2024-08-04 23:02:39
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron is once again under fire for his royal luxuries and expenses. France’s public audit office said Macron’s office spent millions of euros on lavish dinners and other state banquets for Britain’s King Charles, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. This news comes at a time when the French government has been repeatedly saying that France cannot afford its current public spending level, which is the highest in the world in relation to the size of the economy.
The highest expenditure is on British King’s dinner
Macron served blue lobster, Bresse French poultry with mushroom gratin and a medley of French and English accoutrements to the British king and his wife, Queen Camilla, during a state dinner at the famous Hall of Mirrors at the 17th-century Versailles Palace last September. In a report on the French presidency’s finances on Monday, the Cour des Comptes said it cost the French government a loss of 475,000 euros ($513,427), including 166,000 euros on catering alone. The Cour des Comptes monitors state budgets.
Dinner worth crores to welcome PM Modi
Macron, keen to convince India to buy more French submarines and fighter jets, hosted a state dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Louvre in July 2023 that cost 412,000 euros. However, the French president’s banquet at the Elysee Palace cost much less. The auditor said a state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May cost just 138,000 euros.
Auditors also object to Macron’s foreign trip
The auditor also raised concerns about the rising costs of the president’s foreign trips, including the increased use of the Airbus A330 for international flights at a cost of more than 23,000 euros per hour. The audit office said that as a result of higher spending on state receptions and official visits, the cost of the presidential palace rose by 6.5% to 117.2 million euros last year, leaving a budget deficit of 8.3 million euros.