Brigitte Macron: one of her most loyal allies leaves her cabinet

He is part of the first lady’s bodyguard. Pierre-Olivier Costa, chief of staff to Brigitte Macron and special adviser to the President of the Republic since 2017, will leave his post to take over the management of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (Mucem) in November, announced this Sunday, October 24 the Ministry of Culture. He succeeds Jean-François Chougnet, president of the Mucem since its creation in 2013.

According to the press release, Pierre-Olivier Costa wishes to “consolidate the territorial anchoring of the museum”, to act “for the priority districts” and plans to weave “new collaborations which respond to sensitive societal facts”, such as the biodiversity and the “fragility” of the Mediterranean in the face of global warming.

It was on the proposal of the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, that Pierre-Olivier Costa was appointed head of the Mucem. Passed by the town hall of Paris, as chief of staff then deputy director of information and communication between 2012 and 2017, he spent “a long part of his professional life at the meeting of national museums, where he exercised various responsibilities (communications department, photographic agency and acquisitions department). He has also worked with the presidents of the Center Pompidou and the Center national du Cinéma”, details the press release from the Ministry of Culture. He also actively participated in the launch of the Journal des arts in 1994.

His career marked a turning point at the start of 2017 when he chose to leave the Hôtel de Ville to become the chief of staff of En Marche during the 2017 presidential campaign. Since the election of Emmanuel Macron as President of the Republic, he was his special adviser, as well as director of the cabinet of Brigitte Macron.