Posted Jan 17, 2022, 4:47 PM
It’s a wind of renewal blowing on the Rock. This Monday, in Monaco, Laurent Anselmi took up his duties as Prince Albert II’s chief of staff. At 59, this recognized jurist, pure Monegasque, left his chair as Minister of External Relations to become the right arm of the Sovereign. He replaces Georges Lisimachio, chief of staff since 2006, becoming the third person in this key position, responsible for orchestrating the decisions of the Prince.
Or, more than ever, the monarch wishes to amplify the influence of the Principality beyond the borders. On the agenda: boosting digital technology, combating climate disorders, stepping up the fight against corruption…
embody the fights
Behind the scenes, we talk about the arrival of a “new team”, more “feminine”, “young”, to strengthen the power of the executive: “The Prince wants to surround himself with people who embody his great fights”, they whisper in the corridors of the Palace.
Something to stir up resentment. This fall, Laurent Anselmi was one of the personalities close to the Sovereign, targeted by an anonymous campaign of destabilization called the “Dossiers du Rocher”. These defamatory accusations, which were said to be commissioned by powerful private interests and which the press described as “fake news”, were aimed in part at stopping change.
Carabinieri since 1890
Not enough, however, to waver Laurent Anselmi, this soldier monk whom his relatives say “rooted” in this territory of a few kilometers, refuge of his ancestors, carabinieri in Monaco since 1890. “He is a scholar and a man of faith . He is in love with the absolute,” comments former minister and lawyer Nicole Guedj.
At the age of 17, this son of a real estate agent and a bank assistant discovers, with passion, public law on the benches of the faculties of Nice then of Aosta, in Italy… His thesis on “Le litigation du permis de construction before the Administrative Court of Nice” will earn him a job with the city. “It was my entry into the deep end,” confides this father of two daughters, with a serious face, a greedy dimple and a dark look behind his large glasses.
It was in 1989 that he joined the administration of the Principality, in the Litigation and Legislative Studies Department. He will rise through the ranks, in the service, he says, with the accent of the sun, of a public power that he reveres.
Former Keeper of the Seals
The man is discreet, modest, hardworking, reluctant to indulge. He rides a scooter, furrows the sports halls with fervor and likes to immerse himself in Bossuet. “I don’t dine in town, I avoid the Monegasque gentry. And I don’t own a Ferrari! had one day designated the child of the country, who was born a rally fan and who committed the Court of Appeal of the International Automobile Federation. “I have a modest vision of my person but high of my function”, he had also declared to the press when he was Minister of Justice of the Principality.
Because Laurent Anselmi, servant of the State, knows the mysteries of power. This faithful joined Prince Albert II as an adviser upon the accession of the Sovereign in 2005. Before becoming in 2017, the equivalent of Keeper of the Seals.
But it is above all as Minister of External Relations and Cooperation from 2019 that he distinguished himself. “He is an excellent jurist endowed with a great capacity for synthesis and a sense of geopolitical balance of power”, gauges his former professor, Bernard Asso.
TV5-World
His latest feat? In December, he piloted Monaco’s membership of TV5 Monde, the leading French-language television network, alongside France, Canada, Quebec, Switzerland and Belgium. In addition, the Principality is preparing a new public television channel, MCR-TV (Monte-Carlo Riviera Television) which, thanks to its rebroadcast by TV5 Monde, will broadcast in 190 countries.
Le Rocher also owes him an opening to the East, an agreement with Moscow on the recognition of university diplomas or even the increase in public development aid to Africa… A charge, now, for this polyglot who speaks six languages and some dialects, to go even further…