Le Siècle

"The two men have crossed paths for years at Le Siècle, that highly influential club that, once a month, gathers everything the elite counts as politicians, industrialists, and young members of the administration, from both right and left."

"Le Siècle primarily recruited from the high administration, judiciary, and industry. The project of the founders is both simple and ambitious: to create a place of meeting and exchange that ignores political divides. Personalities such as Mendès France, Edgar Faure, François Mitterrand, or Félix Gaillard became pillars of Le Siècle in the 1950s."

""Once you are around the table, there is no 'primus inter pares'. No revealed word," adds this acquaintance of DSK. One can express oneself freely about the reform of the school or the new judicial map. "It is not a network. Le Siècle is more about the idea of weaving different networks, it is more about network meshing," adds Denis Kessler, while emphasizing that "there is no equivalent in other countries.""

"Like Pierre Moussa, the president of Generali, Antoine Bernheim is a pillar of Le Siècle. He has always been exceptionally loyal, just like at the dinners of the Revue des Deux Mondes. Politicians speak very freely. Despite the presence of several newspaper directors (Jean-Marie Colombani, Serge July, Laurent Joffrin...) and esteemed writers, the golden rule is that the conversations that take place are never shared outside. "An ideal table of Le Siècle includes a politician, a financier, a business leader, an intellectual in the broad sense, and a perspective on foreign affairs. We also try to mix political sensitivities," adds the person who dedicates four days a month to the meticulous preparation of this "battle plan"."

"Created in 1944 by Georges Bérard-Quélin, a sort of gray eminence of the press for half a century, Le Siècle has remained faithful to its original philosophy: bridging the gap between the political class and civil society, and breaking down the Paris-province divide."