Macron plans to tap ally Moulin to run French central bank

By Leigh Thomas

PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron plans to nominate his former chief of staff, Emmanuel Moulin, as France's next central bank governor, the Elysee said on Tuesday, seizing an early vacancy to install a trusted ally ahead of a 2027 election the far right could win.

Macron appointed a new chief of staff last week, clearing the way for Moulin, 57, to replace current Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau. Villeroy said in February he would step down in June, a year before the end of his term.

Moulin, a veteran crisis manager, has so far not publicly set out any views on monetary policy. But as a consummate insider within France's economic establishment, he is unlikely to represent a sharp break from the approach of Villeroy, who is regarded as dovish on interest rates.

As governor of the central bank of the euro zone's second-largest economy, the role carries weight in the European Central Bank's Governing Council.

Moulin's nomination must be approved by parliament. It is likely to provoke a strong political response from opposition parties - the far right National Rally in particular - who accuse Macron of manoeuvring to place loyalists in key institutions before his term ends next year.

Lawmakers can block Moulin's nomination if a combined three-fifths majority votes against it in the finance committees of the National Assembly and Senate.

INFLUENTIAL INSIDER

Moulin is one of France's most influential economic policymakers, with a career spanning public finance, government administration and executive power.

A graduate of prestigious academic institutions including Sciences Po, Essec Business School and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, he began his career in the late 1990s at the French Treasury. He later held posts at the World Bank in Washington and as secretary-general of the Paris Club, which coordinates debt restructuring for sovereign states.

He then worked for current ECB President Christine Lagarde during her tenure as France's finance minister, before becoming a key economic advisor to then President Nicolas Sarkozy during the euro zone debt crisis.

After Socialist Francois Hollande defeated Sarkozy in 2012, Moulin moved to the private sector, holding senior roles at Eurotunnel and Italian investment bank Mediobanca, before returning to government in 2017 as chief of staff to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

In November 2020, he was made head of the Treasury, where he helped shape France's responses to the COVID-19 crisis, inflation shocks and EU budget negotiations, reinforcing his reputation as a trusted crisis manager.

In January 2024, he became chief of staff to then Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. Macron named him secretary-general of the Elysee Palace in April 2025, succeeding the president's long-time ally Alexis Kohler.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Inti Landauro and Joe Bavier)