The BNF without master on board at least until Wednesday – Le Figaro

Saturday, April 2, Bruno Racine, president of the cultural center, takes his departure without knowing who will succeed him. Two candidates are running, and Engel Laurence Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, but the executive fails to agree.

More big cultural center of the Hexagon, the national Library of France (BNF) will be without captain after the departure Saturday, 2 April of its president Bruno Racine, the executive not being able to agree on the name a successor.

“I hope that, in its wisdom, the executive will soon find me a successor,” Friday said Bruno Racine, long applause, before a hundred people gathered . during his farewell party in one of the reading rooms of the Richelieu site, the historic cradle of the BNF

at least two candidates are vying to succeed him: Laurence Engel, “mediator book “, in charge of transparency in the sector, and former chief of Staff of the Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti and Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, diplomat and former head of France Culture.

This will be the first major decision Audrey Azoulay, former adviser to Francois Hollande, appointed Minister of Culture in February, against the advice of Manuel Valls who wanted to keep Fleur Pellerin in his government. Laurence Engel, 49, would favor Matignon, while Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, 57, would be supported by the Ministry of Culture.

Former responsible for Cultural Affairs of the City of Paris, Laurence Engel is the companion of Aquilino Morelle, former adviser to Francois Hollande, who resigned in 2014 after being questioned about a possible decision illegal interest in connection with pharmaceutical laboratories. In early March, the preliminary investigation was aimed discontinued.

Olivier Poivre d’Arvor was ousted from France Culture by the CEO of Radio France Mathieu Gallet in July 2015, despite rising hearings . Very introduced to the world of culture, he is the brother of Patrick Poivre d’Arvor.

The name of the successor of Bruno Racine has to be decided by the cabinet, probably on Wednesday. Both discreet and affable, Bruno Racine, 64, former head of the Villa Medici in Rome and the Pompidou Centre in Paris, was the head of the BNF since 2007, where he spent three terms.