The environment minister under Nicolas Sarkozy and founder of the centrist UDI party, Jean-Louis Borloo, has announced that he is quitting politics because of ill health.
Borloo, who turned 63 on Monday, was admitted to hospital in late January suffering from pneumonia and has not been seen in public since he was discharged.
"In my current state I don't have the necessary energy to fully carry out my responsibilities," said Borloo in a statement, announcing he was standing down both as head of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), a party he created in 2012, and the Radical Party.
Political supporters and foes alike have paid tribute to Borloo's contribution to French politics, notably for the ground-breaking environmental conference he helped set up in 2007 as environment secretary under President Nicolas Sarkozy. At one point he was widely tipped to become prime minister under Sarkozy.
Some allies have said they hope Borloo's withdrawal from politics is a temporary one.
In November 2013 Borloo announced an alliance with François Bayrou, the head of centrist party MoDem, ahead of the forthcoming European elections in May.
Read more about Jean-Louis Borloo's departure from French politics (in French only) here.
See also more about his political career here and a Mediapart profile of him here.