The traditional July 14 military parade went off without a hitch on Friday morning in Paris on the Champs Elysées in the presence of Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, guest of honor on the occasion of the national holiday, despite a tense security environment.
French President Emmanuel Macron descended Friday morning, in a military vehicle, the prestigious avenue des Champs Elysées, collecting applause but also some boos, before the start of the traditional July 14 parade on the occasion of the national holiday, organized this year. under close surveillance after the recent riots which set the country ablaze.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the guest of honor at this 2023 edition of the July 14 parade. Just before the start of the parade, Emmanuel Macron hugged him to greet him at the official stand.
Shortly before noon, the July 14 military parade ended with the interpretation of « la Marseillaise ». Previously, the final animation, place de la Concorde, commemorated 1943, the year of creation of the French Resistance medal, the creation of the National Council of the Resistance, the death of the hero of the Resistance Jean Moulin and the birth of the moving « Chant des partisans ».
After a passage of the nine Alphajets of the Patrouille de France, which colored the Parisian sky with blue white red, the parade on foot was opened by 240 members of the Indian armed forces, some wearing turbans.
« It is with great humility that I accept the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor », the highest distinction that a French president can award, reacted on Twitter Narendra Modi. « I thank President Emmanuel Macron, the government and the people of France for this gesture. It shows their deep affection for India and their determination to promote friendship with our nation, » he added.
Caesar cannons marched on the Champs-Élysées, with the 40th artillery regiment. These guns were notably supplied to the Ukrainians by France, within the framework of the war with Russia.
To embody French military aid to Ukraine, Caesar guns and AMX10-RC armored vehicles, of the type sold in kyiv, paraded in front of the Parisians. This demonstration is also intended to embody the increase in the budget of the armies, while Parliament definitively adopted on Thursday a new Military Programming Law (LPM) of an envelope of 413 billion euros by 2030, i.e. a 40% increase compared to the previous LPM. This LPM « is the one our armies need », welcomed Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
This Friday, the light armored Serval marched for the first time. Also new: the H160 helicopter from Airbus Helicopters.
In total, the 2023 edition of the parade brought together 6,500 participants, including 5,100 on foot. More than 60 planes, including foreign aircraft, 28 helicopters, 157 vehicles and 62 motorcycles marched in the company of the 200 horses of the Republican Guard on the Champs-Elysées. Another highlight: six partner African military high schools (Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Senegal) paraded with residents of French military schools.
During the parade, the Prime Minister was placed on the right Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne was placed far from Emmanuel Macron in the gallery on Friday for the July 14 parade in Paris, a place contrary to usual practice pushing the Élysée to evoke an « error ».
Élisabeth Borne was placed to the right of the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet and was not placed next to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Elysée protocol service indicates that the initial plan from the rostrum was indeed the right one, « but that there was an error when the names of the authorities were placed on the chairs, with a reversal of the places of the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly « .
After the parade ceremony, President Emmanuel Macron greeted the citizens present in the stands of Concord for two hours of exchanges and photographs, in the presence of cosmonaut Thomas Pesquet and Miss France.
Emmanuel Macron does not address the people on National Day
This year again, the French will have to be content to see Emmanuel Macron in the presidential gallery, accompanied by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, between two military processions, Friday July 14. After several days of uncertainty, the Head of State finally gave up on the ritual of the televised presidential interview during the national holiday.
The President of the Republic was however eagerly awaited after the recent events which shook the country. He had also promised in mid-April to make a « first assessment » of his « hundred days of appeasement » at the time of July 14. The Elysée however announced that he would express himself well, « in the coming days », without specifying the framework of this intervention.
In 2022, he takes advantage of the National Day meeting to reaffirm the course of his five-year term: to make France « more independent », to make the country an « ecological nation » and to work for « equal opportunities in school. , health and employment ». « We have to work longer and longer », also declares the head of state. The pension reform came out of the boxes and will trigger, a few months later, a major social and political conflict. At the end of June, the death of a teenager, killed by a policeman during a roadside check, led to several nights of riots and considerable damage.
Why did Emmanuel Macron not keep his promise to the people, that he will address the eventuality and the results of the year on July 14 and draw up the challenges of the start of the school year?
One could say that it was the exceptional visit of Indian Prime Minister Modi that prevented the preparation of Emmanuel Macron’s speech.
Another hypothesis would be silence in these moments of tension in order to find solutions for the return to change the government or change the education reform, two points which concern him.
In any case, in the following days we will have an intervention as during the covid at 8 p.m., from President Emanuel Macron.
Parade of July 14, 2024 it will not take place on the Champs-Elysées, but between Vincennes and Nation with the Olympic flame
« Next year, the Olympic flame will light up our parade between Vincennes and the Nation », explained the president during his speech to the Armies at the Hôtel de Brienne, recalling that it would take place a few days before the Olympic Games in Paris. -2024.
The parade has not always been organized on the Champs-Elysées. It was first held on the Longchamp racecourse before coming for the first time to the most famous avenue in the world in 1919, echoing the Great War.
After the Second World War and until 1980, the location of the celebration changed regularly. « It was not until 1980 that the ceremony was definitively fixed on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées », specifies the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
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