Legion of Honor: Gilbert Montagné, Philippe Etchebest, Chantal Lauby... in the promotion of January 1, 2020

What do Gilbert Montagné, Chantal Lauby, Marina Hands and Jeanne Balibar have in common? All will be decorated with the Legion of Honor in 2020. Discover the personalities who will be honored this year and what distinction sparked the controversy...

A new decade is beginning and with it, its share of surprises. New Year's promotion National Order of the Legion of Honor was published on January 1 in the Official Journal to unveil a list of personalities who will soon be honored with the highest of French national distinctions . 'Founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the Legion of Honor today has 92,000 members, rewarded for their eminent merits in the service of the nation', says the Chancellery.
Among the celebrities who will soon be 'pinned', we find the actress Jeanne Balibar , who by Mathieu Amalric in 2017, the actress , the actress Chantal Lauby and the chef Philippe Etchebest who are all promoted to the rank of knight. The singer Gilbert Montagne and the Nobel Prize in Physics Gerard Mourou are, for their part, raised to the rank of officer.
Also part of the class of 2020 is the climate and environmental science researcher Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudre (named knight), Director of Global Football Development at FIFA Arsène Wenger , Stephane Israel , president of the company Arianespace, or the former minister and mayor of Boulogne Jean Pierre Fourcade , all three of whom are promoted to officers.

In all, 487 people' illustrious or unknown ' are decorated with the Legion of Honor. They are divided between ' 395 Knights, 73 Officers, 13 Commanders, 4 Grand Officers and 2 Grand Crosses '. The highest distinction is that of grand cross . Of them resistant , Pierre Simonet and Edgard Tupët-Thom, will be honored with this title.

Legion of Honor 2020: a name caused a scandal
In addition, the announcement of a distinction was particularly controversial. Jean-François Cirelli, former manager of GDF-SUEZ, then of Engie, and current president of the French branch of BlackRock , was appointed to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor.

However, the latter was suspected of having exerted an influence on the reform of the pension system and asserts to the executive the funded pension plan on the model of American pension funds, to the detriment of the current French system. An unwelcome announcement, therefore, given the .