discover the new promotion of the Legion of Honor

Actors, economists and politicians, but also around a hundred architects of the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral: the names of 1,702 civilian winners of the January 1st promotion of the Legion of Honor and the order of merit were published on Saturday January 18, 2025 by the Grand Chancellery and in the Official Journal.

A special Notre-Dame promotion

Among the winners of the special Notre-Dame promotion, Philippe Jost, head of the public establishment responsible for the restoration project of the cathedral, devastated by a fire in 2019, is distinguished “commander” within the Legion of honor. This senior official succeeded General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died in 2023 and himself a Grand Cross, the highest grade of this award founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.

By his side, around a hundred craftsmen, contractors, work supervisors and operations directors are named “knights” (33 in the Legion of Honor and 67 in the National Order of Merit).

In total, “1,702 people are distinguished in national orders” which reward their commitment to serving the general interest and the influence of France. “482 receive the Legion of Honor in the traditional January promotion and 1,119 the National Order of Merit in a promotion usually published in November – two promotions postponed due to ministerial changes. In addition to these two expected promotions a special promotion rewarding with these national distinctions 101 people who worked on the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris,” specifies the Grand Chancellery in a press release.

Celebrities in the charts

Among the promotion of the Legion of Honor, the actresses Camille Cottin or Mélanie Thierry, the singer Etienne Daho, the comedian Laurent Gerra and the former ministers Rima Abdul Malak, Clément Beaune, Olivier Dussopt, Marlène Schiappa and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. Ministers cannot be appointed or promoted to the Legion of Honor during the duration of their ministerial function.

The personalities named “officers” of the Legion of Honor include Odette Bergoffen, former resistance fighter, Dominique Erignac, president of the Claude Erignac association (former prefect of Corsica assassinated in office in 1998, Editor’s note), Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of the SPA, or Bixente Lizarazu, former footballer and sports consultant.

The Nobel Prize winner in economics Jean Tirole and the new CEO of the Dassault group Eric Trappier are distinguished “commander”, the journalist and novelist Philippe Labro becomes “grand officer” and Jacques de Larosière, economist and honorary governor of the Bank of France, member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, is elevated to the rank of “Grand Cross”.

Among the personalities consecrated by the National Order of Merit are the speaker and former deportee Lili Leignel (“commander”), the actress Marie-Christine Barrault and the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Boris Cyrulnik (both “grand officer”).

With AFP

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