Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will visit the Pyrenees this Tuesday. A highly symbolic meeting for the President of the Republic, a stone’s throw from his maternal grandmother’s house.
Arriving on Sunday May 5 in Paris, Chinese President Xi Jinping will continue meetings with Emmanuel Macron. This Monday, the two leaders must notably discuss trade and geopolitical issues, with their sights set on a potential outcome to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine while Beijing continues to provide support to Moscow. The President of the Republic hopes for his part “to contribute to a resolution of this conflict” indicates the Elysée. This is Xi Jinping’s first trip to Europe since 2019.
Xi Jinping in the footsteps of Emmanuel Macron’s grandparents
After a ceremony at the Invalides this Monday, the two men will go to the Marigny theater in the evening. Discussions between entrepreneurs from both camps should be held there, before a state dinner at the Elysée Palace. From Tuesday, a radical change of scenery will take place. Direction the Hautes-Pyrénées, and Tarbes-Lourdes airport for Xi Jinping and his French counterpart.
In the Hautes-Pyrénées, the Head of State will find his “other center of gravity” as he liked to describe this region in the columns of Zadig in 2021, in addition to his native Picardy. Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping will go to the Col du Tourmalet for lunch. A region dear to his maternal grandmother: “A green paradise where I continue to go, the place of origin of my grandparents, the one where I took refuge every summer. I spent a lot of time there. A place synonymous with absolute happiness, with very stable benchmarks, which I still find today” he explained, specifically referring to the town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre. The two men will therefore be very close this Tuesday, at La Mongie. The Chinese leader’s visit will end again at Tarbes-Lourdes airport. The latter will fly to two new European meetings, in Serbia then in Hungary.
The precedent of 2022 at Argelès-Gazost
Already in 2022, Emmanuel Macron went to the Pyrenees, to Argeles-Gazost. He was then invited to cover Edmond Duplan’s title “Le Refuge” with a local choir. Despite some difficulties in the verses, he got into the game by singing this great classic of the region. A sequence which made the rounds on social networks, and generated much mockery towards the President of the Republic.