Between commemoration and call for mobilization, Emmanuel Macron celebrated the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas

Sunset over the village of Bormes. The church bells ring out at 7 p.m. Nearly 200 guests are seated in front of the town hall, sweating from the heat.

The flag bearers are lined up. Silence reigns.

President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, takes his place in front of the war memorial in the Var city. The ceremony marking the ^81st anniversary of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas can begin.

The call of those who died for France echoes like cannon fire off the ochre facades of the Provençal village. In this " luxury resort, it's hard to imagine that in 1944 the Nazi flag and the swastika flew here ," recalls François Arizzi, the mayor of Bormes-les-Mimosas.

In front of Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces, Simon Babre, Prefect of Var who took office a few weeks ago, Yannick Chevenard, MP for the ^1st constituency of Var, Christian Simon, Mayor of La Crau, Christine Amrane, Mayor of Collobrières and the presidential couple, the Borméen councillor then paid tribute to the African commandos and to " the youth who brought the commune out of darkness. "

"We must arm ourselves"

Referring to American soldiers, François Arizzi makes an appeal: " We needed these soldiers who came from far away, let us be aware that today others may need us. "

Before giving way to the Head of State, " hoping, Mr. President, to say see you next year. "

" We must remember those who made our freedom possible today ," begins Emmanuel Macron, a loyal resident of the mimosa city since 2018.

In a fifteen-minute speech, the President of the Republic paid tribute to the resistance fighters and delivered a message: " In one summer, they changed the future because they decided to write it. "

The head of state, on the eve of his trip to Washington with European leaders to support Ukraine in the face of Donald Trump, wasted no time in getting to the heart of the matter that has been occupying him for months.

" Today we must face our destiny; war has returned to Europe. If we want to be free, let us never forget that it is our responsibility, in a dangerous world of predators, to prepare ourselves, to arm ourselves. "

A speech in the form of a warning. " If Nazi barbarity held us under its yoke for so many years, it is also because some wanted to believe that the threat from Eastern Europe would never reach our country ," the army chief also recalled.

"We're in a bad way"

A speech which, among the citizens gathered in the assembly, sometimes struggles to convince.

" We're not there yet, honestly, as far as war is concerned in Europe... On the other hand, we're in a bad way with what's being planned for the country's shutdown in September, " fears Valérie, a tourist from Deux-Sèvres on vacation with her husband Jean-Luc, her daughter Lio, and her Afghan friend Rayaeha.

And her neighbor concluded: " I don't know how Emmanuel Macron manages to sleep peacefully with everything that's going on... "

Before flying to the capital of the United States, the President of the Republic, surrounded by his most loyal supporters, took a final stroll in the Var region.

He is expected to return later this week.