After the World Cup final, Emmanuel Macron swapped his costume as a supporter of the French football team with that of chief of the armies.

During the traditional Christmas with the troops, this year on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, the Head of State paid tribute on Monday to French soldiers and sailors in the face of terrorism or the "unfriendly behavior" of the Russians.

The World Cup over, the 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 streak, which took him from the G20 from Bali to Washington, Emmanuel Macron refined his image as the first European leader, facing a still very discreet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the head of the armed forces in the front row of the global confrontations.

A blue jumpsuit for the president

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 suit of the French Navy, adorned with the mention "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 him for their “professionalism” in the face of “interactions” in the Mediterranean with “Russian aircraft and buildings with sometimes unfriendly behavior”.

Before crossing the Suez Canal and entering the Red Sea on Sunday, the aircraft carrier took part in the defense of NATO's eastern flank.

The Russian buildings then regularly approached the Charles de Gaulle, sometimes very closely, at the risk of hindering the maneuver of the planes.

Monkfish and foie gras

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 "also made it possible to show the competitors present in the region that France must be reckoned with", underlined Emmanuel Macron, in reference to Russia but also the Chinese navy, very present in the Red Sea from its anchor point. from Djibouti.

After a series of Rafale launches and landings and a visit to the sailors' leisure area, 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 on board before joining Jordan on Tuesday for a regional conference.


Emmanuel Macron also took the opportunity to mark his desire to appeal to soldiers and former soldiers to "strengthen the moral forces of the nation, in particular of the youth", through his Universal National Service project, on which he will make announcements in early 2023. He also promised to maintain a specific pension scheme for the military as part of the pension reform to be presented in January.

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