Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron: a modern master of the diplomatic gesture Bayeux tapestry loan is latest example of use of symbolism to raise France’s global profileEmmanuel Macron in Italy last week, where he promised to sign a ‘Quirinal Treaty’. Historically, they have ranged from a menagerie of exotic animals to fabulous jewels, but Emmanuel Macron – by first offering the Chinese a horse called Vesuvius, and now offering the British the loan of the Bayeux tapestry – has revealed himself this month as the modern master of the diplomatic gesture. Emmanuel Macron agrees to loan Bayeux Tapestry to Britain Read moreMacron, by contrast, operates through loftier symbols. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex/Shutterstock“Modern political life must rediscover a sense of symbolism,” Macron told the German Der Spiegel newspaper in October. After all, the Bayeux tapestry is an elegant warning to the French and the British of the consequences of falling out.

Source: The Guardian January 17, 2018 17:27 UTC