Bertrand Eveno announced that for personal reasons he would relinquish his post as CEO of Agence France Presse (AFP) by the end of 2005 at the latest. His resignation announcement came before a staff vote of no confidence in AFP's management was confirmed.
The no confidence vote is seen as a response to the management's decision to hand over to the police photographs of protestors beating a Marseille police officer earlier this month. 84.97% of AFP's staff voted in favour of the declaration of no confidence.
Eveno denied that his resignation had anything to do with these developments, and stated that in fact his decision had been made during the summer of 2005.
He asserted that since he had no wish to seek a third mandate as CEO he considered anticipating the original October 2006 expiry date of his contract to be in the best interests of AFP. Eveno said that in order for AFP to respond to the current and future challenges facing the news industry the agency would need consistent and coherent direction over the next three to five years.
All unions at AFP stated that "Eveno's resignation will enable him to avoid facing up to the disasters that were his financial and editorial policies, but will not set anything straight regarding the issue of the news photos released to the police."
