On Place Vendôme in Paris (1st arrondissement), stands have been placed near the famous column.
Giant screens set up.
The executive pulled out all the stops to include, this Friday, March 8 at midday, abortion in the Constitution.
For the first time, the seal press was taken out of the Chancellery, a few meters away.
The 300 kg machine, ordered by Napoleon, was polished and waxed by the Mobilier national so that it shines.
We checked that the mechanics were not seized.
It will be used to affix the seal of the Republic, designed in 1848, which had been sleeping in a chest for sixteen years (date of the last constitutional reform).
Glorifying a rare moment of national harmony
“I have the honor to request that you please proceed with the position of the Great Seal of the French Republic on the constitutional law, relating to the guaranteed freedom of a voluntary termination of pregnancy”.
This is the outdated formula that the Director of Civil Affairs and the Seal, one of the highest ranking members of the Chancellery, will have to proclaim, according to the ritual.
Then, Éric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice ― who will never have worn the title of Keeper of the Seals so well ―, will have to turn (ten times) the pendulum of the press.
Several rehearsals took place this Thursday.
Because the operation is delicate: pressing too hard risks crushing the cake.
Not applying enough pressure is putting a limp seal...
The Head of State will first deliver a speech.
By choosing this dramaturgy (the sealing ceremony is not obligatory to make a constitutional revision effective), the President of the Republic wants to glorify a rare moment of national harmony.
This is his first revision of the Constitution, after several unsuccessful attempts.
This event will also be an opportunity to recall that women's rights are the great cause of Emmanuel Macron's two five-year terms - hence the choice to hold this ceremony on March 8, International Women's Rights Day.
If the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution was not originally an idea of the Walkers, the majority quickly rallied to it.
More than a thousand guests were invited to the ceremony at Place Vendôme.
Among which all the parliamentarians.
The President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, will be absent “for reasons of personal agenda”.
He abstained from the vote in Congress on Monday.
Feminist associations will be there.
Alongside the ceremony, Emmanuel Macron plans to place flowers on a certain number of graves of major figures in the feminist cause and fight.