Initially, the sequence was supposed to offer some respite for the president, but ultimately it risked becoming a nightmare. Charles III’s first state visit to France, which was to begin on Sunday, was finally canceled on Friday morning.
Between a new day of mobilization scheduled for next Tuesday against the pension reform and various flammable symbols of this visit, the Elysee preferred to play the security card.
“This decision was made with the agreement of all parties, after the French president asked the British government to postpone the visit,” explained a spokesman for the British Embassy in Paris.
“A joint decision”
On the side of the Head of State’s entourage, however, it is assured that the decision was “made jointly” after “a call of about fifteen minutes”, according to information from BFMTV.
The program for the next few days was enough to cause the executive to break out in a cold sweat, in particular this sequence scheduled for Monday in which the king and Emmanuel Macron were going for a walk on the Champs-Élysées.
The choice of location was questioned, although the yellow vests had demonstrated on several occasions in this district and that some of them had committed significant damage to the Arc de Triomphe. Suffice it to say that in full reactivation of the challenge against retirement at 64, the risks of overflow were not negligible. “The conditions were too complicated,” summarizes a close friend of the president.
The fear of the symbol of Versailles
The -improbable- fear of the photos or videos of the king wandering the streets with garbage on the sidewalks in full strike of the Parisian garbage collectors also worried the executive. It must be said that the king wanted to meet the French, especially during a visit to the Centquatre, an exhibition space in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
Proof that the Ministry of the Interior took the situation very seriously: a total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes were going to be mobilized to supervise this state visit.
Monday night didn’t seem much easier with dinner at Versailles, the center of France’s absolute monarchy, in the presence of Queen Camilla. Snapshots of Emmanuel Macron walking through the Hall of Mirrors with the British monarch could have been very poorly perceived, in the midst of a political and social crisis. Elysium had also considered moving this food within its own walls.
“For two or three days we have felt that concern is increasing and we cannot say that this cancellation is a surprise,” deciphers Senator Éric Bocquet, president of the Franco-British friendship group, who was working on the coming of the king in the upper house. on Monday.
A visit to Bordeaux under high tension
The king’s trip to Bordeaux the next day could also have had a nightmarish outfit, between a tram ride and a visit to an organic winery as part of the tenth day of mobilization planned by the inter-union. The city broke an all-time record for protesters on Thursday before major tensions erupted with law enforcement. The main door of the town hall was set on fire.
More than the fear of a movement disturbed by the demonstrators, the services of the Head of State prefer to point the finger at the “logistical” problems with the arrival of a TGV coming from Paris – a possible challenge in the event of a very crowded strike in the railway.
“The visit will take place in the coming months,” says the presidency, which does not want to give the impression of having backed down under pressure from the street.
Oppositions are ironic and want to see it as a sign.
The left has not been deprived of using this report. “Like what, Emmanuel Macron has found the opposite,” mocks Fabien Roussel, the PCF’s national secretary on Twitter. “Charles III has backed down, Macron will back down”, hopes the rebel Manuel Bompard.
La France insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon welcomed to his side to see “the meeting of the kings at Versailles dispersed by popular censorship”. Same story for LFI MP Clémentine Autain, who sees it as a sign that the monarchy is faltering,” taking aim at the French president.
“Two kings were going to meet in Versailles. 1 down, 1 to go” (Two kings were going to meet in Versailles. One is on the ground, the other soon), the LFI deputy Raquel Garrido writes on Twitter.
The kings Carlos and Camila indicate for their part the rescheduling of a visit “as soon as the dates can be found.” In any case, this should take place in 2023.
Source: BFM TV
