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The office of the French president has paid 500,000 euros for a luxurious lobster dinner for King Charles and Emmanuel Macron, marking a record deficit for the Elysee Palace.
France's love of grand gestures and lavish meals is on display in the pages of an annual audit of the Elysee budget, published on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France's highest audit court.
Foreign media write that the expenses of the Elysee, which include costs related to the president's diplomatic and presidential duties, as well as administration, personnel, security and asset management, reached 125 million euros, suffering a deficit of 8.3 million euros.
Among the biggest reasons for the deficit were two lavish state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.
Macron hosted the British head of state in September last year at Versailles, the historic home of the French monarchy, for a star-studded party with at least 160 guests, including Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and British actor Hugh Grant.
The dinner, during which guests enjoyed blue and pink lobster pasta, cost the French presidency approximately €500,000, including over €165,000 for catering and over €40,000 for wine and other drinks.
Third-party caterers and decorators drove up costs for receptions held outside the Elysee, as was the case with Charles III and Modi, who was welcomed to the Louvre and shown some of France's most-visited museum masterpieces by Macron himself . The total cost reached over €400,000.
France's court of audit, however, acknowledged some cost-saving efforts, underscoring the Elysee's savings when hosting cocktail parties for fewer than 100 people, events during which Palace kitchen staff are usually preferred over outside contractors.
The Cour des Comptes also criticized the French presidency's poor travel planning skills, noting a loss of over €830,000 created by the cancellation of 12 apparently irreversible trips.
A planned but subsequently canceled trip to Germany in July 2023 led to a loss of nearly €500,000, mainly due to transport and accommodation costs.
Responding to the sums involved after the publication of the report, the Élysée said: "France maintains close diplomatic relations with a large number of countries, which organize equal events when they receive the head of state."
As a result of higher spending, including these state expectations, spending increased by 14% compared to last year, the audit office said. Compared to just a 6.5% gain in income earned by the presidency.
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