Keys Change Hands at Elysees Palace

Simple Ceremony Runs 30 Minutes Overtime

The ceremony is quite simple.

The new President goes to the palace where the old president lives. You see him arrive and after he goes in you don't see him.

He meets the old president and gets the keys. The old president comes out and you see him leave. That's about it. That's what happened this morning in Paris.

Jacques Chirac's motorcade drives through the Place de la Concorde on his way to the Elysees Palace.

Former mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac arrived in his own car, an older model Citroen CX, the same one he used for his little nocturnal ride through Paris on the night of the election.

He was closeted with President Francois Mitterrand for a hour, while hundreds of functionaries, politicians, military types, sentators, wives, daughters, friends, cooled their heels in one of the Elysees' grand rooms.

The old president does not just hand over any old keys to the new. There is the Atomic key, for example. There are state secrets. Things only the president can know; that he can divulge to only one other man: the new president. So the usual 30 minutes took a hour. While the world's capitals buzz with the mystery of it all; President Mitterrand was probably doing nothing more than stunning President Chirac with the news that he was leaving 'Les Canards' in his care.

"Le Canard Enchaine?"

"Non, les canards de l'Elysees."

Meanwhile, there are all these people waiting. One of them is Mr Roland Dumas, head of the Constitutional Council. When the two presidents finally do show up, Mr Dumas says the Constitutional Council has looked at all aspects of the election and has decided to declare Mr Chirac the uncontested winner. Since Mr Chirac has already got the keys from President Mitterrand; this announcement seems somewhat redundant. Then President Chirac is given a very important Leigon of Honor, which he looks at in awe and hands back for safekeeping.

President Chirac on the steps of the Elysees Palace.

He accompanies President Mitterrand to the door, and they shake hands. President Chirac stands on the red-carpeted steps and watches President Mitterrand get into his car, a new Citroen XM. He is driven out of the Elysees Palace and waiting supporters cheer in the rue du Faubourg St. Honore.

François Mitterrand leaves the Elysees Palace.

So does the new President take up residence in a well-kept palace where he will reside for seven years less three days, so does a President take his leave from a residence he has inhabited for 14 years.

The final line from President Chriac's first short speech as president: "Vive la Republique et Vive La France."

Return to Richard Erickson's Paris Journal

Updated 05/95