In the presence of Prince Albert II, the Senate Speaker, Gerard Larcher presented the President of the National Council the insignia Officer of the Legion of Honour. Held on Friday night at the Oceanographic Museum.
“Your dream is that Monaco is recognised for what it is, a country where we work a lot, a country extremely open to the world with more than 120 nationalities, welcoming and tolerant, a country that is a real model of society, a social model and an ecological model.”
In the presence of Prince Albert II, Stéphane Valeri and his family were touched by listening to the words of the Senate Speaker Gérard Larcher who was about to hand him the insignia of Officer of the Legion of Honour.
In 2012, Jean-Louis Debré, former president of the National Assembly and the president of the Constitutional Council, had moved to give Stéphane Valeri the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honour.
It was then paradoxically the result of the action of the Monegasque National Council until 2010, including the reactivation of a Franco-Monegasque friendship group in the National Assembly and the steps in favour of Children of the Country.
Come Friday, the situation reversed. This rank of officer is based on the action of Stéphane Valeri in the government, within the Department of Social Affairs and Health.
“I AM MONEGASQUE AND PROUD TO BE FRENCH”
Housing for all Monegasques, equality between men and women. Stéphane Valeri explained that it was this desire that animated him from the end of the 80s, encouraging a vocation. “The dream is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing in life when one gives oneself the means to realise it.”
“No obstacle is insurmountable when one carries in oneself, pegged to the body, the love of his country.”
This Legion of Honour is a renewed brand of unfailing friendship between France and Monaco. “This friendship, I feel in the depths of my heart, not only through what the 2002 Treaty between our two countries calls our ‘community of destiny’, but because it is part of our lives,” said Stéphane Valeri.
“I’m Monegasque and I’m proud to be French-speaking, I’m Monegasque and I’m proud to love France, and this friendship is the one I share. For example, intimately, with all these children of the country, born French and Monegasque of heart that I also want to associate tonight with this distinction, because they are the strongest symbol of the friendship between our two countries.”