venerdì 15 giugno 2018

I piatti comprati da Macron: la roba "buona" costa

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2018-06-15.

Manufacture de Sèvres

Mr Macron è così parsimonioso da rinunciare persino ad accogliere i migranti per poter risparmiare sul loro mantenimento.

«President’s choice of dinner service criticised as he pushes through economic overhaul»

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«Le Canard enchaîné, however, makes it more like €500,000»

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«With some of their crockery dating back to the time of President René Coty in the 1950s, France’s first couple badly needed a dinner service that “corresponded better to the present day”, the Élysée let it be known»

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«So Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron ordered a set of 900 dinner plates and 300 side plates, designed by the artist Evariste Richer, from the Manufacture de Sèvres, suppliers of fine porcelain to the presidential palace since 1848»

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«But for a head of of state dubbed “the president of the rich”, it did not look good»

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Poi c’è anche chi si lamenta dei nostri governanti.

Ci si consoli. Almeno i piatti resteranno all’Eliseo, mentre i belletti sono prodotti di consumo…

Nota.

Sono state pubblicate cifre differenti. Quelle riportate dal The Local sembrerebbero però essere le più verosimili.


→ The TelegraphEmmanuel Macron has spent €26,000 on makeup in his first three months as French president

Emmanuel Macron spent €26,000 (£24,000) on makeup during his first three months as president of France, it has emerged.

In potentially damaging news for the 39-year old centrist leader, whose popularity is waning, Le Point reported that his personal makeup artist – referred to only as Natacha M – put in two bills, one for €10,000 and another for €16,000.

The Elysee Palace defended the high fee saying: “We called in a contracter as a matter of urgency”. The same makeup artist also applied foundation to Mr Macron during his presidential campaign. Aides said that spending on makeup would be “significantly reduced”.

It may seem like a stratospheric sum for a president who has described his style as “Jupiterian” – lofty in the spirit of the God of Roman gods.

The gross figure is higher than the €6,000 euro salary Mr Hollande paid his staff makeup artist, but it is less when social charges are added. Le Point put the overall figure for Mr Hollande’s makeup at €30,000 per quarter. 

Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, paid a whopping €8,000 per month for his, according to Vanity Fair. 


→ The Guardian. 2018-06-14. China crisis: Macrons under fire in France over cost of new plates

President’s choice of dinner service criticised as he pushes through economic overhaul.

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With some of their crockery dating back to the time of President René Coty in the 1950s, France’s first couple badly needed a dinner service that “corresponded better to the present day”, the Élysée let it be known.

So Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron ordered a set of 900 dinner plates and 300 side plates, designed by the artist Evariste Richer, from the Manufacture de Sèvres, suppliers of fine porcelain to the presidential palace since 1848.

Inevitably, there is now a bit of row over the cost. According to the Journal du Dimanche, the official price tag for the new service was €50,000 (£44,000). The satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné, however, makes it more like €500,000.

Macron’s critics have been quick to highlight the discrepancy, accusing the president of extravagance at a time of national belt-tightening due to his far-reaching programme of economic change.

The revelation came, unfortunately, after his head of communications, Sibeth Ndiaye, posted a video of Macron talking animatedly about the “crazy amounts of cash” France spent on welfare without making any great difference.

“We plough a crazy amount of cash into minimum welfare benefits and people are still poor,” he said, reviewing a speech he was to give later in the southern city of Montpellier. “People who are born poor stay poor. We have to have something that enables people to get out of it.”

The speech subsequently made clear Macron was referring to the need for greater investment in education and reforms to a benefit system that stigmatises recipients while failing to make any real improvement to their lives.

But for a head of of state dubbed “the president of the rich”, it did not look good. The pricey crockery, though, has an explanation. A national institution founded in the reign of Louis XV, the Manufacture de Sèvres is fully state-subsidised, and its employees are civil servants.

The official bill for the new dinner service would cover the designer’s fee, the news weekly Le Point reported; the rest would not be paid for by the Élysée, but come out of the factory’s budget, partly financed by the culture ministry.

The Canard enchaîné’s calculations were based on the catalogue prices, of €400-500 per plate, that the factory charges collectors. “You can’t compare the list price to the public and the price of state orders,” Romane Sarfati, a ceramics expert , told the magazine.

“Some will doubtless call this order a waste of public money,” concluded Le Point, noting that most French presidents ordered a new service. “Others will prefer to consider it state support for a heritage industry, and a priceless investment.”


→ The Local. 2018-06-14. Elysee Palace provokes row over new ‘€500,000’ porcelain plates

A new set of plates reportedly worth €500,000 has been ordered for the Elysée Palace and French tax payers may find the cost hard to swallow.

Emmanuel Macron may find his image as the ‘rich man’s president’ – due to his past as a banker and his business-friendly measures – even harder to shake off, after a new row sparked by a new set of plates for the Elysée Palace.

In May, the presidential palace announced it had ordered 1,200 new plates for state dinners to replace sets which are ‘showing signs of wear’.

The plates currently used are from collections ordered by former French presidents René Coty in the 50s and more recently Jacques Chirac, so it was not seen as extravagant for the youthful Emmanuel Macron to want something more modern to reflect his presidency.

Neither were any eyebrows raised at the total bill of €50 000 put forward by the Elysée.

But this week, a row has broken over news that the new set could actually cost 10 times that much, in other words half a million euros, according to the Canard Enchaîné newspaper, which is known for having sources in high places.
“The precise total cost is unknown for the moment, but what is sure is that the final bill will be huge,” the satirical weekly newspaper said.

“The painful bill should cost half a million euros given current rates, which is about 400 euros a piece for a basic plate, and from 500 euros a plate for a more contemporary model,” it said.

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