2023-07-12 18:00:23
The presidential platform facing the parade on the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, on July 14, 2021. GUILLAUME HERBAUT / AGENCE VU
A lasting work
The contract was only supposed to last three years, maybe five. For the 33rd year in a row, the presidential stand designed by Marie-Christine Dorner was set up for the July 14 parade. A 1,500 square meter blue, white and red canvas, supported by adjustable beams mimicking movement, floats above the 1,500 guests in the presidential gallery, Place de la Concorde. “I wanted to create something that expresses the party, the movement, a republican party, a flag in motion”, explains the designer. Since 1990, all the presidents, from François Mitterrand to Emmanuel Macron, have chosen to keep the work refined and functional. “It is a source of pride that a large object can last over time”, summarizes Marie-Christine Dorner, 62 years old.
A pharaonic construction
The platform is certainly reusable, but its assembly mobilizes, from June 22 to July 11, more than a hundred people a day, from the Ministry of the Armed Forces to external stakeholders. As soon as the Fête de la Musique is over, trucks transport the parts of the metal-textile structure that will house the grandstand and the podium-tiers. The structure alone weighs more than 200 tonnes and the site requires meticulous organization. The exact composition of the proscenium which welcomes the government and the guests of honor is a well-kept secret until D-Day. Total cost of the operation? The ministry refuses to give an amount, but assures that it is “controlled and supervised”.
A criticized guest
As usual, the platform of the platform was widened to welcome a guest of honor: the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, after the visit of his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, in 2009. An invitation from the Hindu nationalist who sparked criticism. Since he came to power in India in 2014, freedom of the press, the independence of the judiciary and political pluralism have been regularly threatened. The Greens denounced a “a major political mistake by Emmanuel Macron”, in a column published in Release. The strategic partnership between France and India – established in 1998, it is celebrating its 25th anniversary – and which led to the historic sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets in 2016, during the presidency of François Hollande, once again prevailed over more political considerations.
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Tiers au gratin
Each year, the presidential forum brings its share of controversy. In 2008, Bashar Al-Assad stood alongside Nicolas Sarkozy for the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean. The former French president had renewed ties with his Syrian counterpart, yet suspected of being behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. In 2010, the invitation of certain African heads of state provoked the ire of human rights associations. The latest controversy, the arrival in 2017 of US President Donald Trump. However, a few weeks earlier, President Emmanuel Macron had reacted to the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement, by hijacking the slogan of his American counterpart « Make America great again » in « Make our planet great again » (“Make our planet great again”).
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