REPORTAGE
The town of Bormes-les-Mimosas, in the Var, is, this year, under the spotlight. For the 75 years of his liberation, this town, where is located the state residence of Fort Brégançon, is the scene of several political receptions. Saturday, August 17, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech in front of local elected officials and veterans and Monday, August 19, the President of the Republic will receive in this secure and isolated fort his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Emmanuel Macron is part of a French tradition since this fort has hosted, since its existence, several historic diplomatic meetings. It is in the shade of the pines of the fortress of Brégançon, in the heart of the summer that recent pages of our history were written.
1985: a red telephone between Paris and Berlin
It is to evoke the tensions between the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc that Helmut Kohl and Helmut Kohl met Helmut Kohl and François Mitterand at Fort Brégançon in August 1985. , Chancellor of West Germany and François Mitterrand, President of the Republic had agreed to the establishment of a red telephone between Paris and Berlin. "We have therefore posed security problems since the security of one interests the security of the other," said Francois Mitterand.
2004: Franco-Algerian reconciliation
The fort was also the diplomatic theater of a lunch between Chirac and Bouteflika, in August 2004, at the end of which the Algerian president declared that "a page is well turned now".
2008: the crisis in Georgia is invited to Brégançon
On 14 August 2008, following the Russian invasion of Georgia by Russian troops, Nicolas Sarkozy received US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. They had both spoken at the foot of the fort, at the microphone of Europe 1 journalist Brigitte Rénaldi. "We have to stop the shock of the war, it takes a little time but it's progressing," said Nicolas Sarkozy, then President of the Republic. "And now I'm going to Georgia, it's important that this conflict stop so that Georgians can return to a normal life," said Condolezza Rice. A few days later, the Russian tanks had left Georgia.
Since his election, Emmanuel Macron receives at Fort Brégançon even more than his predecessors. So, Theresa May last year or Vladimir Putin on Monday. About the latter, the Elysee Palace has indeed judged the fort "more conducive to discussion" with the Russian president. What to answer to the objectives of Emmanuel Macron who had affirmed, in June, that "Europe must dialogue with Russia" and that this last one had to make "efforts".