Most French people do not know his face. However, at the heart of the Elysée, this senior official plays a key role in political decisions that have consequences on their daily lives. From arbitration to appointments in ministerial cabinets, everything would go through Alexis Kohler, often nicknamed the “twin” of the President. Pension reform, in particular, has been his project for years…
The secretary general of the Elysée, who places above all the control of public spending, would not be totally unfamiliar with the liberal wind blowing over the country’s politics. In the midst of the “yellow vests” crisis, Alexis Kohler would have pleaded for maintaining the carbon tax. The very unpopular pension reform would be his project since 2017.
While secretly consulting on the very first version of this reform, Emmanuel Macron is organizing a dinner at the Elysée Palace on December 10, 2019. In the Ambassadors’ lounge, around a seafood platter, the most most powerful in the country. Alexis Kohler sits as usual to the right of the President.
A very political dinner
For a portrait of “the man in the shadow of the President”, “Complément d’Enquête” obtained the confidences of one of the guests of this dinner, who wished to remain anonymous. “There were two camps: on the one hand Richard Ferrand, Gilles Le Gendre and François Bayrou, opposed to an age measurement. On the other, Edouard Philippe and Alexis Kohler.” The secretary general of the Elysée, usually on the reserve, would have spoken, to everyone’s surprise.
“Kohler pushed for a pivotal age of 64 in the reform. It’s the only time I’ve seen him open his mouth at a political dinner. We also found that he was overstepping his role. He didn’t was no longer an adviser, but an actor.”
One of the participants in a dinner organized at the Elysée Palace on December 10, 2019to “Further investigation”
The Covid-19 will finally get the better of this reform… but not Alexis Kohler’s objective of making the French work longer. Two and a half years later, he would have returned to the charge.
On March 9, 2022, in the middle of the presidential campaign, the newspaper The echoes reveals exclusive information: the project to push back the retirement age to 65 years. In candidate Macron’s campaign team, there is consternation.
“The 65s, we discover them by opening the newspaper, we who were trying to make this campaign collective. The leak in ‘Les Echos’ was organized by Alexis, there’s no doubt. The 65s, that’s his point neurotic.”
One of the members of Emmanuel Macron’s campaign team for the 2022 presidential electionto “Further investigation”
By noting on the ground, the day after the first round of the election, the unpopularity of this measure, Emmanuel Macron would have dropped a little ballast and favored a starting age of 64 years. Its secretary general would have remained favorable to 65 years. What is the real influence of Alexis Kohler on the political choices of the Elysée? “Complément d’Enquête” wished to question him, but his requests for an interview remained unanswered.
Excerpt from “Alexis Kohler, the President’s shadow man”, a document to be seen in “Complementary investigation” on March 30, 2023.
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