the “Saudi village” will ultimately not settle in Les Invalides – Libération

A month after the start of the controversy, the Ministry of the Armed Forces confirmed this Tuesday March 26 that Saudi Arabia will not have a “pavilion” in this emblematic place of the French armies during the Olympics. However, it is not known where it will be installed.

The prospect of this installation caused a strong reaction. There will ultimately be no Saudi “Olympic village” in Les Invalides during the Paris Olympic Games this summer, according to information from Europe 1 this Tuesday March 26, confirmed by France Info.

The Ministry of the Armed Forces confirmed to the radio that a “letter from the military governor of Paris went to his interlocutors to tell them that we were no longer able to respond to their request to rent space to disabled people in due to the lack of feedback from them and the delays which are now too short to ensure that the place is made available in good conditions.

There was talk that a Saudi “pavilion” used to welcome the public or present cultural activities would take place for four months in this emblematic place of the French armies in Paris during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, from July 26 to September 8.

This project was contested by the right and in particular the LR deputy Nathalie Serre, member of the Defense committee in the National Assembly. “Saudi Arabia poses a specific problem regarding respect for human rights, but if it were a Danish or Canadian village, the problem would have been the same,” she argued at the end of February. There are things that cannot be sold or converted into cash and Les Invalides, in my opinion, is one of them.”

“Kindness”

The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, reacted to the controversy by confirming that “there is a project which has been submitted. Many countries are looking for places for their country’s delegations and athletes. The decision has not yet been made. Saudi Arabia has agreed to respect the security and financing measures of the Invalides, the army museum. Affirming that Riyadh was an “important defense partner”, the minister then called for “looking sympathetically at the Saudi request which could lead to patrons”.

If this “Saudi village” will therefore not be installed at the Hôtel des Invalides, which notably houses the Museum of the Armed Forces, the tomb of Napoleon and the Museum of the Order of the Liberation, the ministry has not communicated on the place which now holds the rope to welcome it.