“Politically yours” N°59: Versailles or the parable of the Macronian mandate

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We learned this Friday: King Charles III will not come to France.

The social climate got the better of what was to be the first visit abroad of the new King of England.

Besides the threat of violent outbursts, there was also the fear of the impact of too sumptuous images of the state dinner in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

This missed meeting reminded me of another reception at Versailles: that of Vladimir Poutine.

It was May 29, 2017. Emmanuel Macron had just moved to the Élysée and the arrival of the Russian president was his first act of international significance.

This was obviously long before the invasion of Ukraine, but already the relations of “the West” were tense with the Russian president.

He was even suspected of having tried, through a few agencies, to interfere in the French presidential campaign.

On May 29, 2017, Emmanuel Macron has just moved to the Élysée and receives Vladimir Poutine in Versailles.

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Macron, let's say it bluntly, had thrown Putin in awe.

That was the goal: to show that a young president under 40 was capable of staring down the tsar...

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