Paris: France celebrated its biggest holiday on Monday with 7,000 troops marching, on horseback or riding armoured vehicles along the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées, and flyovers by fighter jets trailing red, white, and blue smoke. The country traditionally marks Bastille Day with a military parade in the capital and, each year, a “country of honour” as a special guest. This year, it’s Indonesia, with President Prabowo Subianto representing the world’s biggest Muslim country, which is also a major Asian economic and military player.
According to France24.com, Indonesian troops, including 200 drummers, took part in Monday’s parade, and Indonesia was expected to confirm new purchases of Rafale fighter jets and other French military equipment during the visit. It is also when France bestows special awards, including the most prestigious, the Légion d’honneur, on notable individuals. This year’s recipients include Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global hero to victims of sexual violence during a four-month trial in which her husband and dozens of men were convicted of sexually assaulting her while she was drugged unconscious. Others earning the honour are Yvette Levy, a Holocaust survivor and French Resistance fighter, and musician Pharrell Williams, designer for Louis Vuitton.
Beyond the military spectacle in Paris are growing concerns about an uncertain world. On the eve of the parade, President Macron used his annual speech to the military to announce a hike in France’s defence budget and warn of growing threats to European security. “Since 1945, freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,” Macron said. “We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.”
Macron called for 65 billion euros in extra military spending in the next two years because of new and unprecedented threats ranging from Russia to nuclear proliferation, terrorists, and online attacks. That would be double the 32 billion euros in annual spending when he became president in 2017.