The newly-appointed minister of the economy, Emmanuel Macron, is the latest in a series of French politicians going back to the days of President Georges Pompidou who have come to government from the influential Paris-based investment bank Rothschild et Cie. In September 2012, a few months after Macron had become President François Hollande's deputy chief of staff, Mediapart's Martine Orange published a book investigating the power and influence that the Rothschild bank wields because of its position at the junction of French politics and business. Mediapart publishes selected extracts from the book below to shed light both on the new minister and the bank itself, with an introduction by Mediapart's editor François Bonnet.
The day after François Hollande's election on May 6th, 2012, a young man aged 34 started work at the Élysée Palace. He would be much more than the new president's economic advisor. He wanted to be at the heart of presidential power, and that was what he achieved with the coveted title of 'deputy general secretary' – deputy chief of staff - at the French presidency.
