Jacques Henri Wahl, a 46-year-old Jew, was appointed yesterday Secretary General of the Elysee Palace, a post equivalent in influence to that of White House Chief of Staff. Wahl is replacing Jean Francois-Poncet who was appointed yesterday French Foreign Minister.
Wahl, the son of a small Jewish businessman from Lille, an industrial city in northern France, is a graduate of the prestigious School for National Administration and served as a senior official in the Ministry of Finance. He also served as Economic Minister at the French Embassy in Washington (1970-72) and one of the board members of the International Monetary Fund.
The Elysee Secretary General is the closest collaborator of the French President and is usually a member of his closest staff and participates in most policy-making decisions. Francois-Poncet is also one of President Giscard d’Estaing’s closest personal friends.
The 50-year-old Poncet has briefly served as head of the Foreign Ministry’s Middle East Department but is generally considered to have mainly devoted himself to West European affairs. As Foreign Minister, he is expected to apply policy laid down by the President with few personal initiatives.
The new Foreign Minister is described by French sources as a personal friend of Israeli Ambassador Mordechai Gazit but diplomatic circles believe that this fact will not alter in the least France’s policy in the Middle East as Francois Poncet will mainly serve to carry out Presidential decisions.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
