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He is also something of glamour boy himself, attending the Quatorze Juillet concert, conversing with rock stars, and opening the traditional garden party at the Palais Elysée to all and sundry. Well, not quite all but certainly sundry.
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The biggest event of the day was the parade, a very fine spectacle, indeed. I speak as someone who happened to be in Paris one year for Quatorze Juillet and enjoyed the whole event enormously.
There were certain differences this year. The first one was President Sarkozy not taking the salute as most of his predecessors did. Au contraire, he led the parade in the back of an armoured car. I bet he has been longing to do that ever since he was a little boy, watching the parade from daddy’s or grandpa’s shoulders. Jolly exciting, what?
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This time it was not liberation but European solidarity that was celebrated. Or so President Sarkozy made out. There were 30 troops from each of the other 26 Member States, marching under their own flags but led by the tricolour and the ring of stars.
Actually, this is in keeping with much of what the French Revolution was supposed to stand for: liberty and international brotherhood. Sadly, it all degenerated into French occupation but this was often accompanied by liberation of serfs and introduction of certain political ideas that were then turned against the “liberators” who seemed incapable of doing without certain institutions like the secret police.
Well thirty troops, even multiplied by 27, do not an army make. However, President Sarkozy saw it all as a symbol of a new European development with France in the lead and himself, no doubt, in the back of an armoured car. As AP reports:
On the eve of the Bastille celebrations, Sarkozy reiterated his push for Europe-wide defense.
"The basis for a European defense exists. We must make it grow," he said in a speech to European defense ministers and French officers. "I want Europe to be capable of ensuring its security autonomously."
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Ah well, belatedly let us toast liberté, égalité, fraternité and watch the three concepts battle it out as they have done since 1789.
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