“My life change was huge, brutal”

Then return to Rennes Ten years in government, Jean-Yves Le Drian Has not held any political office since May 2022. After traveling around the world and conflict zones François Hollande’s Defense MinisterAs later Emmanuel Macron’s foreign ministerwho was In politics since 1977 Reveals plans for his afterlife to “Bretons” magazine.

read more: Portrait. After ten years in government, Jean-Yves Le Drian begins his “sixth life” in Brittany

Are you here, in Rennes, full time?

Maria, my wife and I have lived in Rennes for five years. When I was He was re-elected as the Regional President in 2015, we have decided to sell our house in Kaidal, Morbihan. Although it’s a great place, I didn’t plan my vacation at Kaidal in front of the sea… We went here in May 2017, when I He was reappointed to the government for five years. So I didn’t set foot in my new home for five years. Because when you’re the Secretary of State, you’re constantly moving…

Missing and feeling the thrill of going abroad today?

Change is brutal and overwhelming. As Secretary of State, my collaborators calculate that I must have been around the world forty times. Great intensity, constant stress, constant vigilance. Especially the times I lived in were not very peaceful. Crises followed one another, and I had a demanding president.

So it was a very intense period because you’re in the center of something determined, intense. Then, overnight, it stops. This is not surprising as I like and agree with the Head of State. But overnight, you leave the management of the world, its turmoil and its gravity, and manage this place, this office yourself. So it’s very cruel.

I don’t think I can go back to a normal life because I have been through so many difficult events

And we unravel easily?

No. Even if you feel like you can’t go back to normal life because you’ve been through so many hard times, if you use that word, there is a period of recovery. We went on holiday in July. In August, it was completely silent. But since September, I have had so many visit requests, interventions, that I have to establish priorities.

I was in Berlin until yesterday because my former German colleague “German personality…