Le Maire has served as finance and economy minister in a powerful super-ministry since Macron became president in May 2017, the only senior minister to have stayed on for that duration.

“I love you but I am leaving,” said Le Maire, quoting French singer Michel Sardou’s lyric Je vous aime mais je pars.

Speaking at a special valedictory ceremony attended by hundreds of guests in the grounds of his vast ministry in eastern Paris, he added; “I leave with the conviction that these years were useful for France.”

Le Maire said he wanted “to breathe a different air from (that of) politics” and would “return to my first vocation: teaching”.

Le Maire also has a side career as an author, penning over a dozen non-fiction and fiction books, including erotic novels.

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The minister lauded his achievements, saying that “in the face of French-bashing, we made France the most attractive nation in Europe.”

But he also leaves with the public finances under unprecedented pressure and France’s budget deficit reaching 5.5 percent of GDP in 2023, well above the European Union’s maximum limit of three percent.

“France must not go back on restoring its public finances. It must continue to set itself the objective of returning (public) deficit to below three percent in 2027,” Le Maire said.

Barnier, named as prime minister by Macron last week, has promised a new government would be in place next week.

Some current ministers including Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin have reportedly expressed interest in staying on in the new government, but its final shape remains highly uncertain.