At 77 years old, François-Marie Banier continues his career as a high-society photographer. The former confidant of Liliane Bettencourt, definitively convicted in 2016 for “abuse of weakness” against the billionaire heiress of the L’Oréal empire, toured the square of the Royal Palace of Rabat on Monday, October 28, machine-gunning stoic guards at close range. The septuagenarian is one of around 130 people chosen by the Elysée, along with the traditional emissaries of the CAC 40 companies – the emblematic index of the Paris Stock Exchange –, to accompany Emmanuel Macron during the three days of his state visit to Morocco.
A historic moment – the President of the Republic has not visited there since 2018 – placed under the sign of reconciliation – with the recognition by France of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara – – and the signing of large contracts – to “more than 10 billion euros”, according to the Elysée of the Agence France-Presse.
However, the reason for Mr. Banier’s presence on this state trip remains a mystery. The photographer did not respond to our requests. Contacted, the Elysée did not respond. On France 2, the Presidency stated that all the guests had “a link” with Morocco.
In a context of political tensions around the 2025 budget and three months after the publication of a report from the Court of Auditors expressing concern about the management of the Elysée’s finances, the plethora of this delegation raises questions. This report highlighted recommendations regarding the limitation of “the size of the official delegations [ministres, parlementaires, directeurs d’administration centrale…] and unofficial [autres personnalités issues du monde économique, culturel, etc.] (…), according to the model imposed by international summits”as well as the expansion of “scope of rebilling rules” costs “in view of certain guest profiles”.
These recommendations do not appear to have been implemented. For this trip to Morocco, the size of the unofficial delegation is close to those established in 2023, which “ [comptaient] between seventy-four [G20 en Inde] and one hundred and forty-six people [tournée Afrique] »according to the report. Regarding rebilling, it appears to have followed the rules established in December 2023, before the publication of the report, in the vast majority of cases. In this context, reimbursement is requested from ministers, directors of the central administration and managers of the 120 largest French companies.
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