The blue carriage entrance of the Hôtel de Bourvallais, headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, opens heavily onto Place Vendôme.
The coffin of Robert Badinter, covered with the tricolor funeral pall, leaves this enclosure where the professional lawyer, Keeper of the Seals from 1981 to 1986, worked courageously to abolish the death penalty.
His
“biggest trial”,
will underline the President of the Republic.
An impenetrable silence reigns.
We can barely hear the echo of Paris, in the distance, immersed in its natural agitation.
The most opulent squares in the capital are not used to hosting such a ceremony: this is the first time that a national tribute has been paid there.
Soon, the drums of the Republican Guard indicate the pace of the funeral march.
A shower of applause, coming from the crowd of anonymous people gathered at the back of Place Vendôme, warmly welcomes this
“giant of the century”,
whom Emmanuel Macron will describe in his funeral oration as
“the Republic made man”.
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In a vibrant eulogy lasting around fifteen minutes, the head of state painted the portrait of a great man, to whom France owes a lot.
The president concluded his speech by announcing his wish for the upcoming pantheonization of Robert Badinter.
“The time of recognition of the nation begins.
Your name must be inscribed alongside those who have done so much for human progress and for France: in the Pantheon.
Long live the Republic and long live France,”
concluded Emmanuel Macron, before silently praying in front of the coffin of the deceased.
Robert Badinter's family agreed in principle to this pantheonization.
The ceremony will take place, but the details have not yet been decided.
Also read: “Emmanuel Macron will not legalize euthanasia in my lifetime”: Robert Badinter’s last fight
“Today we take the oath, I take the oath, to be faithful to your teaching and your commitment”
Obviously moved, the President of the Republic personally committed to continuing the fights of Robert Badinter,
"moral conscience that nothing erases, not even death." "Today we take the oath, I take the oath, to be faithful to your teaching and your commitment.
Faithful.
And you will be able to listen to our voices cover those of the anti-Semites, the Holocaust deniers, as your voice covered theirs, reducing them to silence,”
promised Emmanuel Macron.
Coming from a Jewish family, Robert Badinter saw his father rounded up by the Nazis at the age of 14, narrowly escaping deportation himself.
The fight against anti-Semitism has since driven him throughout his life, from his powerful tribute during the 50th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundup to his fight against the negationist (
"falsifier of history",
according to his words) Robert Faurisson.
The President of the Republic made this commitment to perpetuate the legacy of Robert Badinter
“at a time when your old adversaries, forgetfulness and hatred, seem to be advancing again.
Where your ideals, our ideals, are threatened: the universal that makes all lives equal, the rule of law that protects free lives, the memory that remembers all lives.”
The only authentically political outburst in the presidential speech.
The assembly, populated quite considerably by elected or former elected officials, did not have the heart for political controversy in any case.
Questioned by journalists about the
“controversy”
maintained by La France insoumise (LFI), which decided to send two elected officials against the wishes of the Badinter family, the representatives of the political class did not wish to respond.
The time of recognition of the nation begins.
Your name must be inscribed alongside those who have done so much for human progress and for France: in the Pantheon.
Long live the Republic and long live France
Emmanuel Macron
The LFI deputy Éric Coquerel just explained that he was there for
“the memory”
of Robert Badinter, also displaying his refusal to argue.
Upon his arrival, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's traveling companion sat in silence in the middle of the empty stands, offering the numerous cameras busy filming him the image of an isolated man.
“A little moment of solitude for comrade Coquerel,”
laughed a majority deputy, a few steps away.
The philosopher Élisabeth Badinter, married at 22 to the famous lawyer and with whom she formed, in the words of Emmanuel Macron,
“a couple in the century, united by the universal”,
recently spoke again, in an interview with Le
Point
, in 2022, against a form of
“Islamo-leftism”
and the
“enormous”
part that LFI has taken in the rise of anti-Semitism in France.