Emmanuel Macron kicked off the July 14 parade by reviewing the troops of the French army on the avenue des Champs-Elysées. Shortly after 10:30 a.m., the Patrouille de France painted the Parisian sky in blue white red, opening the traditional military parade, in a strategic context marked by the return of war in Europe.
President Emmanuel Macron had previously reviewed the troops on the prestigious avenue des Champs-Elysées aboard a military vehicle, under a radiant sun, before settling in the tribune on the place de la Concorde in the company of the most senior state officials. In total, some 6,300 people marched this year, including nearly 5,000 on foot. The show mobilizes 64 planes, 25 helicopters, 200 Republican Guard horses and 181 motorized vehicles. The Air Force will also fly over Paris for the first time a remotely piloted aircraft, the Reaper drone, used in the Sahel to track down jihadists, while France is in the process of recalibrating its military presence on the African continent. The Army will present, for its part, its new armored vehicles, the Griffon – successor to the forward armored vehicle (VAB) – and a reconnaissance vehicle, the Jaguar.
The nations of Eastern Europe in the spotlight
“Sharing the flame” is the theme of the 2022 parade. A triple reference to the army-nation link, to the flame of the Resistance embodied by Hubert Germain, the last companion of the Liberation who died last year, and to the Olympic flame whose France is now the depositary until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Olympic and Paralympic medalists will be part of the procession.
The President of the Republic wished this year to honor the nations of Eastern Europe by parading troops from the Baltic countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. They will be followed by French troops who took part in the reassurance mission on the eastern flank.
Paris has clearly reinforced its reinsurance missions there since the start of the war. Some 500 French soldiers were urgently dispatched to Romania at the end of February within the framework of NATO and Paris is ready to increase its contingent if necessary. France is also taking part in land and air reassurance missions in Estonia and its Rafale fighter jets are helping to protect Polish skies.
At the end of the parade, the Head of State must give at 1:10 p.m. on the France 2 and TF1 channels his first television interview since his re-election in April, in a complex domestic political context after the setback of his coalition in the legislative elections. of June which deprived him of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. Emmanuel Macron will specify during this television interview his areas of reform for his five-year term, thus reviving a practice established by former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing which he had abandoned.
