Update: 10.05 am PT… Catherine Pégard has been named as France‘s new minister of culture, replacing Rachida Dati who stepped down on Wednesday to focus on her campaign to become the mayor of Paris in upcoming elections.
Former journalist Pégard, who has been President Emmanuel Macron’s culture advisor since 2024, is regarded as a safe pair of hands.
She worked as a journalist for more three decades, rising to the position of editor in chief on the influential weekly magazine Le Point, before entering politics to work alongside Sarkozy as an advisor
Outside of politics, she was president of the Palace of Versailles estate for 12 years from 2011, an influential role which made her the head administrator for the palace, museum and grounds.
She was appointed Chief of Cultural Development at the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA) in October 2024, which is involved in supporting the preservation of the world heritage site in Saudi Arabia. The role saw her oversee Macron’s trip to the site as a part of a larger landmark state visit to the country in December 2024.
Pégard takes over a thorny portfolio, with the culture sector up in arms over recent cuts to the state budget, with other challenges including a long-mooted reform of the state audiovisual sector.
Previously… 5.40am PT Controversial French politician Rachida Dati has stepped down as France’s Culture Minister two years after her appointment took the country’s arts, culture and audiovisual sectors by surprise.
Dati announced she was leaving the post on Wednesday to focus on her campaign to become Paris mayor in upcoming elections in March.
The outspoken politician originally rose-up the political ranks as a spokesperson for centre-right President Nicolas Sarkozy, who appointed her Justice Minister from 2007 to 2009. She was appointed culture minister in January 2024 to the centrist cabinet of then Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. He was gone within nine months, but Dati remained in place.
Facing pushback from France’s centrist and left-leaning cultural and media sectors, relations thawed for a time after Dati’s energy and determination won her grudging respect in some quarters amid hope that her combative style might be to culture’s benefit.
Views on her achievements are mixed two years on.
While her political ambition and connections are seen as having raised the Ministry of Culture’s profile, detractors point to the fact that she was unable to stave-off a reduction in the culture budget for 2026, which was cut by around 4.3% to €3.75B ($4.4B) as France tries to rein in a rising deficit.
Measures introduced under her watch included a three-year, $100M project aimed at making culture more accessible to people living in rural areas, while her mission to reform the state audiovisual sector with the creation of a holding company encompassing France Télévisions, Radio France, and the National Audiovisual Institute stalled after fierce opposition.
The final months of Dati’s tenure were marked by the infamous jewellery heist at the Louvre Museum in October in which a four-person gang made off with $100M worth of jewellery including items that had belonged to Napoleon.
The museum’s director Laurence des Cars, who was initially forbidden from resigning by Dati, stepped down on the eve of the culture minister’s departure, to be replaced by former Versailles Director Christophe Leribault
French media suggested the timing of both resignations had been engineered by Dati to make it look like she had acted decisively on the future of the world famous museum under her tenure, but noted that deeper issues around security, staff unrest and infrastructure remained unresolved.
The French government has yet to announce Dati’s replacement but local media suggest the main candidate for job is Catherine Pégard, who is currently a cultural advisor to President Emmanuel Macron.
The former journalist also previously worked alongside Sarkozy, as a political advisor.
Outside of politics she was head administrator of the Palace of Versailles for more than a decade, while prior to working for Macron she was Chief of Cultural Development at the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA), which is involved in supporting the preservation of the world heritage site in Saudi Arabia.
Dati has now set her sights firmly on becoming the next mayor of Paris, running as a candidate for the liberal-conservative party Les Républicans.
She previously lost in 2020 elections to incumbent left-wing mayor Anne Hidalgo, who would go on to pilot the city’s hosting of the 2024 Olympics as part of her role.
In the meantime, Dati became the mayor for Paris’s swanky 7th Arrondissement and has continued to campaign on the sidelines to fulfill her ambition of winning the French capital’s mayoral elections a second time around.
