The first floor of Matignon no longer vibrates to the rhythm of Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen.
Gone are the days when, in his vast office surrounded by marquetry and gilding, Edouard Philippe pushed the sound while signing initials.
Philippe left on July 3 with his personal effects: the sword inherited from his grandfather which sat on his desk, a large black and white photo of Mohamed Ali, his books from Le Havre… and his Bluetooth speaker.
These are unique attributes that the French have the opportunity to discover each year during Heritage Days, offering everyone's curiosity a share of the privacy of the tenant.
Change of Prime Minister, change of style.
Jean Castex is more discreet.
Climbing the main marble staircase leading to the anteroom and the office, visitors to the 2020 edition had another surprise on Saturday.
No rock music, of course, but the new tenant of rue de Varenne himself!
"I am the guide with pleasure", confides Jean Castex to "Parisien".
“Every year in my town, I actively participate in Heritage Days, including as a speaker.
I am extremely happy to open the doors of Matignon to citizens and that visitors can, in turn, feel inspired by this place where France's policy becomes its history, ”he proclaims emphatically.
Passionate about rugby, the Prime Minister is also a true railroader, to the point of writing a book on the Yellow Train of the Perpignan-Villefranche line.
LP / Guillaume Georges
Installed for more than two months, the host took his time before making the place to his liking.
“When he arrived, the busy news did not allow him to move some business.
It was finally after the August holidays that he brought back from Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales) objects that are close to his heart, ”explains those around him.
Like this passion for rugby that the curious will easily guess when they discover the jersey of the local team, framed and signed by all the players, placed just behind a ball (also signed) from the Toulouse Stadium.
It is also, it is less known, another violin of Ingres: the trains.
"I nurture a real passion for railway history", confesses the head of government, who has placed a model of a last generation TGV on the fireplace in his office.
“I like the train because not only the unity of France has been affirmed with the railroad connections, in their miraculous time, but the train is today an ecological and efficient means of transport, supported by the recovery plan, ”he continues, without forgetting to provide after-sales service for ongoing government projects.
A passion that also led him to write in 2017 a book on the Yellow Train of the Perpignan-Villefranche line, a few copies of which are piled up on the Empire shelf located just behind his desk.
"My family is my buoy, my point of reference"
Louis XV style, this desk was the one on which Léon Blum signed the famous Matignon agreements in 1936. Jean Castex personalized it with a paperweight in the shape of Olympic rings and a Paris 2024 mug, in memory of the period not so far away where he was responsible for overseeing the organization of the Olympics On the left, we also discover a photo frame of his marriage to Sandra Ribelaygue, on the right another with his four daughters.
“The two youngest drop by to see me every evening when they come home from school and high school.
They tell me about their school day, what they learned, their friends, their projects, he says.
I always listen to them carefully.
My family is my buoy, my point of reference.
I get both energy and serenity from it.
"
Among the readings of Jean Castex: “Revolution” by Emmanuel Macron, necessarily, or the Memoirs of General de Gaulle.
LP / Guillaume Georges
What did he think of July 3, the day of his appointment?
“This office is inhabited by the living memory of those who made France.
I entered here with the greatest respect, with the absolute determination to respond in turn to the urgency of our time ”, he slips, while admitting to having“ studied the history of the Hôtel de Matignon ”, which belonged among others to Talleyrand.
He also confides that he recently reread “Le Nœud Gordien” by Georges Pompidou, whose work is lying on his desk.
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Two other great figures are not far away: La Fontaine with his fables, and de Gaulle, a copy of whose Memoirs is conspicuously placed on a console. “The greatest of courage dialogues with the best of the French spirit. These are two inexhaustible sources of freedom to quench your thirst, ”summarizes Castex, whose readings we discover: the Army of Shadows by Joseph Kessel, a biography of Pierre Mendès France and inevitably…“ Revolution ”by Emmanuel Macron.
