Macron ally admits 'immense disappointment' over presidency

PARIS: France's parliamentary speaker has written of her "immense disappointment" over the methods used by President Emmanuel Macron, an ally, during his almost eight years in power.

Yael Braun-Pivet, a senior figure in Macron's centrist party, expressed the view in a book published on Thursday, becoming one of the first figures within the ruling elite to air such grievances publicly.

Her book, "A ma place" ("In my Place"), covers the challenges she faced on becoming the first woman speaker of the National Assembly and the alleged sexism she had to overcome -- as well as her assessment of the president's style of rule.

"While I have immense respect for Emmanuel Macron, I can't help but also feel immense disappointment over the method," said the speaker of the lower house.

"From the very beginning, there were insiders from the palace who managed to take control more easily by restricting access for others," she said.

Such complaints have long circulated in Paris about Macron, but those were behind the scenes and never published openly by a Macron ally such as Braun-Pivet.

She accuses Macron's powerful chief of staff Alexis Kohler of seeking to convince her not to stand for the post of speaker, followed by then prime minister Elisabeth Borne.

In 2017, a close Macron ally, Stephane Sejourne, who would later become a foreign minister and is now an EU commissioner, insisted that she should not take a position at the head of a parliamentary commission, and even argued that she would not have time for her five children, she alleged.

'Not thinking' about 2027

But in a radio interview on Thursday morning, Braun-Pivet said that, despite all this, she and the president had built a "very frank and very sincere" relationship.

"We continue to see each other one to one," she told France Inter.

"In these complicated times, we need to have a relationship of trust."

In the book, Braun-Pivet gives no concrete hint over whether she could stand in France's 2027 presidential elections, in which Macron cannot compete because of having reached the two-term limit.

But she stated that "women need to take the lead", and said she is determined to "fight... so that the Republican promise is kept for everyone".

Asked on France Inter if she was thinking of running in 2027, she however responded: "I'm not thinking about it."

"My focus today is having a country that functions democratically," she said.

Her intervention comes at a delicate time for Macron, who is seeking to regain fresh momentum domestically and internationally ahead of his final two years in office.

In a major change, Kohler is stepping down from the post he held since the head of state was first elected in 2017.

A series of articles in Le Monde in late 2024 accused Macron of making racist, homophobic and sexist remarks behind closed doors at the Elysee. His office vehemently rejected the allegations.