PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Sunday that 2024 will be the year of French pride and hope, marked by the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games and the re-opening of Notre-Dame cathedral after a devastating fire.
“Only once in a century does one host Olympic and Paralympic Games, only once in a millennium does one rebuild a cathedral,” Macron said. “2024, a year of determination, choices, recovery, pride. In fact, a year of hope.”
He spoke in a televised address ahead of New Year celebrations during which around 90,000 police and 5,000 soldiers will be deployed to ensure security and address what the government called a “very high” terrorist threat.
France will continue to “re-arm” itself when it comes to security matters, but also boost public education and social cohesion, Macron said.
He sought to cheer up the French after a year marked by wars and crises abroad as well as protests over an unpopular pension reform and street violence following the police killing of a teenager at a Paris traffic stop.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Sybille de La Hamaide and Nick Macfie)
