Alexandre Chauveau 08:33, August 02, 2022

The Head of State is on vacation at Fort Brégançon for a "study break" of around three weeks.

He already spoke on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.

An hour and a half phone call from his summer residence.

Will the president receive, as he is used to, heads of state at his vacation spot?

The holidays have finally started for Emmanuel Macron.

The Head of State, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, arrived Monday at Fort Brégançon, in the Var.

He will spend three particularly studious weeks there, marked by the preparation of the files for the start of the school year and perhaps by visits from foreign counterparts.

The president is used to receiving other heads of state at his vacation spot. 

A meeting with Putin in 2019

The most significant visit was undoubtedly that of Vladimir Poutine in 2019. Arrived by helicopter, the Russian president had offered a bouquet of flowers to Brigitte Macron and warmly greeted his hosts.

At that time, Russia was already excluded from the G7 since the annexation of Crimea and Emmanuel Macron is working on its rapprochement with Europe.

>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here 

"The relationship between France and Russia is absolutely decisive. I know everything that could have separated us, the misunderstandings of the last decades. I also know the debates that there are on the relationship with the West. I know another thing is that Russia is European, very profoundly, and we believe in this Europe which goes from Lisbon to Vladivostok”, declared the head of state at the time. 

Then with Angela Merkel in the summer of 2020

But the mood cools pretty quickly.

Asked about the arrests of Russian demonstrators in Moscow, Vladimir Putin draws a parallel with the maintenance of order operated in France during the demonstrations of the yellow vests.

"It's not just happening in Russia. I'm invited by the French president, so I'm a little embarrassed to say it. But you know that during the demonstrations of the yellow vests, several dozen people were injured. And we does not want such events to happen in the Russian capital," said the head of the Kremlin.

Emmanuel Macron also welcomed Theresa May in 2018 to negotiate the contours of Brexit.

The two heads of state then exchanged in the outer courtyard of the fort, lulled by the song of the cicadas, a more informal setting than the Elysée.

A scene that will enchant Angela Merkel in the summer of 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic.