LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Emmanuel Macron, here aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, sailing between the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, December 19, 2022.
ARMY – The defeat of the Blues barely cashed, Emmanuel Macron put on this Monday, December 19 his clothes as head of the armies and paid tribute to French soldiers and sailors, in the face of terrorism or the “unfriendly behavior” Russians, during the traditional Christmas with the troops on the aircraft carrier.
After having tried in vain to console the France team after a dramatic penalty shootout against the Argentinians in Qatar, the French president flew to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt from where he was airlifted on the Charles de Gaulle in the Red Sea.
Punctuating a long international sequence, which led him from the G20 from Bali to Washington, Emmanuel Macron has refined his image as the first European leader, facing a still very discreet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the head of the armed forces at the forefront of world confrontations.
In two very visual sequences, the scene was set: the chief of the armies first joined the bowels of the steel mastodon in a gigantic aircraft elevator then put on the blue jumpsuit of the French Navy, adorned with a crest « french carrier » (French aircraft carrier) and the surname “E. Macron President of the Republic”.
From the aircraft hangar, he then congratulated the 3,000 sailors of Charles de Gaulle and the buildings accompanying it for their “professionalism” It front of « interactions » in the Mediterranean with “Russian aircraft and buildings with sometimes unfriendly behavior”.
LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Emmanuel Macron, here giving a speech aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, sailing between the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, December 19, 2022.
Before crossing the Suez Canal and entering the Red Sea on Sunday, the aircraft carrier participated in the defense of NATO’s eastern flank, against a backdrop of war in ukrainewith Allied reconnaissance and reassurance flights, especially in the Romanian sky.
Foie gras and monkfish
The Russian buildings then regularly approached the Charles de Gaulle, sometimes very closely, at the risk of hindering the maneuver of the planes.
The aircraft carrier also participates in the fight of the international coalition under American command (Inherent Resolve) against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
This participation “also made it possible to show the competitors present in the region that France must be reckoned with”he underlined, in reference to Russia but also the Chinese navy, very present in the Red Sea from its anchor point in Djibouti.
After a series of Rafale launches and landings and a visit to the sailors’ leisure area, with video games and a large reinforcement of comics, the Head of State dined with 140 crew members.
On the menu: foie gras on gingerbread, monkfish and risotto, ice cream, champagne, Gigondas and Bourgogne Aligoté. He then slept aboard the floating steel giant before joining Jordan on Tuesday for a regional conference.
Emmanuel Macron also expressed his desire to appeal to soldiers and former soldiers to “to strengthen the moral forces of the nation, in particular of the youth”through its Universal National Service project, on which it will make announcements in early 2023.
Specific pension scheme for the military
He also promised to maintain a specific pension scheme for the military as part of the pension reform which will be presented in January.
The Charles de Gaulle will then continue its mission in the Indian Ocean, France displaying its desire to develop its presence in the Indo-Pacific.
“Here again, our allies will be by our side but with always and, I want to, our autonomy of assessment and by controlling any escalation ourselves”insisted the president.
For the last Christmas of the troops, Emmanuel Macron went to Africa (Niger in 2017, Chad in 2018, Ivory Coast in 2019). In 2020 and 2021, he had to give it up due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
France has since reoriented its military presence, reducing its wing in the Sahel.
After leaving Mali, the French force still includes 3,000 soldiers in Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso, far from the 5,500 men at the height of its deployment.
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