discours a l`occasion de la remise - Consulat Général de France à la

DISCOURS
PRONONCE PAR M. LE CONSUL GENERAL DE FRANCE
A LA NOUVELLE-ORLEANS,
M. JEAN CLAUDE BRUNET
A L’OCCASION DE LA RECEPTION POUR LA FETE NATIONALE
(14 juillet 2014, Maison Degas)
City Council Member, Mrs. Susan Guidry,
UNO President, Dr Peter Fos,
CODOFIL President, Dr Bill Arceneaux,
M. Damien Regnard, conseiller consulaire et élu à l’AFE
Chers compatriotes,
Members of the Consular Corps,
Distinguished guests,
C’est un grand honneur et plaisir pour mon épouse Muriel et moi-même et toute
l’équipe du Consulat général de France à La Nouvelle-Orléans de vous accueillir ce
soir pour la réception en l’honneur de la Fête Nationale.
It is a great honor and pleasure for my wife Muriel and I and the whole team of the
French Consulate General in New Orleans, to welcome you for our official Bastille Day
reception.
We have chosen this year the wonderful atmosphere of this typical New Orleans
Creole mansion, home of the family of the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas.
We are grateful for the great hospitality and support from David Villarubia and his team,
who are not only preserving this wonderful piece of heritage, but also giving it a second
life, for the great enjoyment of the visitors.
Indeed the artistic and cultural connections between France and this great City of New
Orleans, between France and La Louisiane deserve to be remembered and celebrated
at this occasion of Bastille Day.
The roots of the past feed today the new exceptional flowers of a francophone cultural
rebirth in Louisiana today, and that gives to our bilateral relationship a great new
momentum.
The developments throughout Louisiana of la Francophonie, in culture, the Arts and
education are amazing: recent news can help to get a glimpse of them:
- after the Louisiana Prize for Francophone Poetry awarded to Zacharie Richard,
the contemporary Louisiana literature in French has been recognized also by no
less than the Académie Française, which has awarded one of its prizes to Kirby
Jambon, writer from Acadiana, a teacher living in Lafayette. The Académie
Française has addressed for the first time this strong signal to our friends and
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cousins from Louisiana who not only share an heritage but are supporting the
diversity and vitality of the French cultures of today and tomorrow.
Regarding specifically the education in the French language, we have had
recently also excellent news from the CODOFIL, which has gained financial
support to be able to perform its mission; here in New Orleans, the Lycée
Français has continued its successful start and has just received the
accreditation from the French Ministry of Education. Together with all very
successful French immersion schools of this city, this news will help respond to
the expectations of parents in Louisiana for a bilingual education from K to 12.
I would like to recognize also tonight Principal Chief Thomas Dardar of the
United Houma Nation, the Native American tribe with which Sieur de Bienville
met and made peace with, 300 years ago. The French institutions are pleased
to be part of some of their projects today to transmit their French language to
future generations.
The French language is also making progress in helping develop the economy and
the attractivity of this State and its Cities: exchange programs with French schools
or technical colleges are being developed. Here in New Orleans we recently
managed to establish a partnership between UNO and University Lyon II in
Tourism. In Arnaudville, creative-place making is thriving around the concept of
bilingual immersion in Arts and Culture, in partnership with Bretagne region in
France. In Lafayette and Lake Charles, more other projects are being developed
also. The projects with this City and the Arts Council, involving Lyon and Toulouse,
prepare already for the 2018 tercentennial.
In France, we see more and more Louisiana today as a major partner in the United
States. This will help welcome even more French companies to invest here.
The French Consulate has registered a strong increase of French nationals, the
highest rate in the US last year. Tourists are coming also in greater numbers,
attracted by the unique cultural connections and many more lagniappe – a French
new orleanian word I will always remember !
The State visit of President François Hollande and the celebrations of the 70st
anniversary of D-Day have shown how close our two countries and peoples feel
and cherish this friendship.
Mes chers compatriotes, mes paroles s’adressent aussi à vous en cette célébration
de notre Fête Nationale. Je vous souhaite très chaleureusement, un excellent 14 juillet,
au nom de mon épouse et moi-même et de toute l’équipe du Consulat général. Nous
avons conclu une nouvelle année d’élections et je voudrais féliciter nos nouveaux
conseillers consulaires et élus à l’AFE. Vous trouverez sur notre site internet tous leurs
contacts. Nous allons avec le Consulat à Houston, en étroite concertation avec vos
conseillers consulaires, renforcer encore la qualité des services rendus aux citoyens
français résidents ou de passage. Des évolutions positives sont attendues à l’automne
vous permettant d’éviter les longs déplacements à Houston pour vos démarches et en
particulier les passeports.
Je quitterai prochainement pour ma part mon poste ici après trois années d’une
mission, riche de rencontres et d’expériences extraordinaires. La fonction consulaire
est une des plus exaltantes de notre métier de diplomate car nous sommes au plus
près pour renforcer l’amitié et les liens entre les autorités locales et notre beau pays
mais aussi au contact direct avec vous, et animés par le souci de vous aider. Je
voudrais remercier chaleureusement mon équipe pour la qualité de son action. Mme
Olivia Lamy, vice-consule qui en moins d’un an s’est déjà si bien mobilisée à votre
service, supervise les missions consulaires du poste. Mon successeur M. Grégor
Trumel arrivera début août et sera très heureux de vous rencontrer à la rentrée.
Dear Friends, a word also to tell you all, that Muriel and I will miss you, when we leave
Louisiana, and we will always cherish in our memory this very exceptional place. The
hospitality we enjoyed is really unique. Since we really feel at home here, I don’t think
we will wait too long before coming back to see you!
Let me wish you an excellent Bastille Day evening in company of Edgard Degas,
Estelle and all other members of the Musson-Degas family, David Villarubia is so kind
tonight to introduce to us tonight.
I would like to thank him again and also our very special partners and sponsors tonight:
- the French company TOTAL, TOTAL petrochemical facility at Carville, Louisiana, is a
$2 billion asset that comprises a production of 700 KTA of polystyrene and 1200 KTA
of styrene monomer, a large jetty on the Mississippi River for importing and exporting
products, and employs 400 people,
- the Committee of 100, represented tonight by UNO President Peter Fos, and the
World Trade Center New Orleans, headed by CEO Dominik Knoll, both business
organizations with whom we enjoyed organizing many events for the business
cooperation, especially a trade mission to France in 2012 together with the Louisiana
Economic Development Agency, and, last but not least, les Champagne Pommery,
because no party or celebration in France can be done without our most favorite wine !
Bon 14 juillet à tous !
Vive la France!
Long live the United States of America, Louisiana and this unique City of New Orleans!