaco and Andorra.
Patrice Faure is preparing to join the presidential palace after having been in charge of the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories since his return in January from Nouméa, where he organized the Caledonian referendum. Having worked with the DGSE, he was prefect of Guyana and Morbihan, before landing as high commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia.
A former soldier and a CAP pastry graduate, he is known for his outspokenness. According to his friend Jean-Jacques Brot, he “will not hesitate” to tell the President of the Republic “what he feels and what he thinks.” Like Emmanuel Macron’s first official trip to Guyana, where Patrice Faure said: “The problem with the French administration is that there are more underwear in grants than pairs of balls!” .
