Emmanuel Macron intends to capitalize on the success of the Olympic Games. The Paris Olympics showed “the true face of France”, the French president said on Monday, August 12, in front of several hundred professionals mobilized during this event which was “a success in terms of security, organization, a sporting and popular success” according to the head of state.
“We who have lived for more than two weeks in a country where we had the feeling that the air was lighter […] “We don’t want life to go back to normal,” said the president, confessing to “nostalgia” during this reception in the gardens of the Elysée, where Olympic volunteers, local elected officials, police officers, soldiers, gendarmes and firefighters were gathered.
“There is no more event to follow, there is no more enthusiasm every morning,” he also regretted, praising the sporting results of the French athletes, who finished in 5th place in the medal rankings.
Emmanuel Macron saw in the success of this competition proof that the “at the same time”, his political trademark since his election in 2017, “is a reality”. “We can be at the same time creative and rigorous and we can be at the same time completely crazy and very well organized”, he insisted, accompanied in particular by Gabriel Attal, Gérald Darmanin, Valérie Pécresse, Tony Estanguet and Amélie Oudéa-Castera.
“When we are all together, we are unbeatable”
“This spirit of the Games shows us a very simple thing […] “It’s that when we’re all together, we’re unbeatable,” Emmanuel Macron hammered home, who is facing a political deadlock after the dissolution. The head of state particularly emphasized the security success of these Olympic Games: the police officers responsible for preventing acts of violence and/or terrorism were able to prevent “hundreds of” dangerous actions during the Olympic Games, he said. “All of this was possible first of all because there were hundreds of actions that were prevented thanks to more than a million administrative investigations conducted by the SNEAS,” the National Service for Administrative Security Investigations. These investigations made it possible to “remove nearly 5,600 potentially dangerous people,” he said.
“We have made sustainable and equal Games. It will never be otherwise,” Emmanuel Macron also assured, while the baton has now been passed to Los Angeles, host of the event in 2028. “We have made the Seine swimmable, and it will remain. The Seine and the Marne,” he added, promising that the “social” and “cultural” legacies of these festivities will endure. “Games like this, we will see who will do them again,” he said ironically, calling on the various stakeholders not to “relax their efforts until September 8,” the closing date of the Paralympic Games, which will begin on August 28.