Day: 20 May 2018

HE Mr Rémi Mortier, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Monaco to the Council of Europe, accompanied by his Deputy, represented the Principality at the 128th Ministerial Session of the Council of Europe, held on May 17 and 18 in Elsinore, Denmark.

This high-level annual meeting brought together Ministers of Foreign Affairs and senior representatives of the Organisation’s 47 member states to discuss how to promote respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights and the strengthening of democratic security in a Europe facing multiple challenges.

Despite the crises that plague the continent and the many threats to the rule of law, the Secretary-General recalled the fundamental objective of the Organisation, which is to strengthen unity and enable the effective implementation of human rights on a European scale. He urged States to consolidate the achievements of the Council of Europe and to give it, on the eve of its 70th anniversary to be celebrated in 2019, a mandate adapted to current circumstances.

In his own speech, the Ambassador reaffirmed the political and financial support of the Prince’s Government for the Council of Europe. He also praised the Organisation’s flagship role as a platform for inter-state dialogue and cooperation aimed at ensuring the effective protection of the human rights of over 800 million European citizens, in particular through the European Court of Human Rights.

During the meeting, the Ministers also adopted a Protocol of Amendment which updates the Convention on the protection of personal data, in order to adapt the only international legally binding instrument of global scope to the challenges posed by the use of new technologies, information and communication.

A fire in the kitchen of the Beef Bar restaurant in Fontvieille broke out on the evening of Thursday, May 17, at about 21:40.

The restaurant was immediately evacuated, in calm, and there were no injuries to either staff or diners. Firefighters from Monaco were deployed to the scene in several vehicles, including three fire engines, a ladder and a fire ambulance.

“When I saw the flames at the back of the kitchen, I immediately evacuated the restaurant, it was full but everything was quiet in a few seconds,” Riccardo Giraudi, owner of the Beef Bar, said. He added that he believes the damage to the premises was quite significant.

An hour after the beginning of the disaster, the boss welcomes in the first place the absence of a victim. He thinks the damage will be important.

“The flames were quickly extinguished, and it was smoke that caused the most damage,” said Maxime Yvrard, the senior officer on duty at the Fire Department.

According to firefighters, the fire was triggered in a hood, before spreading to a nearby technical room. A cook tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher but was not able to control the flames.

For the commander Yvrard, this operation is mainly technical: “The fire was not virulent, but it generated a lot of smoke, and now it is necessary to evacuate it without disturbing neighbouring homes.”

The intervention was to last part of the evening. Firefighters will return to the scene every two hours. For security purposes.

The Carabinieri Orchestra of HSH the Sovereign Prince took part in the 589th annual Festival of Joan of Arc held from April 29 to May 8 in Orleans, in the presence of Edouard Philippe, Prime Minister of the French Republic.

Every year, for eleven days, the city of Orleans commemorates Joan of Arc, the heroine of France’s liberation from the English in 1429. Between April 29 every year, the date of arrival of Joan of Arc in the city, and May 8, the day the English siege was raised, the regional capital beats to the rhythm of festivities, parades, shows, and a medieval market.

Each year, a young Orleans girl is chosen to play Joan of Arc during the holidays. The girl participates in commemorations and finds herself at the head of the procession during the parade of May 8, a lively culmination of the holiday season which thousands of spectators attend.

The Carabiniers du Prince accompanied ‘the Maid’ along the five kilometre parade route through the streets of Orleans.

Preceding Joan on horseback accompanied by her pages, herself followed by regional and national authorities, the Prince’s Carabiners’ Orchestra surprised and delighted thousands of spectators throughout the five-kilometre parade with an eclectic and surprising repertoire for a military orchestra. This unprecedented experience was brilliantly performed under the watchful eyes of Colonel Luc Fringant, Commander of the Prince’s Carabinieri

Martin Ociepa, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology of Poland, paid a visit to the Principality on Thursday, May 17, accompanied by a small delegation.

On the agenda in discussions with Monaco’s Department of External Relations and Cooperation, were economic issues, in particular the negotiation of an Association Agreement between Monaco and the European Union and on the development of bilateral trade and investment exchanges between Monaco and Poland.

On the environmental front, the two delegations referred to the energy transition initiated by Monaco and Poland but also the forthcoming participation, next November, of a Monegasque delegation in the 24th Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24), which is to be held in Katowice, Poland.