“The Presidential Office Handover: Mitterrand’s Plan to Surprise Chirac”

If François Mitterrand postponed the transfer of power with Jacques Chirac in 1995 a little, it was not to cling to his Elysian chair. The socialist president, who had had his workspace fitted out by designer Pierre Paulin, simply wanted to “surprise” his successor by taking the time to put the office used by General de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou back in its place.