Marie-Agnès Delaunay

This is a Gylian name. The surname is Delaunay. This person is customarily referred to by the given name Marie-Agnès.

Marie-Agnès Delaunay
Prime Minister of Gylias
In office 1 February 2008 – 7 September 2020
President	Laura Varnaþ Carmen Dell'Orefice Ravy Egiði
Deputy	Kaori Kawashima (2008–2012) Mielikki Salonen (2012–2020)
Preceded by	Mathilde Vieira
Succeeded by	Maria Lucía De Angelis y Cortés
Personal details
Born	(1958-08-05) 5 August 1958 Louise-Michel, Ḑarna, Gylias
Political party	Movement for Action and Democracy
Spouse	Nguyễn Hữu Tâm
Alma mater	University of Ḑarna
Occupation	Media proprietor publisher businesswoman television presenter columnist producer
Known for	Founder of Magdel Group
Net worth	Ŧ30 billion (2008)

Marie-Agnès Delaunay (Gylic transcription: Mariagyniés Delounéi; born 5 August 1958) is a Gylian media proprietor, businesswoman, and politician. She served as Prime Minister of Gylias from 2008 to 2020. Her term brought momentous changes to Gylian society, politics, and economy, collectively called the Latte Revolution.

Marie-Agnès launched a successful media career in the 1980s. She founded the Magdel Group, whose properties include the newspapers L'Actualité and L'Commerçant, the publishing house Éditions Saga, the radio station Radio Courant, and the television channel 5, Gylias' most successful private television network. She gained fame for her cocky public image, portraying a "wicked" caricature of a media proprietor, laced with "playful French seductiveness". She was highly influential in Gylian media, and her playfully self-promotional image and distinctive appearance had an influence on Gylian pop culture.

Marie-Agnès founded her own party, the Movement for Action and Democracy, in late 2007. She led the party to victory in the 2008 federal election. With a net worth of Ŧ30 billion at the time, she was the richest Gylian to become Prime Minister. She had the Centre Group parties merge into the MAD, and formed a coalition government with the New Alliance for the Future and Liberal Union.

She governed as a Donatellist, liberal populist. She declared her goals to reduce bureaucracy, strengthen emancipated markets, and encourage "courage and initiative" in Gylians. In foreign policy, she advocated a "muscular Gylias". She supported reinforcing the Common Sphere, close ties with Ossoria, and bolstering the Gylian Self-Defense Forces. Her government supported and provided materiel to Ruvelka during the Zemplen War.

Marie-Agnès' term saw the greatest changes to Gylias since the Golden Revolution, dubbed the Latte Revolution. She declared in her inaugural speech she would "think big and take great leaps". Her government reformed the tax system to a negative income tax, cut red tape for small businesses, replaced the þaler with the gilda, and mandated remote work. It merged the various assistance payments into a single Citizens' Assistance payment. It reformed the National Prices Board to account for cost of living between Gylian regions.

Her government made an electoral reform that transformed the political landscape. She founded her own bloc, Ensemble, and brought several Non-inscrits into it, including the New Alliance for the Future and Humanist Party. The bloc won majorities in 2012 and 2016, for the first time in Gylian history. ENS' success caused a period of consolidation among the disjointed opposition. The number of political parties fell, and new blocs appeared from previous non-inscrits.

Marie-Agnès' term marks the start of Gylias' Second Republic, owing to the significant changes of the Latte Revolution. She is considered Gylias' most influential Prime Minister after Darnan Cyras.

Early life

Marie-Agnès Delaunay was born on 5 August 1958 in Louise-Michel, a planned community for resettled internally displaced persons now part of Riáona. Her parents worked as an electrician and an elevator attendant. She is of primarily French heritage, but has some Varan and Rezakan descent.

She was a member of the Revolutionary Youth Union in childhood and an avid reader. Her interest in writing was encouraged by her parents. In secondary school, she concluded she had no aptitude for fiction, and decided to become a journalist instead.

She attended the University of Ḑarna in 1976–1980, graduating with a degree in journalism. While there, she worked at the student newspaper. After graduating, she was briefly an apprentice at a local printer, where she learned about phototypesetting.

Career

Newspapers and publishing

Marie-Agnès worked as a reporter for The Riáona Post in the early 1980s. She later moved to the The National Record, working at its French edition L'Régistre Nationale. She gradually moved from reporting to an organisational role, working as a contributing editor, copy editor and proofreader.

She grew frustrated with mainly working as an English–French translator. Inspired by the francité movement, she envisioned a purely French-language national newspaper, and amicably left L'Régistre Nationale to pursue this project.

Marie-Agnès founded L'Actualité in 1984. L'Actualité had the most advanced production techniques of a Gylian newspaper at the time: it was produced on computers running desktop publishing software with WYSIWYG capabilities, and printed in full colour. It quickly became Gylias' most successful Francophone newspaper, and caused other newspapers to similarly convert to electronic production and colour printing.

The success of L'Actualité provided the foundation for Marie-Agnès' future plans. She founded the Magdel Group in 1986 to support her expansion. She established L'Commerçant that year, and the Éditions Saga publishing house in 1988.

Radio

Marie-Agnès founded Radio Courant in 1986, the Magdel Group's first venture beyond print. Replicating the formula of L'Actualité, the station gained popularity for its sophisticated station identification jingles, eclectic programming, and Francophone focus.

It was initially a regional station serving Ḑarna, and gradually expanded its coverage to Tomes, Aðuna, and Herlan, becoming a significant station in southern Gylias.

After the GNBS' monopoly on federal broadcasting ended in 1991, Radio Courant became a national radio network.

Television

Marie-Agnès' self-parodic image in idents contributed to 5's success

In 1990, the Magdel Group submitted a proposal for a private channel to the National Broadcasting Office, in preparation for the end of the GNBS' federal monopoly. The proposal was approved, and 5 (Cinq) began broadcasting on 1 January 1991. The name reflected Marie-Agnès' ambitions, playfully placing it after GTV4, and implicitly ahead of ATV.

Apart from becoming Gylias' largest Francophone channel, 5 distinguished itself through high production values. Its station identification and continuity were polished, and it organised its schedule into programming blocks, with distinctive atmospheres and framing devices just as accomplished as the shows they contained.

It became a major player in Francophone television production, producing much of its line-up in cooperation with other Gylian studios.

Marie-Agnès developed 5's brand in a very personalised manner, following Cecilia and Estelle Parker's hands-on example at GTV. She appeared in station identification and as an in-vision continuity announcer, and began hosting a weekly talk show, Conversations avec Marie-Agnès.

It was her work at 5 that brought her lasting national fame. Working with sizeable creative staff, she created a "wicked" persona, playing a tongue-in-cheek caricature of a media proprietor. Modelling herself after Remi Ďana, she appeared between programs instead of commercial breaks.

Her on-screen presence and announcements were laced with mischievous wit befitting a rezy anta and winking self-parody. She playfully teased viewers about her control of what 5 broadcast, portrayed herself as eager for media dominance, proclaimed her irresistible genius, and poked fun at some of the channel's material.

She and her staff filmed numerous idents and announcements for each programme as well as the channel as a whole.

5 quickly became Gylias' most popular private television network, a distinction it holds to this day, making Marie-Agnès a renowned media personality in the process. She later established several subsidiary digital television channels based on certain themes, such as 5néma (film programming), Mu5 (music programming), 5port (sports programming), Anima5 (animated programming), and 5voyage (documentaries about nature).

Other ventures

Marie-Agnès established the Magduction production company, which serves as the main umbrella for her production work, and Magdéo, for home video and NetStream distribution.

She created the Marie-Agnès clothing line, which distributes reproductions of her trademark outfit, and a variety of merchandising after herself, including celebrity dolls, perfume fragrances, stationery, calendars, and photobooks.

She recorded the albums La Magnifique (1993), L'cadeau des déesses (1996), L'vie en riche (1999), and Reine (2004), which were produced by Susan Shelley. Inspired by the work of Sara Thomas, the albums featured Neo-Gylian Sound and city pop, contributed by famous guest musicians, and Marie-Agnès delivering comedic spoken word monologues playing up and poking fun at her persona.

She has guest starred as herself in various film and television shows, including some appearances in pornography.

She invested in Polaris and The Pump, and often participated in Tax Day ceremonies.

Entering politics

"I could've rested on my laurels 'til retirement, but I heard this whisper in the back of my mind to dare greatly."

—Marie-Agnès Delaunay par Marie-Agnès Delaunay

During the 2000s, Marie-Agnès began thinking about entering politics. She had become one of Gylias' richest media figures, with an estimated net worth of Ŧ30 billion. She had built the Magdel Group into a major presence in Gylian media. She saw politics as an exciting challenge.

While she respected Mathilde Vieira, she considered her tenure "directionless". She felt the "liquid Parliament" era was more concerned with preserving the status quo than having a vision for the future. She sought advice from Julie Legrand, considering her "Gylias' greatest Frenchwoman". Julie encouraged Marie-Agnès to enter politics, and Marie-Agnès promised to make Julie her main advisor.

Marie-Agnès prepared for a political career, with only her husband Nguyễn Hữu Tâm and Julie aware at first. She met with others to seek advice and form plans, on the condition of strict secrecy. She secured a beneficial alliance with Deputy Prime Minister Mielikki Salonen. Mielikki promised that the New Alliance for the Future would support her political ambitions.

Through secret meetings, Marie-Agnès stirred dissatisfaction within the Centre Group. She told notables and members the CG could do more than "bland centrism" or "an appendage of the National Bloc". She reminded them of the CG's timidity during the wretched decade and loss of importance. Tâm recalled the end of her pitch: "You can either leap into the unknown with me, or sleepwalk into dotage with the NB."

She formed her programme in part through discussions with economist Leále Tiekat. She felt that the interventionist model described in Leále's The Sheltered Economy risked making the Gylian economy stagnant and incapable of holding its own in Tyran. She chose 3 principles to guide her policies: reducing bureaucracy, encouraging initiative, and strengthening Gylias.

Now prepared, she launched her plan in 2007. She created a new party, the Movement for Action and Democracy. The name deliberately shared her initials, capitalising on her self-parodic public image. She built up a party apparatus as the 2008 federal election approached. She made the CG parties merge with the MAD before nominations closed. She took a leave from the Magdel Group to focus on the election. She left orders that they not cover her campaign to avoid a conflict of interest.

2008 federal campaign

Marie-Agnès presented herself to voters as a bold outsider opposed to a complacent establishment. She funded her campaign alone, refusing donations. She relied on Magduction's production capabilities and staff. She filmed numerous PPBs. When Elections Gylias regulations restricted her slots, she released them on NetStream. She leveraged the publinet heavily for her campaign: uploading her campaign posters to ArtNet, her campaign jingles to Freemix to be remixed, and so on. She also used her wealth to mass mail her campaign literature to all Gylians. Radix wrote: "Her campaign has been frankly genius in using the internet, making everyone else look like rank amateurs."

Throughout January, she maintained a whirlwind campaign schedule. She held rallies in every Gylian region. She skipped public meetings in favour of speaking with voters in person and giving interviews. She made many campaign stops in rural areas and remote communities. For these, she looked to Raira Sano's spring tour as a model. She staged spectacular arrivals, hiring brass bands to accompany her entrance, gave speeches, mingled with voters. She told her husband: "We must give them the greatest event of their lives. They must never forget the day Marie-Agnès visited their village."

Marie-Agnès used eclectic themes in her campaigning. She ridiculed the election as "another election about nothing". She mocked the other blocs' campaigns as "a battle of competing nostalgias". In a subtle jab at Mathilde Vieira, she said: "I, for one, am not happy with turning the clock back to the Golden Revolution, but with computers." She often warned voters that Gylias risked getting choked by a "bloated bog of bureaucracy". She made unusually open appeals to patriotism. She declared at one rally:

"We Gylians have much to be proud of. Let's act like it! Gylians could stand to strut with pride, puff out their chests. We have done great things, and will do so again. You deserve to take pride in Gylias! And you deserve a Gylias to be proud of!"

Marie-Agnès dominated the campaign, and became a sensation. With Mathilde and Édith Champion retiring, their successors leading the Liberal Union and Progressive Alliance were unfamiliar to voters. Veteran National Bloc leader Eiko Fujimura found her "time for a change" theme coopted by Marie-Agnès' campaign. The left struggled to paint Marie-Agnès, a Social Partnership Program participant and regular at Tax Day ceremonies, as a threat to Gylias.

Throughout the campaign, she was extremely self-confident, bordering on reckless. From one point in the campaign, she proclaimed in all of her speeches she would be the next Prime Minister. In private, her aides worried she was sabotaging her campaign. She replied: "I'm planting the idea in the voters' minds. We have to make them hear 'Marie-Agnès' and 'Prime Minister' in the same breath. First they must imagine it possible. Finally, they'll imagine it inevitable." She concluded the campaign with a triumphant rally in Riáona on 20 January 2008.

Prime Minister of Gylias

See also: Marie-Agnès Delaunay government

Marie-Agnès in a victory pose after becoming Prime Minister

Marie-Agnès led the MAD to a spectacular result in 2008. It won 39,6% of first preference votes and 140 deputies, the most ever for a single party. 40 of those candidates won as "Independent MAD" or "Independent Centrist" and joined the party after election. This side-stepped the election law's restriction of one candidate per circonscription.

She formed a MAD–LU–NAF–IRAM coalition, with a majority of 7 seats. She was Gylias' first Prime Minister from outside the established electoral blocs, and the first Francophone one. Her public inauguration set the record for highest attendance and highest viewing figures on Gylian Television. In her inaugural speech, she declared she would "free Gylias from the maze of its past and advance boldly into the future". One quip became symbolic of her tenure: "I intend to do things my way."

Second Republic

Marie-Agnès took office 50 years after the Liberation War's end. She used her first year in office to celebrate Gylias' golden jubilee and launch her projects for bold changes. She declared in a speech:

"The Golden Revolution has brought us this far. Praise be to the Golden Revolution! 50 years is the best time to take stock. Let's look at what we have, and ask if it's still suitable for us. It's the perfect time to launch a new revolution, which will sustain us for 50 more years!"

She spent her first term passing numerous changes. These included a new Constitution, new laws to replace old ones, a new national anthem ("Arise, Gylians"), and a new currency (the gilda). In general, she preferred repealing old laws and adopting new ones, unlike previous governments which updated and revised existing ones. Laws she repealed and replaced included the Law on Industrial Organisation of 1958, Law on National Symbols of 1959, Law on Religion of 1959, Law on Electoral Representation of 1960, and Law on Common Nationality of 1962.

Columnist Keie Nanei wrote in December 2008: "There's something thrilling in the way Madame Première Ministre has gone about questioning or slaughtering Gylias' sacred cows with a playful smile on her lips and a seductive word in our ears. I, for one, am excited to see where this gets us."

As a result, the public saw her term as a break from the past. 2008 marked the start of Gylias' Second Republic, distinguished from the First Republic of 1958–2008.

Latte Revolution

Main article: Latte Revolution

Marie-Agnès chairing a cabinet meeting

Marie-Agnès' government showed a strong reformist drive in office. It made momentous changes and often broke the mold of Gylian governments. The totality of its changes earned the nickname Latte Revolution, in reference to her outfit.

Her priority in office was reducing bureaucracy. Her government cut red tape for small businesses and pushed for e-government. Public services and governments underwent digitalisation beyond Mathilde Vieira's policies. Gylians began to pay taxes mainly online, using pre-filled tax returns. She streamlined public service by merging and abolishing ministries, and consolidating administrative agencies.

Economic reforms included converting the tax system to a negative income tax model, merging the various assistance payments into a single Citizens' Assistance payment, and mandating remote work. Tax code simplification included halving the income tax brackets, and increasing land value tax to boost sustainable development and reduce other taxes.

Marie-Agnès introduced a new currency, the gilda, which replaced the þaler at a rate of 1𐑜 = 1.000.000Ŧ. She used the change to have a "reset" at the National Prices Board, thus further reducing prices and cost of living. She coupled this with a NPB reform that accounted for cost of living differences between Gylian regions.

She called a series of referendums to shape trade policy. She commented: "I'm sure Gylians don't want either total autarky, which is impossible, or total free trade, which is irresponsible." This led to reforms of Gylias' non-tariff barriers to trade.

Marie-Agnès declared in speeches her wish to encourage "courage and initiative" in Gylians. She presented her reforms as encouraging innovation and risk-taking, through a strong social safety net and reduced bureaucracy. She implemented tax breaks and subsidies for start-ups, and reforms to facilitate starting a business or self-employment. Đỗ Sáng Khang wrote in 2012: "She never used the words, but it was clear Marie-Agnès' reforms aimed to boost Gylias' international competitiveness and entrepreneurship."

Marie-Agnès' preference for repealing and replacing existing laws reflected her drive to reduce bureaucracy. She took an eclectic approach within the Gylian consensus framework. The 2011 Constitution proclaimed Gylias "a direct democracy, organised as a republic, using state mechanisms only as necessary". The new economy law preserved mandatory unionisation and cooperativisation.

She distinguished herself from predecessors with frequent invocations of patriotism in speeches and policy framing. She often encouraged Gylians to "boldness" and greater national pride. Her government changed immigration law to focus on skill shortages and emphasise assimilation. It slowed down the pace of migration and reformed the Penal Code to facilitate deportation.

Her electoral reform transformed the Gylian political landscape. It abolished parties' restriction to one candidate per circonscription, varied circonscriptions between 3 and 5 members based on population, and adopting the Gregory method for vote transfers. It also reduced the Gylian Parliament's size to 400 Deputies and 160 Senators. As a result, the number of political parties declined. Smaller parties merged into larger ones. The reorganisation affected the Non-inscrits: previously unaffiliated parties formed new electoral blocs, the Anarchist Forum and City and Country Unity.

In addition, Marie-Agnès banned the Revolutionary Rally and Front for Renewal of Order and Society, calling them "disgusting dregs of Gylias' past". In the parliamentary debate on the ban, she distinguished the RR's authoritarian socialism from existing anarchist formations with a memorable quip:

"Gylias accepts parties that call for the replacement of parliamentary democracy with more democracy, not less. We graciously let anarchists contest elections in the understanding they have no chance of winning them."

Elections

After the electoral reform, Marie-Agnès established a new bloc, Ensemble (Together), including MAD, NAF, NPP, and HP. It won the 2012 federal election, with 50,2% of first preference votes and 208 deputies. It was the first bloc to win a majority of first preference votes in a federal election, and a majority of deputies.

During her second term, she convinced the NPP to merge into the MAD. At the same time, the Union for Freedom and Prosperity suffered from the decline of small parties and disbanded.

ENS won re-election in 2016 with a higher majority: 51% of first preference votes and 214 deputies.

Foreign policy

Marie-Agnès signing the Gylias–Ossoria alliance treaty

Marie-Agnès revolutionised Gylian foreign policy with her advocacy of a "muscular Gylias". Her government bolstered the Gylian Self-Defense Forces, raising defense spending to 3% of GDP and boosting recruitment. She directed the Office of Industrial Production Coordination to boost Gylias' defense industry, and stepped up orders of weapons systems from traditional allies.

Similarly groundbreaking was her pursuit of closer relations with Ossoria. She concluded a formal alliance between Gylias and Ossoria, and deepened defense and security cooperation. She supported both the expansion of the SCR Eltykan base and the establishment of further Ossorian military bases in Gylias. She condemned the assassination attempt on Tara of Ossoria in harsh terms. In response, she obtained unanimous passage of a Gylian Parliament motion wishing Tara a swift recovery, and ordered SPSB9 to assist Ossorian intelligence in cracking down on the Republican Faction.

Marie-Agnès made a successful state visit to Ossoria in 2015. She met with both High Queen Tara and Taoiseach Innis Ní Gearailt. During the visit, Marie-Agnès declared her intention to "turn the page" and "build a friendship between Ossorians and Gylians". Her visit drew much publicity and large crowds.

She supported and provided materiel to Ruvelka during the Zemplen War, the first manifestation of her "muscular" foreign policy.

She supported reinforcing the Common Sphere, overturning Gylias' traditional skepticism of strengthening the CS. After Tennai joined the CS in 2015, she worked with Tennai and Cacerta to build a pro-reinforcing consensus in the Common Sphere Council. She brought her reformist instincts to summits, where she encouraged fellow leaders to support cutting red tape and preventing economic isolation.

Public image

Marie-Agnès cultivated a "cocksure and cheeky" public image in her career. A 1994 feature in Silhouette, "The Life and Times of a Cartoon Tycoon", described her as "the Remi Ďana of business". Gylias Review referred to her as "Asuka's closest competitor for embodying attractive cockiness." Her self-parodic self-promotion made her a national celebrity before she entered politics.

Style

Marie-Agnès' distinctive suit made her a style icon in Gylias

Her distinctive outfit made her a style icon. It consisted of a white shirt, brown waistcoat, skirt, and suit jacket, and a red bow. Both in public and in private, she only wore this outfit. Reportedly, her wardrobe was entirely 365 copies of her outfit, one for each day of the year.

She imposed similar sartorial standards on her cabinet. She quipped at her first cabinet meeting: "The only rule of this government is: everyone dresses like Election Day, every day. It will be our way of life. Looking and dressing sharp every day." During her tenure, Gylians commonly joked that she turned the cabinet into a fashion parade.

Marie-Agnès' commitment to elegant living went beyond her clothing. On her first visit to the Parliament Building in Mişeyáke, she bluntly joked, "This is not fit for a Prime Minister." Instead, she built a lavish Italianate mansion for her private residence. She also had the Parliament Building redecorated and refurbished in between regular legislative sessions.

Diplomat and future President of Akashi Masako Owada remembered that Marie-Agnès' "impeccable manners" impressed her: "She shows up early, she's a stickler for punctuality, she dresses with the utmost care."

Humour

Marie-Agnès gained a reputation for mischievous wit. Hélène Daucourt, the Principal Secretary to her predecessor, said that "Marie-Agnès has a talent for saying things that sound harsh without hurting someone's feelings. Her voice makes even insults sound like a friendly backslap." She frequently used humour to disarm heated discussions and charm her opponents.

Her use of humour played a role in her successful reforms. She often presented her proposals as a "bold adventure", and treated debates like changing national symbols with "giddy enthusiasm" more than solemnity. Her opponents failed to counter her appeal to voters, and came across as humourless and stodgy by comparison.

Keie Nanei felt Marie-Agnès "had a talent for turning politics into a rezy match". She wrote that "the Remi Ďana of business easily became the Remi Ďana of politics". This enabled her to dominate her opponents, who were unable to assume to role of Irène LeRoi to match. For instance, Marie-Agnès famously diminished Progressive Alliance leader Toni Vallas by nicknaming her "m'petite" ("kiddo"), playing on her youth. Toni acknowledged that Marie-Agnès' quips that she had "a bright future ahead of her" made her struggle to be taken seriously by voters.

Nicknames

She attracted various nicknames as Prime Minister. These included: "Marie-Agnès Delopéra" (in reference to her habit of attending opera performances during state visits), "Marie-Agnès Délocution" (in reference to her public speaking and performance skills), "Madame Première Ministre" (the standard French feminine of "prime minister"), "Six Buttons" (in reference to her outfit, with 4 buttons on her waistcoat and 2 on her suit jacket), and "L'Grande Blonde" (in reference to her hair colour and above average height).

Opinion polling

Marie-Agnès giving an interview

Marie-Agnès enjoyed high job approval ratings as Prime Minister. She was the most popular Prime Minister of Gylias as measured by opinion polls. Her approval ratings hovered around 80–90% throughout her tenure. Biographers noted that Marie-Agnès used her "eye-popping approval ratings" to push much of her agenda, particularly the creation of the Second Republic. Her overwhelming popularity contrasted with the small majorities that ENS won in 2012 and 2016.

Wealth

As Gylias' richest Prime Minister, she refused the official salary, and paid most expenses herself. Supporters admired her "authenticity" in office: she never hid her wealthy origin, but didn't draw attention to it either. This, combined with her leaving Gylias' labour laws intact, produced incongruously harmonious relations with Gylian organised labour. She spent her wealth on political finance, sustaining the MAD without fundraising.

Sensitive to opponents' charge that she was a "Prime Minister of the rich", Marie-Agnès signed tough laws to restrict lobbying and private financing of campaigns.

Rectitude

Commentators described Marie-Agnès as a "squeaky clean" Prime Minister, who strictly avoided any appearance of impropriety.

She resigned from all her positions and sold all her shares in the Magdel Group before taking office. She asked the relevant authorities whether to sell her Riáona mansion or place it in a blind trust to avoid a conflict of interest. The authorities confirmed the latter was standard.

During her term, she declined any interview requests from Magdel-affiliated outlets.

On leaving office, she turned over the Mişeyáke mansion she'd used to the government.

Leaving politics

"I found being Prime Minister absolutely invigorating. Waking up, dealing with crises, leading a nation, going to bed. I felt alive, younger. I could've done it for another decade."

—Marie-Agnès Delaunay par Marie-Agnès Delaunay

Marie-Agnès celebrated her 60th birthday on 5 August 2018. Over the next year, she mulled over the future with Tâm and Julie. She considered staying on to become Gylias' longest-serving Prime Minister. Julie advised her to not "wear out her welcome". Since Marie-Agnès greatly respected Julie, her advice carried great weight.

Marie-Agnès announced her retirement in late 2019. She delivered a farewell speech in the Chamber of Deputies before it was dissolved for the 2020 election. She made two memorable quips during it. She boasted: "I've done more in 3 terms than any Prime Minister ever has." She also joked she was the first Prime Minister to "come into office a billionaire and leave it flat broke", which earned a standing ovation from all deputies.

She withdrew from all involvement in the MAD as well. Without her leadership and largesse, the party was forced to adapt quickly. Her finance minister Dana Tan took over as party leader.

Post-premiership

Marie-Agnès spent both her and her husband's wealth in office. After stepping down, her public tax returns showed a net worth of zero. Their possessions were their Riáona mansion and their large wardrobes. When her term ended, they returned to Riáona.

In Riáona, Marie-Agnès settled into retirement. She chose not to resume her business career. She reasoned that the Magdel Group was capably run by its employees, and running for the Management Board again was pointless. She stopped following politics, letting the MAD run itself under Dana.

She began writing a memoir. She used the diary she'd kept in office for material, and brought in Julie as her editor. Once finished, she sought a publisher, refusing to go to Éditions Saga to avoid the appearance of favouritism.

Her memoir, Marie-Agnès Delaunay par Marie-Agnès Delaunay, was published in 2022. It earned critical acclaim and became a bestseller. She did not promote the book or give any interviews. Her sole comment was that the book "speaks for itself". She recorded herself reading it for the audiobook edition.

Political positions

Marie-Agnès charted a distinctive political course. She said: "I admire Donatella Rossetti and Julie Legrand, but I don't want to call myself a Donatellist or Julieist. I feel bad for anyone, alive or dead, who suffers an '-ism' attached to their name. It takes a person and reduces them to an object."

She governed as a populist. She used referendums often to mobilise support and consolidate unity behind her policies. She built the MAD as a personal party, controlling all aspects of it from platform to campaigning and candidate selection.

Marie-Agnès presented herself as a "pragmatic visionary". She lambasted other parties for putting ideology over practicality. She often said, "As long as an idea is good and it works, I don't care where it came from." She brought new issues to Gylian politics, including bureaucracy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Private life

Marie-Agnès married Quenminese socialite Nguyễn Hữu Tâm in 1993. He was a multi-millionaire who came from a rich family. Together, they were one of Gylias' richest couples. He spoke fluent French and adopted his wife's surname. He was often known as Tam Delaunay or Tam Nguyen-Delaunay in Gylias.

Their marriage stirred media interest and public fascination, especially once Marie-Agnès entered politics. L'Petit Écho described him as "handsome, sharp-dressed, charming, and possessing Suzie's brains". Françoise Chatelain once lamented to Marie-Agnès, "It's a shame your husband is so dim!", to which she replied, "I love that about him."

Marie-Agnès and Tâm live in a mansion in Riáona. They are childless by choice. Both became notorious in interviews for describing their sex lives in graphic detail when asked. Marie-Agnès revealed that they are both sterilised and get regularly checked for STIs.

She is an avid cyclist, travelling to work on her bicycle and cycling recreationally in her spare time.

She is mainly a practitioner of Concordianism and Gaulish polytheism.

She is a member of OMFLG and ACFEN.

Legacy

Marie-Agnès was one of Gylias' most influential media proprietors, and became one of its most influential Prime Ministers. Her term marks the beginning of the Second Republic. Her "Latte Revolution" brought the greatest changes to Gylias since the Golden Revolution.

Historian Nina Raukan considered Marie-Agnès' most influential Prime Minister after Darnan Cyras. She compared their impact:

"Where the Golden Revolution was driven by popular mobilisation, the Latte Revolution came entirely from Marie-Agnès' mind. She proposed a new Constitution and got it passed. She proposed a new flag and anthem, and got them passed. She decided to abandon the þaler and got it done. Her opponents were left on the backfoot, struggling to dent her popularity. She relished the part of a conquering heroine shaking up a tired establishment."

Marie-Agnès transformed the Gylian consensus and Gylian nationalism during her tenure. She shifted the former in a more liberal direction. The National Observer wrote that she replaced "a default tendency towards regulation and the public sector" with "a concern for over-regulation and fostering innovation". She challenged the latter's "inward-looking" nature by changing national symbols and encouraging more open, regular displays of patriotism. President Carmen Dell'Orefice commented: "Gylians used to not think much of their flag or national anthem. Now they fly the flag in buildings and schools, and sing 'Arise, Gylians' with gusto."

Gianna Calderara quipped the year before her death, "I think it's Marie-Agnès' Gylias now."