The Notre dame cathedral will provide a lofty backcloth for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the geopolitical stage on Saturday, when French officials put an ornate line under the five-year project to restore the soaring landmark with a reopening ceremony featuring dozens of world leaders.
French President Emmanuel Macron, now in his second five-year term, invited Trump to attend as he strives to stabilize a collapsing government at home while retaining his influence abroad – most persistently when it comes to the future of Western support for Ukraine against Russia.
Trump has insisted he has a plan to bring an immediate peace to the region, though allies of Ukraine are concerned the president-elect might push for a ceasefire or peace deal viewed as more favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has signaled little interest in abandoning his war of conquest.
Macron’s success in bringing Trump to Paris – where he and other pro-Ukrainian leaders can make their case in such a luminous setting – has earned him some increasingly rare acclaim from the French press, which has described it as a “diplomatic coup.” (The French president had also been the first foreign leader to publicly congratulate Trump for winning a second term last month.) The French embassy announced on Friday that Macron will hold successive meetings with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the ceremonies, though it remains unclear whether Trump and Zelensky will have any direct conversations.
The particulars of Trump’s visit were hashed out over several days, but the president-elect told his team he was keen to attend. He has a long-held fascination with the cathedral and even tweeted out in distress more than five years ago as a fire ravaged its Gothic edifice, which sits on the Île de la Cité, an island within Paris’ Seine River. Its iconic spire and roof were destroyed as television audiences around the globe watched in horror.
Investigators believe the blaze was an accident but have not yet identified the direct cause.