Month: June 2019

The Palace has revealed in detail Prince Albert’s recent trip to Normandy for the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. The Prince undertook the emotional journey accompanied by members of his family, including his father-in-law Michael Wittstock and cousin Chris Le Vine, as well as some unnamed American friends.

On Wednesday 5^th June the Prince visited the Grand Bunker Museum in Ouistreham, the centrepiece of defence and the famous ‘Atlantic Wall’ which mobilised two million men from 1941 to 1944.

In the early evening, Prince Albert joined the Caen Memorial, a museum dedicated to the history of the 20th century and two world conflicts, where he and his delegation were able to visit an exhibition by the famous American painter illustrator Norman Rockwell entitled ‘Rockwell, Roosevelt and The Four Freedoms’.

To close the day, a dinner was held in the Prince’s honour by Joel Bruneau, Mayor of Caen, at the City Hall which adjoins the Men’s Abbey, founded by William the Conqueror.

On Thursday 6^th June, Prince Albert went to ‘La Fiere’ in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where retired colonel Keith Nightingale and the Friends of American Veterans recounted the bitter battle between paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the German forces 75 years ago.

Then, Prince Albert visited the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Eglise and attended memorials dedicated to the airborne troops of Operation Overlord in the company of General Milley, Chief of Staff of the Army, and General Mingus, Commander 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.

A religious service was also organised in the church of Sainte-Mère-Eglise in the presence of American military and generals, the Chaplain and choir. Jean Quétier, the mayor of this small town which became famous in the United States, later presented the Sovereign Prince with the city’s medal and an honorary membership diploma of the Association of Friends of American Veterans, presided by Maurice Renaud.

On Friday 7^th June, the Prince and his delegation joined the city of Saint-Lô and the Memorial Hospital France / United States, an institution built in part by fundraisers from America. There he witnessed the unveiling of a plaque honouring Franco-American friendship and the laying of wreaths in honour of American veterans who came with their families.

The American, Monegasque and French national anthems sounded before US Air Force planes flew over the hospital.

Martyr city of the second world war, up to 90% of Saint-Lô was destroyed. In the 18th century Saint-Lô became a stronghold of the House of Grimaldi thanks to the marriage between Jacques IV and Louise-Hippolyte.

In his speech, Prince Albert said that we should no longer speak of Saint-Lô as Samuel Beckett once called it, the “capital of ruins”, but as “a capital of reconstruction and even of innovation”.

The Monaco Philosophical Meetings Awards Night has been held at the Oceanographic Museum and the event was marked by a number of highlights, including the award ceremony with jury members.

The ceremony was held on Friday 7^th June, and the winners were:

– Marie Garrau, Vulnerability Policy (CNRS Éditions) for the 2019 Prize, awarded to a French-language philosophy book published in the calendar year preceding its award;

– Emma Pallanca for the Lyceen Prize, awarded following a written competition;

– The Beautiful Letters for the Honorary Mention that distinguishes a French-language publisher illustrating itself in the publication of innovative philosophical works.

The evening opened with a lecture by Etienne Bimbenet, winner of the 2018 Prize, on the theme ‘What is philosophy?’. Percussionist Adelaide Ferriere then performed a musical interlude.

The 4th edition of the Colloquium was an opportunity for the public to meet the five finalists of the 2019 prize. It was also a change for them to participate in the 12 ‘Leçons de philosophie’ at the New National Museum of Monaco – Villa Sauber. The objective was to present the thoughts of major philosophers of the 20th century from a concept or a theme, a subject or an object, central to their work.

A vessel working on Monaco’s land extension has suffered a major hydraulic oil leak. This frightening scenario was the basis of a recovery exercise staged this week to test the emergency response should such a catastrophe ever occur off the coast of the Principality.

The anti-pollution exercise was held on the morning of Tuesday 11th June at the site of the urbanisation project at sea. In this fictitious scenario, a hydraulic oil distribution hose broke on the Edmond (Trasomar) barge at 9.03am, spewing oil into the water.

Alert procedures were triggered with various stakeholders, Bouygues TP Mc, State services (Maritime Police, Directorate of Maritime Affairs, Fire Brigade) Société des Ports de Monaco, and the SAM of the Anse du Portier.Seven ships and 20 people were mobilised.

By 9.15am, Ecotank, which is charged by Bouygues TP to control potential accidents, jumps into action. They deploy anti-pollution absorbent dams to soak up the flow of hydraulic oil.

Two pairs of subcontracting teams set up horseshoe-shaped screens to collect possible polluting discharges.

Meanwhile, water skimming is taking place on the surface and the viscous parts of hydrocarbons are being collected on the barge.

Authorities initiate preventive protection of the two marine reserves of Spélugues and Larvotto and the Port Hercules is closed by Maritime Affairs Directorate teams.

Just over an hour after the fictitious accident, at 10.22am, the DPMA declared the exercise over and the anti-pollution screens were removed.

The exercise was designed to measure the effectiveness of emergency procedures and the response of various actors, both public and private, if faced with this type of scenario. It was also analysing the effective coordination of all these stakeholders on the water.

It was organised under the direction of the Division of Maritime and Airport Police (DPMA) in association with the services of the State, including the Fire Brigade Corps and the Direction of Maritime Affairs, as well as Bouygues Travaux Publics Monaco and its subcontractors, the Ports Company of Monaco, the URBAMER mission, and the SAM of Anse du Portier.

The International University of Monaco is set to move from its cramped premises at the Stade Louis II to a new 3,000 m2 space opposite the train station.

Founded in 1986, the International University of Monaco (IUM) boasts a strong multicultural environment, welcoming around 600 students from 75 different nationalities. The faculty is also very international.

The current premises is situated in the Louis II Stadium, but come the end of July, the transition to its new premises will begin. At 3,000 m2, the new building will be 25% larger. It was built and is managed by the Monegasque State.

The IUM offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, specialising in finance, luxury, international management, marketing and sports management. The latter belongs to the INSEEC U group, a private institution comprising 16 grandes écoles and specialised schools in management, engineering sciences, communication and political science.

According to figures, between 15% and 20% of students who leave the Monegasque university become entrepreneurs.

Training courses at IUM cost between 12,000€ per year for a Bachelor’s Degree, 16,000€ to 22,000€ for a Master’s Degree and 35,000€ for an MBA.

The new premises will be open in September 2019.