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New online tools transform Monaco’s hiring process

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
31/03/2026

Monaco has taken a significant step forward in modernising its employment system, launching a fully digital process that allows employers and job seekers to manage recruitment entirely online. 

The announcement was made on March 30th during a press conference, bringing together the Department of Social Affairs and Health (DASS), the Labour Directorate and the Inter-ministerial Delegation for Digital Transition (DITN).

What changed

From March, employers registered in the Principality can complete the entire hiring process through the MonGuichet.mc portal, available around the clock.

This includes filling in hiring authorisation forms online, signing documents electronically, and paying the associated fees by bank card or SEPA mandate — all without setting foot in an office.

Alongside this, a new online CV library has been launched, allowing registered job seekers to upload their CV’s and become visible to Monaco employers searching for candidates.

Officials highlighted that the system had been developed in close collaboration with the private sector. Marine Rolando, head of the e-Government division at the Digital Services Directorate, explained that extensive groundwork had been laid before development began. “There were many workshops held upstream, even before the tools were built, to properly capture needs and address the pain points,” she said.

Currently, over 3,600 private sector employers are registered with the Labour Directorate, some 40,000 job offers are submitted each year, and more than 60,000 hiring authorisation requests, modifications or renewals are processed annually.

With these new features, more than 250 job seekers have already given their consent to appear in the CV library, over 210 candidate applications have been submitted online, and more than 80 hiring authorisation requests have come through the digital system.

The goal is to reduce administrative burden on Labour Directorate staff so they can focus on people rather than paperwork.

“We have too often reduced the hiring process to a purely administrative task,” Emmanuelle Cellario Florio, head of the Employment Service said. “Thanks to digital tools, our advisers are freed from time-consuming tasks. They now have more time to analyse the needs of businesses, to advise job seekers and to support them in retraining or professional training projects.”

More to come

The government also highlighted that this is not the end of the road. Pascal Rouison, head of the Inter-ministerial Delegation for Digital Transition, confirmed that the same approach would be applied to other areas of public administration, including residence permits, company creation and the management of certain public-sector roles.

Christophe Robino, Councillor-Minister for Social Affairs and Health, added “We have the ambition of a labour market that is more dynamic, more competitive, and forward-looking.”

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Main photo credit: Stéphane Danna, Communication’s Department 

Monaco to offer free bus travel during major events in 2026

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
31/03/2026

Monaco is scrapping bus fares during its biggest events this year, as the government looks to ease the traffic pressure that comes with hosting some of the world’s most high-profile gatherings. 

The free bus initiative, which was tested in 2025, covers six events.

It kicks off in April with the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters tennis tournament from the 6th to the 10th, followed shortly after by the Monaco Historical Grand Prix from the 24th to the 26th of April.

Then, May brings free travel during the Monaco E-Prix on the 16th and 17th, before the most extended period of all, the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, keeps fares suspended for a full week from 1st to 8th June.

The summer sees the Vuelta cycling race add another free weekend on 22nd and 23rd August, and the initiative wraps up in late September with the Monaco Yacht Show and Luxe Pack, where buses run free from the 18th to the 30th.

Interestingly, the offer covers every route on the network, not simply those connecting passengers to event locations. Anyone moving around Monaco during these periods, for whatever reason, stands to benefit.

Full details of how each period will operate in practice are expected from the Monaco Bus Company closer to each event.

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Main photo credit: Monaco Life

Filters, fixation and a psychiatric crisis: the dark side of the beauty room

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
31/03/2026

Thousands of doctors, industry professionals and visitors descended on the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco for the Aesthetic and Anti-Ageing Medicine World Congress – better known as AMWC – running from 26th to 28th March. 

Every parking space in the district was taken. Queues of attendees lined the entrance. Inside, 18,000 delegates from 140 countries moved between a thousand brand stands and 12 conference rooms running back-to-back sessions on everything from GLP-1 weight treatments to AI-powered facial analysis.

However, while the congress celebrated that wanting to look better, live longer and feel good in your skin is legitimate, even admirable, it also made clear there are limits – and knowing where they lie matters.

And so, amid the industry optimism, one voice cut through with a different message.

Câline Majdalani, clinical psychologist and author of ‘Treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder – The Appearance Obsession’, took to the stage not only to celebrate the industry’s advances, but to issue a warning…about its darkest corners.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is an obsessive compulsive disorder in which sufferers become consumed by perceived physical flaws that others either don’t notice or consider entirely trivial.

It affects around two per cent of the general population, a figure Majdalani described as alarming. “Two per cent in psychiatry is enormous,” she said. “That’s tens of millions of people worldwide.” The numbers, she added, are rising sharply, and almost certainly undercounted, because patients are too ashamed to disclose it.

The link to social media is, in her view, direct and devastating. “Social media is today the reference for young people,” she said speaking to Monaco Life in an exclusive interview. “These altered and filtered images create a kind of allergy to imperfection. When you see something normal – a line, a texture on your face – you feel it’s unbearable and you want to change it.”

She cited research showing that even brief exposure to images only slightly more attractive than one’s own reality is enough to reduce self-satisfaction, a mechanism social media exploits relentlessly and at scale. The more you scroll, she argued, the worse you feel.

During one of the conference’s at AMWC, photo by Monaco Life

A disorder with deadly consequences

The consequences reach far beyond dissatisfaction. BDD has one of the highest suicide rates of any psychiatric disorder. “It is the highest suicidal risk in psychiatry,” Majdalani said.

What makes this directly relevant at an aesthetic congress is where these patients end up. More than 70 per cent of BDD sufferers seek cosmetic procedures, not to enhance their appearance, but, as Majdalani put it, “to repair themselves from inside.” The treatments bring no lasting relief. Additionally, many gravitate towards unqualified injectors and low-cost procedures, fully aware of the risks but too distressed to care.

On the other hand, the thousands who filled the Grimaldi Forum are testament to a discipline that has become, as congress co-founder Catherine Decuyper put it, “a major pillar of modern medicine.” Wanting to correct an imperfection, protect your skin, or add years of vitality to your life is not vanity. It is, increasingly, simply good medicine.

But medicine has limits. And Majdalani’s warning was ultimately about dosage. “It’s about how much you emotionally invest your time and energy in your beauty,” she said. “You cannot invest everything in a single dimension of your identity.” When aspiration tips into obsession, when the consultation room becomes a substitute for the therapist’s couch, the industry has a responsibility to recognise the difference.

To conclude, she drew a sharp distinction between legitimate aesthetic aspiration and something altogether different: “There is a difference between improving your appearance and a chronic dissatisfaction, where suffering speaks the language of appearance rather than expressing itself directly.”

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Main photo credit: Monaco Life

Monaco United Women crowned district 06 champions in historic first title

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
30/03/2026

Monaco United Women have been crowned District 06 champions in their very first season, after a 14-0 win over AS Fontonne Antibes secured the title with one game still to play.

The Monaco side controlled the match from start to finish, dominating possession and scoring early before managing the game comfortably to its conclusion.

The title also books their place in the regional promotion play-offs in late May, where they will face other district champions for the chance to move up a level. It was the club’s main objective for the season, and they have achieved it as champions.

Marco Simone said the title reflected the work put in since day one. “This season, built entirely from scratch, was prepared in the best possible way,” he said. “This historic title marks a significant moment shared by everyone involved in the adventure.”

During the game, photo credit: Flare Vision

Captain Houleyemata Deme was equally emotional. “I feel a great deal of emotion and pride,” she said. “It’s the result of the hard work we put in every single day. Winning it at home, in front of our supporters, makes this moment even more special.”

The title was sealed at the end of a four-game winning run in the league, following their qualification for the Coupe Méditerranée after an away win in Rousset against a Division 3 side.

Now, a Cup Final in their sights

That cup run continues this Sunday, April 5th at 3pm, when Monaco United face Hyères at Stade Didier Deschamps in Cap d’Ail in the semi-final of the Coupe Méditerranée. Hyères play one division above Monaco United and will start as favourites, but Simone’s side have shown all season they can compete well above their level.

No district-level club has ever reached the final of this competition. “We still have major ambitions in the cup, starting with Sunday,” said Simone. “Our mindset is clear: stay focused and be fully competitive. We want to win as many titles as possible this season.”

The question now is simply how far they can go.

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Main photo credit: Flare Vision 

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene officially re-open Monaco’s Exotic Garden

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
27/03/2026

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène, accompanied by Princess Caroline of Hanover, attended the official reopening ceremony of the Jardin Exotique on Wednesday after six years of closure. 

The ceremony included a blessing by Archbishop Dominique-Marie David and speeches by Mayor Georges Marsan, who has been closely associated with the project throughout.

Prince Albert and Princess Charlène visiting the garden, photo credit: Michaël Alesi, Prince’s Palace

The garden is now set to open to the general public on Monday March 30th, with a free preview opening scheduled for Monegasques and residents on Sunday March 29th, with a programme of animations and a fireworks display planned for the occasion.

“The Municipal Council’s ambition was to modernise the garden without stripping it of its identity,” said Mayor Marsan. “I am delighted that future generations will be able to discover it in their turn.”

During the official reopening of the garden, photo credit: Michaël Alesi, Prince’s Palace

Nearly a century in the making

The Jardin Exotique first opened in 1933 under Prince Louis II and was home to over 30,000 plants, many of them centuries old, drawn from the Americas and Africa.

However, since 1939, no significant structural work had been carried out. Thus, after nearly a century, serious weaknesses had begun to emerge. For example, artificial rock work was at risk of detaching, pathways had deteriorated, and the cliff-face setting required urgent and technically-demanding intervention. And so, the garden closed its doors in 2020.

The garden’s cliff-facing setting, photo credit: Monaco Life

“The works were complex, vertiginous, and at times perilous given the configuration of the site,” Mayor Marsan said at the ceremony. The challenge was to make it safe without damaging a plant collection that includes specimens no longer found anywhere else in the world.

What changed

Walkways and railings have been fully rebuilt, flooring and paths resurfaced, pergolas and viewpoints renovated, and lighting upgraded throughout.

Landscape architect Hervé Meyer oversaw the botanical restoration, Monégasque architect Frédéric Genin redesigned the areas around the Observatory Cave, and architect Margaux Davenet designed the new facilities on the upper plateau.

Jardin Exotique, photo credit: Monaco Life

New additions include a children’s play area, a picnic area, a birthday room for around 3° children, and a revamped ticketing area. The garden is also being made available for private hire such as weddings, receptions, and events with rates that climb steeply during Grand Prix weekend.

The only museum in Monaco with a bar

Perhaps the most unexpected addition is a snack bar and drinks terrace on the upper plateau, open to anyone without a ticket. In a principality not known for casual, affordable public spaces, having somewhere to sit with a drink and a view over Monaco – and no entry fee required – is genuinely novel. The bar, along with the boutique and toilet facilities, is freely accessible to all.

Pricing details and tailored packages

Ticketing ranges from €12 for adults, €6 for children up to to 17 years-old for garden entry only, to €18 for adults, €10 for children for access to the garden and observatory cave and botanical centre.

Because the cliff-face layout makes full access impossible for visitors with reduced mobility, entry will be free up to the point they can comfortably reach.

A commemorative plaque marking the reopening has also been installed on site, bearing the names of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène in recognition of their presence at the ceremony.

The commemorative plaque marking the official reopening, photo credit: Monaco Life

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Main photo credit: Michaël Alesi, Prince’s Palace

What to expect from this year’s Green Shift Festival

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
26/03/2026

Monaco’s Green Shift Festival is set to return for its fourth edition from 9th to 11th April at the Yacht Club de Monaco. The free event, organised by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, will again gather scientists, artists, writers and athletes to explore what a genuine shift towards sustainability might look and feel like.

This year’s programme is built around three themed evening sessions, each running from 7pm to 8:30pm.

Thursday opens with a conversation about narrative and change, specifically, whether the way we collectively tell our story about the future can itself become a driver of action. Historian Mathieu Baudin will chair the discussion, joined by climate sociologist Stéphane La Branche and writer Jeanne Hénin, who runs workshops on the transformative potential of words.

Friday’s bilingual session shifts to bricks and water. Rob Hopkins, who helped launch the international Transition Towns movement, and Jacques Rougerie, an architect fascinated by life beneath the sea, will discuss how radically different our built environment could become.

Then, Saturday is dedicated to sport. Six athletes including freediver Julie Gautier, wingfoil champion Flora Artzner, climber Nolwen Berthier, sprinter Younès Nezar, sailor Arthur Le Vaillant and mountain biker Yannis Pelé will talk about how competition and environmental commitment became inseparable for them. Big wave surfer Sebastian Steudtner closes the evening before artist Bobbie takes to the stage for the festival’s closing concert.

Romain Ciarlet, Vice-President and CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, sums up the ambition: “The Green Shift Festival is an invitation to imagine desirable futures. By bringing together the perspectives of artists, researchers, athletes and frontline actors, it opens spaces for dialogue and emotion that help us transform our relationship with the living world and build positive transitions.”

Last year’s edition, photo credit: Monaco Life.

Daytime schedule

The daytime schedule offers something across all three days. Wellness sessions kick things off each morning: qigong on Thursday at 5pm, yin yoga on Friday at 9am, sound healing on Saturday at 9m.

Saturday, however, is an interesting day featuring a coral reef show for young children at 11am, a bike repair stand from 2pm to 5pm, a literary afternoon with three authors at 2pm, a bioplastic flower-making workshop for families at 3:30pm, and a breathwork session at 5pm.

A guided tour of the ‘Le sentiment de la nature’ exhibition at Villa Paloma is also scheduled on Friday, organised in partnership with the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, and running at 12:30pm.

The festival operates under a green charter, working with partners each year to reduce its environmental footprint. All evening sessions are free with no booking required. However, some daytime workshops need advance registration which can be made at the Green Shift’s Festival website.

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Green Shift Festival 2025, photo credit: Monaco Life