‘Captain Nemo’ makes grand entry into Elysee Palace
Paris, Aug. 28: In keeping with time-honoured French presidential tradition, Emmanuel Macron has given the country a First Dog.
The 39-year-old President and his wife Brigitte adopted a black labradorgriffon mix at the weekend whom they have named Nemo after the captain in Jules Verne’s science fiction classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.
Nemo — who is aged between one and two and was adopted from a shelter for abandoned dogs — was glimpsed on Monday scampering around the Elysee Palace in a red collar, under the watchful eye of footmen in frock coats.
Every post-war French President has had a dog, who has the run of the palace’s expansive gardens.
Most have picked a labrador, though World War II hero Charles de Gaulle had a pint-sized corgi — a gift from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
Nemo succeeds Philae, a labrador named after the European Space Agency’s comet lander that was gifted to ex-president Francois Hollande as a puppy by Montreal-based French war veterans.
Across the Atlantic, torrents of ink were spilt on ex-president Barack Obama’s pet dogs Bo and Sunny.
Meanwhile, Mr Macron urged his government to ignore the doomsayers on Monday and concentrate on implementing his agenda following a sharp fall in his approval ratings.
Mr Macron, a centrist elected in May, presided over the first Cabinet meeting since the summer holidays on Monday ahead of a crucial few weeks for his pro-business programme.
A new poll at the weekend showed that only 40 percent of voters were happy with his performance in his first three months, broadly in line with other surveys which have also shown a sharp decline in his popularity. “Some people predict the worst. We should never give in to the prophets of doom,” he told his ministers.