Who would have thought that in the heart of summer, the soldiers of the Republican Guard would become the symbol of the France of the Olympic Games, the joyful one, capable of (re)uniting a society that had displayed its divisions at the ballot box a few weeks before? They only needed a few appearances, between July 26 and August 11, to achieve this feat. There was of course this scene from the opening ceremony on the Pont des Arts where they shared an improbable dance step with the singer Aya Nakamura. Later, we saw them playing in the metro, then making the crowd dance in front of the Sacré-Cœur with the hit Freed from Desire de Gala, which, with its “nanananana”, has become the anthem of French sportsmen.
Each time, they are applauded, congratulated, and thanked for their good humor. Gabriel Attal, still Prime Minister, salutes their performance with Aya Nakamura with a “Name a better duo, I’m waiting”; left-wing sympathizers rejoice with a “no offense to the fascists”. During the Paralympic Games that have just opened, spectators and Parisians will be on the lookout for the blue uniforms with gold braid and the shakos topped with a plume of the “Guard” in the hope of a new, unique moment.
However, it was a close call for the “magic of the Games” not to act. On July 18, in fact, by one of those coincidences of the calendar that only it has the secret to, The Court of Auditors has released a severe report on this body of 3,000 guards, whose cost amounted to 230 million euros in 2022. Among the criticisms contained in this document of around a hundred pages: “a two-speed Republican Guard”, “an attractiveness and a heterogeneous loyalty”, but also “tensions between historical and new missions, over-mobilized and under-used units, and an insufficient initial budget”. Euphoria of the Games, summer torpor, the document went unnoticed. It is no less revealing of the weaknesses of an elite unit of the national gendarmerie.
The French often only know a few images of the Republican Guard, made of solemnity and the prestige of the uniform: the parade of its 500 horsemen during the July 14 parade; the performances of its 300 musicians; the panache of its guards during tribute ceremonies or during official visits – in September 2023, they accompanied in grand style the descent of the Champs-Elysées of Emmanuel Macron and Charles III during the first visit of the British sovereign to France. However, the essential mission of the Republican Guard is elsewhere, far from the glitz and glamour.
Low attractiveness
Since 1848, its primary responsibility has been to secure part of the palaces hosting the institutions of the Republic. The Elysée of course, Matignon, but also the National Assembly, the Senate, the Quai d’Orsay or the Constitutional Council. Nine places in total under the guard of its “security and honor companies”. But unlike that of the horsemen and musicians, the daily life of these units is not the stuff of dreams. And more seriously, according to the Court, their working conditions (more than 10 guards per month, daily work averages close to twelve hours, recalls of gendarmes on rest or recuperation) penalize the accomplishment of their mission.
“This high demand for security and honor companies in terms of working time and availability directly affects training and practice times. These times have been reduced by 25% between 2019 and 2023,” insist the magistrates. They also warn of the low attractiveness of these companies, measurable by “an over-representation of the last two deciles of the gendarmerie school exit ranking within the Guard”. Clearly, the best elements choose other assignments.
In 2013, already, in a short three-page documentthe Court of Auditors issued a severe warning to the Republican Guard. In this “summary”, it judged the service provided in terms of security to be very weak in relation to the cost of the institution. It noted in particular that “the missions of the Guard respond[ai]ent more to prestige objectives than to security needs: the static Republican Guards would not be able to deal alone, for example, with organized intrusion attempts”. Eleven years later, the Court’s approach is more measured, it acknowledges progress, but it mentions, in its introduction, the attack on the Capitol in Washington in 2021 or in Brasilia shortly after, a way of recalling the importance of securing palaces in a political world that is more unstable than ever.
She suggests some corrections to improve the attractiveness of security companies. Targeted? Inequalities of treatment that are difficult to understand. Thus, depending on whether the gendarme is assigned to a particular palace, he will not receive the same bonus. It is better, in fact, to be attached to the Senate, where they vary from 2,000 to 42,000 euros, to the Elysée (from 2,760 to 9,216 euros) or to Matignon (from 2,200 to 24,000 euros) rather than to the Constitutional Council, the Palais de Justice or the Hôtel de Brienne (Armies), where they do not exist. However, according to the Court of Auditors, nothing justifies this difference: “It has not been established that these bonuses depend on any assessment by the head of the detachment or are based on specific constraints to which the guards are subject.”
The Changing of the Guard returns to the Elysée Palace
Between the different units of the Guard, inequalities are also measured in working time and prestige. Thus, while a quarter of the infantrymen carry out more than 10 guards per month, 32% carry out five or less. Among the privileged, the intervention platoons, who came, for example, to support the gathering around the mega-basin of Sainte-Soline. They have an average daily working time almost two hours less than that of the units securing the palaces.
But it is with the riders and the musicians that the gaps are the most flagrant. A horse costs, for example, 130,000 euros per year (to be multiplied by 480), for a fairly low effective activity time. An incompressible cost, according to the hierarchy, due to the constraints (minimum number of horses) linked to the July 14 parade. The explanation does not convince the magistrates: “The cavalry regiment cannot be satisfied with the status quo by legitimizing its operation on the protocol ceremonies carried out and the fact that it constitutes one of the essential elements of the image of the Guard.” And to invite them to find other missions to justify their existence.
As for the musical groups, stars of Paris 2024, their members are even better off, with the possibilities offered to them to perform outside, to improve their salary with fees averaging 800 euros gross per month but which can go up to 1,400 euros, advantageous material conditions… Little extras that make the body attractive but on which the Court of Auditors, always concerned about the use of public funds, calls for greater vigilance.
In 2023, a new general was appointed to command the Republican Guard. Concerned about the image of his institution with the general public, Charles-Antoine Thomas advocated for the reinstatement of the changing of the Guard in front of the Elysée Palace one Tuesday a month, in the manner of the Horse Guards British in front of Buckingham Palace. In terms of fundamental reform, he promised a three-year action plan, until 2026. While it takes note of this, the Court has not been able to measure its effects. Despite the very attractive communication operation around the Olympic Games, it still refuses to sing For me formidable visiting the backyards of the Guard.
.