Full speech on April 16, 2019 live from the Élysée
“French, French,
My dear compatriots, the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris has deeply affected the minds and hearts of Parisians, the French and the entire world.
This night, we entered this cathedral which is that of an entire people and its thousand-year-old history. The fire had barely been overcome. The firefighters had stopped the fire by taking the most extreme risks and they were there, around us, with their leaders, exploring the devastated roofs. They were 20 or 25 years old and came from all parts of France, from all walks of life, but what we saw that night together in Paris was this ability to mobilize, to unite to win. Throughout our history, we have built cities, ports, churches. Many have burned or been destroyed by wars, revolutions or the faults of men. Every time, every time, we rebuilt them.
The fire at Notre-Dame reminds us that our history never, ever stops and that we will always have trials to overcome and that what we believe, in some way, to be indestructible can also be achieved. Everything that makes France material and spiritual is alive and, for this very reason, is fragile and we must not forget it. And it is up to us, the French of today, to ensure over time this great continuity which makes up the French nation and that is why this evening, I wanted to directly address you because it is our duty today and it is what we must have in mind, nothing less.
I will come back to you as I promised to do in the coming days so that we can act collectively following our great debate, but today is not the time. Tomorrow politics and its tumults will regain their right, we all know it, but the time has not yet come. Let us instead remember these last hours. Last night, last night, this morning, everyone gave what they had. The firefighters fought heroically at the risk of their lives. The police and caregivers were there, as always. The Parisians were comforted. The French trembled, moved. The strangers cried. Journalists wrote, writers dreamed, photographers showed the world these terrible images. Rich and less rich alike donated money. Basically, everyone gave what they could, each in their place, each in their role, and I tell you this evening strongly, we are this people of builders. We have so much to rebuild. So yes, we will rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral even more beautiful, and I want this to be completed within 5 years. We can, and there too, we will mobilize. After the time of trial will come that of reflection, then that of action, but let’s not mix them up.
Let us not get caught in the trap of haste.
I hear, like you, I know all the pressures. I know, in a way, the kind of false impatience that would require one to react at every moment, to be able to say the announcements that were planned for a given date, as if being at the head of a country was only administer things, and not be aware of our history, of the time of women and men. I believe very deeply that it is up to us to turn this catastrophe into an opportunity to become together, having reflected deeply on what we have been and what we have to be, to become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project, the one which made us, which unites us, a human project, passionately French.
French people and all of you, foreigners who love France and who love Paris, I want to tell you this evening that I share your pain, but I also share your hope. Now we have to do. We will act and we will succeed. Long live the Republic and long live France.”
