A state dinner with the U.K.’s king cost the French nearly €500,000.

A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year.

France’s love for grand gestures and opulent dining are fully in evidence in the pages of a damning  yearly audit of the Élysée’s budget, released on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France’s top audit court.

The Élysée’s spending, which includes costs related to the president’s diplomatic and presidential duties as well as administration, personnel, security and estate management, reached a whopping €125 million, plunging the books €8.3 million into the red.

Among the biggest deficit drivers were two luxurious state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.

  • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    People question the ability for it to be objective due to it being created and run by a single person combined with being an automated process that implies it is authoritative in the context of the communities where the bot is automated.

    I think MBFC is about as good as is available, kind of like Snopes. Both have a history of trying to be objective even if they aren’t perfect.

    • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      Although Snopes’ verdicts are far less important, being on things like urban myths.

      • naughtEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        They frequently report on conspiracies and political myths, too