In the Elysée Palace's Salle des Fêtes, on December 13, 2024, Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, was awarded the highest French order of merit – the Légion d'Honneur. At the end of the ceremony, which was briefly interrupted by President Emmanuel Macron's momentary absence, the news appeared on the guests' phones, including that of Paris' mayor, Anne Hidalgo: François Bayrou had been appointed as prime minister.

Once the customary pleasantries had been performed, Macron took the Socialist mayor by the arm and led her upstairs. Behind the presidential office's closed doors, Hidalgo expressed her astonishment at Bayrou's promotion, as the centrist politician was never really her cup of tea. "I had no choice, he was going to ruin everything," Macron told her.

The anecdote, which the mayor has told her close associates, speaks volumes about the trusting relationship that has built up between her and Macron. A relationship "of a new type," as a source in Paris' City Hall euphemistically put it, and one which has "warmed up considerably" since the Paris Olympic Games. Sources in Macron's entourage have confirmed this, though without much enthusiasm.

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