GOVERNMENT. Aurélien Rousseau, the former chief of staff of Elisabeth Borne at Matignon, has been appointed Minister of Health. He succeeds François Braun.
[Mis à jour le 20 juillet 2023 à 22h56] The cabinet reshuffle of July 20, 2023 brought its share of surprises, including the unexpected appointment of Aurélien Rousseau as Minister of Health. Indeed, the former chief of staff of Elisabeth Borne was chosen to succeed François Braun, a decision confirmed by Le Monde. This appointment took political commentators by surprise, who had rather expected to see Aurélien Rousseau become deputy director general of the Caisse des dépôts, in charge of social policies. However, the Prime Minister’s man in the shadows is no stranger to this, as he previously headed the Île-de-France regional health agency during the coronavirus health crisis.
Professor of history and geography by training, Aurélien Rousseau will have the opportunity to prove himself from Friday July 21 at 10 a.m. during his first Council of Ministers. In this delicate environment where the Ministry of Health is in crisis, it will have to demonstrate competence and determination to meet the many challenges that await it. Some of his future interlocutors will be familiar to him, in particular his wife, Marguerite Cazeneuve, who holds the position of number two in health insurance. In addition, his predecessor at Matignon, Nicolas Ravel, is now director general of the APHP (Assistance publique-hôpitaux de Paris). These links could have an impact on its mandate and require delicate management. The career of Aurélien Rousseau, a former student involved in the Communist Party, convinced Emmanuel Macron and Élisabeth Borne. Both expressed their regret to see him leave their ranks for the Caisse des dépôts.
This 47-year-old man was born in Alès on June 25, 1976. His mother is a philosophy teacher known for her Marxist thought. She was the leader of the United Socialist Party. Her grandmother, Jeanne Boyer, was an elected communist from Alès for 38 years. Aurélien Rousseau was therefore immersed in a very political setting from his childhood.
He pursued a career as a history-geography teacher in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis) for two years before being recruited by Pierre Mansat as mayor of Paris. He then joined the ENA on the advice of Nicolas Revol, his predecessor at Matignon, but his health stopped him. He has Guillan-Barré syndrome, a neurological disease that paralyzes him. He then lived for several months at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. This experience inspired him to write the autobiographical book, Goldilockspublished in 2016 by Editions du Passage.
His long convalescence did not prevent him from passing the ENA, promotion Willy-Brandt (2007-2009). He began his career as a senior civil servant at the Council of State before leaving it in 2012 to return to the town hall of Paris with Bertrand Delanoë as deputy director of his cabinet and then as deputy secretary general.
A senior official familiar with Matignon
Manuel Valls, then Prime Minister, recruited him in October 2015 as deputy chief of staff. He was in charge of the Labor law which brought the government of the time an intense period of social protest. He was kept in his post when Bernard Cazeneuve took over as head of Matignon in 2016. Aurélien Rousseau returned to the helm of the Monnaie de Paris in March 2017 for a year. A year later, he was appointed head of the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency. He managed the covid-19 health crisis on the front line since this region is the most affected by this pandemic in France. A painful episode since he left his post in July 2021 after suffering from depression.
Mixed reactions from the medical profession
“An imminent threat hangs over the future of the public hospital with the appointment of Aurélien Rousseau as Minister of Health”, said Christophe Prudhomme, emergency physician and spokesperson for the Association of emergency physicians of France (AMUF), on the franceinfo antenna. This appointment raises serious concerns among health professionals, who denounce Mr. Rousseau’s lack of commitment to the public sector during his term at the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency. According to the emergency doctor, the consequences of this appointment could result in an acceleration of the deterioration of the public hospital. On the side of Jérôme Marty, it’s a completely different story. Aurélien Rousseau, the new Minister of Health “is someone brave, imaginative”, assured the president of the French Union for Free Medicine, interviewed by franceinfo. According to the doctor, he “managed the Covid-19 crisis rather well” while he was head of the Île-de-France Regional Health Agency. However, according to Jérôme Marty, the new minister must have “freedom to act” in order to “free himself from Elysian supervision”.