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Month: September 2026

Monaco’s registration sticker disappears as renewals go digital

by: Virginia D’Umas
02/09/2026

The Government has officially opened the annual vehicle registration renewal campaign for the 2027 period, introducing significant administrative changes aimed at modernising the Principality’s vehicle administration. 

Vehicle owners across Monaco have a four-month window, running from 1st September until 31st December 2026, to complete the mandatory registration formalities. 

The end of the physical vignette 

The most notable change this year is the complete disappearance of the physical registration sticker, traditionally known as the estampille, which was previously attached to license plates. This transition represents the latest phase in an ongoing administrative simplification reform led by the authorities, following last year’s removal of date stamps from the vignettes and a comprehensive revamp of the campaign calendar.

Once the renewal is complete, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office (Service des Titres de Circulation – STC) will issue a secure paper certificate confirming payment. Printed on high-security paper to guarantee authenticity, this document must be kept on board the vehicle at all times to serve as legal proof of valid registration during routine checks by officers of the Directorate of Public Security, in accordance with Article 130 of the Highway Code.

Provisions for electric vehicles

The new procedure applies to all 55,452 vehicles currently registered in the Principality, which includes 5,729 fully electric vehicles. While owners of 100% electric vehicles are equally required to complete the annual renewal procedure, their registration renewal remains entirely free of charge as part of the administration’s broader environmental transition policies.

Digital-first approach

To streamline the process, authorities strongly encourage motorists to carry out their renewals online via their personal MonGuichet account or through the official government portal, gouv.mc.

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Photo Credit: Cassandra Tanti

Boules, hot dogs and 90s to hit at La Rascasse’s pétanque night

by: Cassandra Tanti
02/09/2026

La Rascasse is reviving its pétanque evening on Thursday 10th September, turning the harbour bar into an open-air summer party for one night, with a boules court at its heart and a soundtrack of 90s and 2000s hits.

Running from 6pm to midnight, the evening revives a much-loved edition first held at La Rascasse in 2014, and leans into a nostalgic, all-ages fairground mood. The pétanque court is the main event, with teams forming for relaxed games among friends, but there are plenty of other ways to keep score, from table football and ping-pong to darts. A wheel of fortune offers the chance to walk away with goodies, a free drink, or the odd light-hearted forfeit.

A summer guinguette by the port

For the occasion, the bar is dressed as a guinguette, the open-air cafés of the French summer, complete with deckchairs, parasols and holiday decor. Generously filled hot dogs and a selection of drinks are on hand, and a DJ set of 90s and 2000s throwbacks keeps the party going into the night.

The evening plays to the relaxed, convivial side of a venue better known for its late nights. La Rascasse sits on Port Hercule, at the corner of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit that bears its name, and reopened in April after a three-month renovation as a Formula 1-inspired sports bar. The pétanque night runs on Thursday 10th September from 6pm to midnight.

See also: 

Monaco’s iconic bar La Rascasse reopens with a motorsport makeover

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Photo source: MCSBM

 

The €5.2 billion industry Monaco doesn’t talk about

by: Cassandra Tanti
02/09/2026

Wholesale trade generated €5.2 billion in Monaco in 2025, more than a quarter of the Principality’s economy outside financial services and its largest single sector by revenue. And while turnover slipped over the year, the sector held up far better than the rest of the economy.

Figures published by IMSEE, Monaco’s statistics institute, show wholesale trade revenue fell 3.1% in 2025. That was a modest decline set against the 7.6% drop recorded across the rest of the Principality’s non-financial economy. The sector’s turnover reached a historic peak of €6.1 billion in 2022 and has eased back in each of the three years since, though it remains comfortably above pre-pandemic levels of around €4.8 billion.

A pillar of the Monaco economy

Beyond revenue, wholesale trade is one of the Principality’s largest sectors by any measure. It counted 1,344 active businesses in 2025, around a 10th of all Monaco companies and the third-highest of the 14 sectors the institute tracks, and employed 2,792 people. More than half of those businesses are private limited companies, many of them in yachting and aviation, which together account for around 15% of the sector.

What moved the numbers

The year’s decline was led by wholesale conducted on a fee or contract basis, down 3.4%, within which fuels, ores, metals and chemicals fell sharply, by 21.9%. Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco dropped 9.8%. Offsetting some of that, wholesale of household goods rose 4.5%, driven by pharmaceutical and medical products.

The workforce

Employment in the sector rose 1.4% to 2,792 in 2025, with 413 employers. Its workforce is unusually balanced for Monaco: men and women were split almost evenly, at 51.5% and 48.5%, against a private-sector average that skews heavily male. As across the Principality, most employees are French (61.7%) or Italian (19.9%), with 28 Monegasques, and more than three-quarters live in France, though a higher-than-average 15% live in Monaco itself.

The figures come under a new European classification of economic activities, in force in Monaco since the start of 2026, which means they are not directly comparable with those in earlier reports.

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Photo credit: Benjamin Vergely, Department of Tourism

Prince Albert II Foundation opens entries for its 2027 photography award

by: Cassandra Tanti
02/09/2026

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation has opened entries for the 2027 edition of its Environmental Photography Award, inviting photographers around the world to submit images that champion conservation, with a €5,000 grand prize and a Monaco exhibition awaiting the winners.

The award is free to enter and open to professionals and amateurs alike, with submissions accepted online until 1st November. Entrants compete across five categories — Ocean, Forests, Polar Regions, Changemakers and Humanity vs. Nature — in a competition the Foundation established in 2021, as part of its Green Shift Initiative, to spotlight environmental stories.

Prizes and a Monaco exhibition

Each category winner receives €1,000, while the overall grand prize winner, chosen by the jury, takes a further €5,000 and a trip to Monaco for the opening of the exhibition. A Public Award and a Students’ Choice Award, each worth €500, will also be presented. The official selection of 36 photographs, and the winners, will be revealed at the end of April 2027, and the shortlisted images will go on show in Monaco next summer before touring internationally, accompanied, as in past years, by a published book.

An international jury

The 2027 jury is chaired for a second year by the Dutch conservation photographer Jasper Doest, a WWF ambassador, alongside an international panel that includes National Geographic’s Anne Farrar and the Spanish underwater specialist Angel Fitor. “A single photograph can do what a report cannot,” said Doest, who described the competition as a recognition that how people see the world shapes how they treat it. The National Geographic photographer Sergio Pitamitz returns as the contest’s chairman.

Photographers can enter at fpa2photoaward.org until 1st November.

See also: 

British-German photographer wins Prince Albert II Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award

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Main photo: Luca Eberle – Predator’s Gaze – Runner-up Forests category 2026

 

From champions to third tier: Roca Team reveals plan to rebuild

by: Kayla Sauceda
01/09/2026

After a seemingly never-ending uphill battle for AS Monaco Basketball, the Roca Team remains excluded from France’s top two basketball divisions and has now declared its ambitions to register for Nationale Masculine 1.

Due to financial challenges throughout the 2025-2026 season and a lack of a solid restructuring plan heading into the upcoming season, Monaco faced multiple rejections in its efforts to retain its place at the highest level of French basketball.

On Tuesday 1st September, the Roca Team released a statement announcing that it had submitted an application to compete in NM1, with the ambition of “regaining its place at the top of French basketball”. Despite being reigning Betclic Élite champions, the team is now facing a potentially massive drop in level, with NM1 representing the third tier of French basketball, should the application be approved.

With time not on its side, Monaco’s administration was forced to consider alternative options after multiple appeals failed to secure the club’s place in the top competitions. Following months of deliberation, appeals, and rejections, Monaco has ultimately turned to NM1 as its most promising path forward.

Alongside this, Monaco will no longer compete in the EuroCup as planned and has officially been replaced in the competition’s lineup. Bosna BH Telecom Sarajevo has been announced as Monaco’s replacement for the upcoming season.

The club’s statement also shared that the youth academy will play a crucial role in the rebuilding of the Roca Team, with Monaco now looking towards its younger players as part of its efforts to work its way back up the French basketball pyramid.

Looking ahead, the Roca Team still faces a great deal of uncertainty. There are no guarantees that its NM1 application will be approved, and even if it is, questions remain over what that transition will look like for a team that was competing at the highest level in Europe just last season.

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Photo credit: AS Monaco Basket

Prince Albert gives retiring Palace chef new gastronomy role

by: Cassandra Tanti
01/09/2026

Christian Garcia may have retired from the kitchens of the Prince’s Palace after almost 40 years, but his work for Prince Albert II is continuing in a new role.

A Sovereign Decision published in the latest Journal de Monaco appoints Garcia as the Prince’s Personal Representative for Gastronomy from 1st September 2026.

The appointment comes immediately after Garcia stepped down as head chef of the Prince’s Palace, where he had served the Princely Family since 1987.

The decision does not set out his formal responsibilities, but Garcia is expected to continue representing Monaco through international culinary events and organising charitable dinners around the world.

A career extending beyond the Palace kitchens

Garcia arrived at the Palace aged 23 for what was intended to be a seven-month replacement. He remained for almost four decades, serving Prince Rainier III and later Prince Albert II.

During that time, he prepared meals for the Princely Family as well as state dinners and official receptions attended by figures including Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and Angela Merkel.

His influence has also extended well beyond Monaco. Garcia is president of the Club des Chefs des Chefs, an international association bringing together the personal chefs of heads of state and government.

The organisation uses gastronomy as a form of cultural diplomacy while supporting charitable projects and encouraging cooperation between chefs serving world leaders.

His new appointment allows Garcia to continue that work with an official mandate from Prince Albert.

Cédric Chabaudie takes over at the Palace

Cédric Chabaudie has succeeded Garcia as chef to Prince Albert II and will oversee the day-to-day kitchens of the Palace.

Chabaudie comes to Monaco after working in the kitchens of the Élysée Palace, where he served the French presidency.

Garcia’s transition therefore brings an end to his daily work at the Palace while preserving his connection to the Sovereign and Monaco’s international gastronomic activities.

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Photo credit: Axel Bastello, Palais Princier