Emmanuel Macron will spend "studious" summer vacation at Fort de Brégançon, the summer residence of the Presidents of the Republic in the Var.
Like every year, he will rest while following important files and preparing for the start of the school year, his entourage said on Saturday.
The President of the Republic arrived Friday evening in Bormes-les-Mimosas with his wife Brigitte, according to the daily Var Matin.
The Elysée, the seat of the presidency, has not confirmed the start of this “private” stay.
Fort de Brégançon has all the equipment to work, make international calls and monitor crisis situations, as was the case last year with the capture of Kabul (Afghanistan) by the Taliban or in 2020 with the explosion at the port of Beirut.
The Head of State chaired the last Council of Ministers on Friday before the summer break.
The day before he had returned from a tour of Africa and had received the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salmane for dinner at the Élysée, during a visit disputed by human rights defenders.
Ministers "mobilized", but who must "recharge their batteries"
The return of the government is scheduled for the week of August 22.
Until then, Emmanuel Macron will "follow important files and prepare for the start of the school year", said his entourage.
Among these files are "the sobriety plan" to deal with the energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine, "ecological planning", "the implementation of the National Refoundation Council" scheduled for September or measures to promote “full employment”, according to this source.
For their part, the ministers were asked to "participate in the work" until the end of the parliamentary session scheduled "at best on Thursday August 4, if not Sunday August 7", government spokesman Olivier said on Friday. Veran.
The "mobilization" of the ministers is "full and complete" and the president told them that it was also important to "recharge oneself", according to him.
The Macron couple traditionally spend their summer holidays at Fort de Brégançon, which stands on a rocky peninsula overlooking the sea 35 m, at the eastern end of the harbor of Hyères.
As in previous years, Emmanuel Macron's program is not revealed, but the president will participate, as every year, in the commemoration ceremony of the Landing in Provence, in mid-August, in Bormes-les-Mimosas.
Visits from foreign leaders
He has also become accustomed to receiving foreign leaders there, such as the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in 2018, or the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in 2020. At this stage, no information has been given on a possible invitation.
The fort, a fairly simple building with narrow windows, became one of the official residences of the Head of State in 1968. Previously, it had been occupied by a garrison for centuries and modernized by Napoleon Bonaparte before being decommissioned in 1919 after the First World War.
The state then leased it to individuals before repossessing it in 1963.
Since 1968, the Heads of State of the Fifth Republic have stayed there for varying lengths of time.
Thus, Jacques Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, went there very regularly.
But neither Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) nor François Hollande (2012-2017) have become regulars there.
In 2014, the socialist president even made the fort accessible to the public in the summer when it was not occupied.