The National Council is due to examine on Tuesday a controversial bill mandating health passes for certain workers in Monaco, namely those in the health and care sectors.
The Monaco government announced in July that, in the face of an upsurge of Covid-19 contaminations and hospitalisations due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant, it would follow France’s lead and table a bill making vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for staff working in Monegasque health establishments, in structures welcoming the elderly and more generally for people in contact with fragile or vulnerable people.
The bill, n° 1043, was delivered to the office of the High Assembly on 3rd August and the National Council convened an extraordinary session from 13th to 17th September to examine the bill and make a decision on its adoption.
The Manifestation pacifique contre le pass sanitaire à Monaco (Peaceful demonstration against the health pass in Monaco) Facebook group has been staging protests ahead of the session.
The National Council announced on Thursday that it would debate the bill on 14th September at 6pm. The session will not be open to the public, however people can follow it live on the National Council’s Facebook page and on Monaco Info.
Photo of the second demonstration against the mandatory health pass which took place on 9th September. Source: Manifestation pacifique contre le pass sanitaire à Monaco
Artcurial Monaco Director Louise Gréther steered the French auction house through its largest summer auction on record, with everything from Hermes bags to Porsches, Cartier jewellery to vintage Rolex watches going under the hammer at the Hermitage Hotel.
I always have a touch of Stendhal syndrome whenever I sit in the lobby of the Hermitage Hotel. Its Belle Époque wedding cake grandeur makes me pinch myself. This architecture, coupled with the finessed flurry of Artcurial auctions being held in the Salle Belle Époque by the main lobby, is a sumptuous layering of art of all crafts, from jewellery and painting, to sculpture, leather and architecture. Behind it all is Artcurial Monaco Director Louise Gréther. Monaco Life: How did you come to work for Artcurial?
Louise Grether: Eight years ago, a close friend in Monaco introduced me to the late François Tajan, the deputy chairman of Artcurial and respected auctioneer. He had a great belief in Monaco as the perfect location for all our ‘luxury’ sales and wanted to set up a permanent office here having just finished the sale of the entire contents of the Hôtel de Paris. My background is in consulting and international relations, but I was immediately attracted by the challenge and I am eternally grateful to him for his belief in me. It was a wonderful opportunity to be involved in a forward thinking company that cleverly combines a passion for art with a great entrepreneurial spirit.
Since the establishment of Artcurial Monaco in 2015, we have been extraordinarily successful. We have built on Artcurial’s presence in the Principality for almost 20 years now and can count on a very loyal and international client base. This year is the biggest summer auction session we have ever hosted, and in these unusual times it seems almost unbelievable. I have never had so much demand from people wanting estimations and the buyers are all there. Jewellery at the Artcurial Summer Auction 2021, Hermitage Hotel, photo by Benedetta Pizzonia/Monaco Life Has there been a shift in what people are selling since the onset of the pandemic?
A lot of my clients are saying they’ve had the time to do a little spring clean and feel they can’t wear all their collections for security reasons on the streets of London or Geneva, they can only really wear them in Monaco. Or they’ve come to the realisation that their grandchildren don’t want to inherit them because it’s all about trainers and minimalism nowadays. We still have great demand for estimations for jewellery, watches and Hermès bags because these departments are at the forefront of our luxury auction week in Monaco. However, I have noticed more and more interest in our Italian Design department, Contemporary Art, Motorcars, Old Master and Street Art. Our experts are in great demand these days. What do you love most about your job?
No two days are the same in my job and there is never a dull moment! I particularly enjoy meeting my clients, some of whom I develop a close relationship with over the years. It’s difficult sometimes, like in the case of jewellery in particular, it can be very sensitive. You’re either dealing with a succession or a divorce unfortunately, and jewellery can be difficult to part with. What’s the most expensive piece you sold this summer?
A 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 for just under €1 million. The 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 that sole for €977,440 at the Artcurial Motorcars auction this summer Artcurial is famous for its Hermes auctions, why is that?
Vintage is in vogue these days, particularly luxury vintage. We regularly sell limited edition Hermès bags for over €100,000 such as the Himalaya bags, special orders in exotic skins. The beauty of these bags is that you bid on them in the auction room and can take them away immediately, which may explain why they are so attractive considering the long waiting lists at Hermès. Artcurial hosts two auction sessions a year in January and July, with motorcars, jewellery, watches, Hermès and luxury bags, and the ‘Monaco Sculptures’ sale. Do you believe there is a bigger market in Monaco for certain categories?
There is definitely room for other sectors in Monaco but we are focusing on the luxury sector at the moment because we believe there is a great potential in this sector and room for growth. We have an intermediary sale for jewellery, watches and Hermès online in Paris which is a success, but we reserve the exceptional pieces for Monaco. What is the story behind exhibiting all the Artcurial Sculptures outdoors for public display?
It’s the second ‘Monaco Sculptures’ sale that we have organised in collaboration with the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer (SBM). The aim is twofold: to showcase some wonderful art outdoors in the Principality during the summer months, and to promote the sculptures in a fantastic setting to achieve the best possible results for our clients. It’s worked perfectly so far – where else could you exhibit a million pound sculpture on the street and not be nervous that it would be tagged with graffiti? ‘Woman smoking a cigarette’ by Fernando Botero 1987, photo by Benedetta Pizzonia/Monaco Life Who owns Artcurial?
Artcurial was bought by our President, Nicolas Orlowski in 2002 with the backing of the Dassault and Pastor families. Our headquarters in Paris is in the historic ‘Hotel Marcel Dassault’, an exceptional building on the corner of Avenue Montaigne and the Champs Elysées. What’s your favourite piece that sold this summer?
Lynn Chadwick’s ‘Sitting Couple II’. It was displayed in our gallery for two months and attracted a lot of interest. Unfortunately, it has just been collected by its new owner. Where can people find you at Artcurial throughout the year?
Our office is located at the Monte-Carlo Palace on Boulevard Des Moulins opposite Dolce and Gabbana, in the centre of Monte-Carlo. We conduct an expertise day once a month at the Hermitage Hotel with our jewellery, watch and Hermès experts and regularly organise expertise days in other fields by appointment. What makes the Artcurial auctions so successful in your opinion?
A carefully curated selection of art and jewellery is the recipe to a successful auction. When conducting valuations, selecting pieces that are desirable is essentially our criteria.
You have to be really on your toes and creative in this business, particularly this past year, so I try to do a lot of private events and partnerships with local private banks, for example. We also organise private expertise days for select groups. Was July 2021 a busy month for you?
Extremely busy, we achieved €21.5 million in sales. Do you think Monaco has become a haven for art, and that the perception of the Principality has changed?
Yes, it is moving up in the world. As the President of Monaco Art Week, I think with all the important galleries moving to the Principality, Monaco Art Week will rise to the next level. Does Artcurial participate in charity events?
All the time. We did a charity auction last month for the Natalia Vodianova and Antoine Arnault charity. In June, we did a charity event for Cap Moderne, which includes the Eileen Gray Villa, at Mohammed Jameel’s house who runs the Jameel Foundation in Monaco. His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco was present and was a wonderful support. Last month, we hosted an auction for Monaco Liver Disorder in the Musée des Prince and we raised €230,000. A self-portrait of the artist Ron Mueck, ‘Mask II’, 2001. Various materials. Let’s get back to basics. Where do you start the day?
My favourite place to take a coffee is at Casa del Café, then Marc Armstrong, head of Sotheby’s, comes along. Actually, I did my biggest deal in Casa Del Café so I am eternally grateful to them. What’s your most fun night in Monaco?
On my terrace in Monaco with good friends. If you could own any piece of art work, what would that be?
A sculpture by Ron Mueck, but my husband would probably never allow it and it likely wouldn’t fit through the front door. What motto do you draw inspiration from?
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life” by Rumi.
Photo of Artcurial Director Louise Gréther, courtesy Artcurial
ASM Basketball head to Istanbul after against Lavrio
The Roca team have redeemed themselves by beating the Mega Bolts of Lavrio during a friendly in Greece, setting them up nicely for their next match against Partizan NIS Belgrade in Istanbul for the semi-finals of the Istanbul Cup.
Monaco went up against the Lavrio Mega Bolts in the last of the friendly games played on the Greek team’s home turf on Wednesday, where they won 79 to 63.
Lavrio came out swinging, but it simply wasn’t enough to keep the Roca team at bay. Monaco played with determination, at one point in the first quarter making an impressive run of nine consecutive baskets.
Alpha Diallo, a former Mega Bolt player turned Monaco power forward, was instrumental in keeping the opponents in check, and by the end of the first quarter, the score was a comfortable 25 to 18.
This shifted slightly in the second quarter where Lavrio limited the Roca team to only 11 points, but even this wasn’t enough to take the lead. The two teams headed to the locker room with Monaco leading 36 to 33.
After the halftime break, Monaco scored 10 points off the bat, to the opposing team’s none, boosting confidence and their lead to 46 – 33.
Coach Zvezdan Mitrovic, to his credit, gave a lot of court time to his young new players Diallo and Paris Lee, who both shone. Another bright spot was the return of star point guard Rob Gray.
Now the team heads to Istanbul to take on Partizan NIS Belgrade for the semi-finals of the Istanbul Cup on Saturday 11th September.
Monaco Life with AS Monaco Basketball press release
Even superyachts need a touch up, some tender loving care and a lot of attention (superyachts have super egos). And when the time comes to refit or repair, it’s the shipyards that will nurture them back to rude and robust health.
Tanguy Ducros is CEO of Monaco Marine, a network of shipyards for the refit and maintenance of yachts between eight and 160m +. The company has eight yacht facilities and one marina located between Monaco and Marseille. Over 3,000 yachts undergo refit, repair or wintering at the Monaco Marine shipyards every year. Between them they offer 132,500 sqm of dry land, a haul-out capacity of up to 2,000 tons and unlimited yacht size afloat. 220 employees and 800 contractors work at these sites. The yards specialise in standard maintenance but also big specialist refits. Crew facilities are provided at the larger shipyards, La Seyne, La Ciotat and Marseille.
Ducros has sorely missed the presence of the Monaco Yacht Show (MYS) on the calendar this past year and MYS 2021 can’t come soon enough. He’s keen to actually meet up again with the business associates and clients he’s been zooming, and to get a good look at the yachts that have launched over the last couple of years. “I want to renew ties with the people we have missed seeing during the pandemic and I have great expectations for MYS 2021,” says Ducros. “We chose to act as partners with the show this year to offer our support and encouragement to the organising teams.”
MYS offers up the opportunity to meet with the people from abroad who he has not been able to see due to the travel restrictions, and, as he says, it’s easier to have more intimate and meaningful discussions physically and face to face. “The MYS also gives us the chance to meet new clients who have begun to take an interest in the superyacht industry over the last couple of years,” he adds. Monaco Marine clients are worldwide and come from Europe, America, Asia and Russia.
The majority of work carried out at the yards involves classic maintenance. 30% of the turnover is generated from owners looking to customise their yachts in some way to make it unique. This might involve a paint job, extending the yacht or modernising the technical systems. Photo by Guillaume Plisson
Ducros has plenty to talk about this year as plans evolve at Monaco Marine: “At the beginning of this year, we obtained the concession renewal of Monaco Marine Antibes and development projects are planned for 2022. Soon, Antibes will be equipped with a new 300 tons travel lift, 9,000sqm of additional hardstanding (17,000sqm in total), a new workshop and guest welcome areas, an ecological efficiency plan and improved electrical capacity for larger yachts.”
Monaco Marine also recently renewed the concession of the shipyard at Beaulieu sur Mer until 2055 and ambitious investment plans will be announced soon. Work is also underway at Monaco Marine Juan-les-Pins in Port Gallice.
Now that the renewal of the marina concessions is complete at Antibes and Beaulieu, Ducros and his teams will concentrate on their development renovation. Meanwhile, he’s always on the ‘qui vive’ for any new and interesting projects throughout the Mediterranean.
Close Quarters with Tanguy Ducros:
What’s your advice to someone looking to break into a career like yours?
My top career tip would be to start young at whatever you want to do. Your worst career moment?
I’m not sure what my worst career moment is, but Covid was definitely a challenge to overcome. Best part of your job?
Travelling, meeting people and visiting shipyards throughout the world. What are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of Monaco Marine and its people who work everyday serving and assisting our customers. Favourite meal and a figure you admire?
I’m a Mediterranean man and I love Italian cuisine so in an ideal world I’d share a bowl of pasta with the two men I admire most: on a personal level, my father, and more globally, Nelson Mandela. If you weren’t director at Monaco Marine, what would you be?
I think I’d be an entrepreneur. Not necessarily in yachting but in an industry that offers some kind of service to people. That’s what I like most, customer service and helping people.
Prince Albert has joined Hollywood actor Harrison Ford and other high-profile personalities and world leaders in raising their voices to drive action for the preservation of the planet at a major conservation congress in Marseille.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress is being hosted in the south of France from 3rd to 11th September. This year’s congress is a key environmental milestone ahead of the United Nations conference on biodiversity and climate, to be held in Kunming and Glasgow, in the coming months.
It brings together several thousand leaders and decision makers, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Prince Albert of Monaco, as well as nonprofit, Indigenous and civil society members from more than 170 nations with the goal of conserving the environment and promoting nature-based solutions to global challenges.
These congresses are held every four years, but the focus of this one in particular is how to achieve a nature-based recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework currently being negotiated under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
On Tuesday 7th September, Prince Albert of Monaco opened the session on oceans, highlighting the essential role that the ocean plays in human health and livelihoods, and the blue economy’s potential to restore ocean health, transition to clean energy, and create jobs.
The IUCN’s Minna Epps ended the session highlighting the key outcomes that included supporting the call for achieving the 30-by-30 target, protecting at least 30% of the global ocean as Marine Protected Areas and other conservation measures by the year 2030; and adopting a legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Restoring ocean health was just one of a number of themes to be explored during the nine-day high-level congress. Others include conserving freshwater to sustain life, leveraging economic and financial systems for sustainability, and managing landscapes for nature and people.
“We are ambitious for perfect solutions, perfect policies, nobody’s got that luxury anymore, we got to get to work, we got to make things happen, we got to make it happen now”.
The One Planet Summit also formed part of proceedings, the aim of which is to offer a new, pragmatic and effective framework for action.
One of the most high-profile speakers at the congress was Hollywood acting legend Harrison Ford, who evoked plenty of emotion in his speech, saying: “It’s hard to devote yourself to a cause that is so urgent and not be able to get the traction needed to make the change that is absolutely necessary. It’s hard to read the headlines: floods, fires, famines, plagues, and tell your children that everything’s alright. It’s not alright. Damn it, it’s not alright. We’ve got to make things happen; we’ve got to make it happen now. Come on everybody, let’s get to work.”
Top photos sourced from the IUCN
New pairings announced for Monaco’s ‘Festival of Stars’
SBM’s Festival des Etoilés, a unique event pairing local and international Michelin-starred chefs, will continue well into autumn with new collaborations between September and November.
The new round of pairings kick off on 9th September at the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel with a decidedly feminine pairing at Elsa Restaurant. Chef Manon Fleury welcomes L’Argine a Vencò’s award winning Italian chef Antonia Klugmann.
This is followed up by the exquisite pairing of the legendary Alain Ducasse with three-starred chef Michel Guerard from les Prés d’Eugénie, where they will offer both a lunch and a dinner at Louis XV-Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel de Paris.
The final duo puts Marcel Ravin of Blue Bay together with Argentinian chef, and former Ducasse disciple, Mauro Colagreco, of the three-starred worlds-best restaurant 2019 – Mirazur on 5th November as a pre-holiday treat.
Two collaborations have already taken place, during which Franck Cerutti and Marcel Ravin respectively welcomed Riccardo Camanini of Lido 84 and Michel Sarran of the Restaurant Michel Sarran in their kitchens to prepare meals to the delight of foodie guests in the Principality.
The grand finale of the Festival is one for the history books, as all of SBM’s Michelin-starred chefs gather together for one night only in the Salle Médecin of the Casino for a gala evening on 27th November.
On this occasion, Manon Fleury, Marcel Ravin, Franck Cerutti, Dominique Lory and Yannick Alléno will together create a dinner comprising of their signature dishes. The six-course menu will be a journey through the world of the Société des Bains de Mer, where guests will be able to watch the dishes being made directly in the room thanks to a “live pass”.
Singer Nicole Magolie will entertain the crowd of roughly one hundred guests with soul and jazz tunes accompanied by a quartet.
The Festival des Etoilés, which has been going on since May, is potentially going to be a yearly offering by SBM.
