Emmanuel Macron made “the oath” to “bequeath a more livable planet” and “a stronger France” by being invested on Saturday at the Elysée for his second five-year term during which he intends to “act tirelessly”. In front of more than 450 guests gathered in the village hall, the Head of State outlined the spirit in which he intended to preside until 2027. He will be “a new president” for “a new mandate”, he said. he said during a speech of about ten minutes.
“At a time when the French are once again entrusting me with the highest responsibility, I am aware of the gravity of the times. And from the return of war in Europe to the pandemic and the ecological emergency (… ) rarely has our world and our country been faced with such a conjunction of challenges,” he said. Returning to his victory with 58.5% of the vote against Marine Le Pen, he considered that the French had made “the choice of a clear project” in the face of “the sirens of ideologies whose shores we thought we had left” in 20th century and “easy demagoguery”.
“Resolute action for France and for Europe”
“The time which opens will be that of a resolute action for France and for Europe”, he promised. “Act first to avoid any escalation following the Russian aggression in Ukraine, to help democracy and courage to prevail, to build a new European peace and a new autonomy on our continent”. He also pledged to “act for a society of full employment”, against “inequalities by rebuilding our school and our health”, against “the insecurities of everyday life, the terrorism which still lurks”.
After having formalized his investiture, the President of the Constitutional Council Laurent Fabius called on him to take up “the great challenges” of this new five-year term which follows five years “hit by an accumulation of crises and upheavals”, like those of the Covid , climate or war in Ukraine. “In these troubled times, let us be servants of the law and slaves of duty,” he added, quoting Victor Hugo.
Notable figures
Some 450 people attended this investiture ceremony with a very codified protocol and placed under the sign of sobriety, as had been those of the previous re-elected presidents, François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. Among the guests were Prime Minister Jean Castex, all smiles, his predecessors Edouard Philippe, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Manuel Valls, ministers, many elected officials, heads of constituted bodies, academies, religions… As well as former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande.
They rubbed shoulders, under the golds of the palace, the president’s family, including his wife Brigitte, caregivers, the mayors of certain municipalities where the great debate took place in 2019 after the crisis of “yellow vests”, officials of associations, athletes like Brahim Asloum, Olympic boxing champion, students from a 6th grade class in Oise labeled JO 2024. “I’m glad you’re here for this Republican moment. Now it’s you prepare for the rest,” Emmanuel Macron told them.
He also greeted the parents of Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded in October 2020, the widow of the first doctor who died from Covid or the mayor of Trèbes, the city where three people were killed in March 2018, including the lieutenant-colonel of the gendarmerie. Arnaud Beltrame. So many guests of the president who recalled the great tragic moments of the first five-year term and the priorities displayed for the new, including a reform of the hospital, yet to be specified.
21 cannon shots
At the end of the ceremony, Emmanuel Macron went out in the park to review the troops to the sound of the Marseillaise but also of the piece “Terre et mer” from Bagad de Lann-Bihoué, already played during the quinquennium to pay tribute to soldiers killed in operations in the Sahel. The presence of 160 soldiers “is linked to the context of the war in Ukraine but also to Emmanuel Macron’s conception of the importance of the French army and to the role of the President of the Republic as head of the armies”, explained the historian Jean Garrigues.
Overall, the ceremony “is an extension of a quasi-monarchical ritual, a kind of coronation of the Republican monarch”, he added. As tradition dictates, 21 cannon shots were fired from the Invalides. This investiture did not mark the beginning of the new five-year term: it will officially be necessary to wait for the end of the first, on the evening of Friday May 13 at midnight. The appointment of the new Prime Minister, the subject of all speculation for several days, will only take place after this date.