France to cut National Day celebration bill by 10%

Under high pressure to reach healthy finances and rein in spending, France planned to squeeze by 10 percent costs of the usual pomp, military parade and flight show to mark this year's National Day, local media said on Tuesday. According to the local broadcaster Europe 1, Paris aimed at clinching the belt of the National Day celebration by 500,000 euros (643,143 U.S. dollars) compared to 2012 costs. The report added the ruling Socialists wanted to garner 190,000 euros by reducing the number of armored vehicles to participate in the traditional parade to 265 units and with eight less helicopters to fly over the sky on July 14, also called Bastille Day. "We will just remove non-operational vehicles which accompany those of the parade and also those of the Ministry of Interior, police and firefighters. But at no time we will have the feeling of having an ersatz parade," General Herve Charpentier told the local radio. Last year's French military forces annual parade on the Champs Elysees Avenue in Paris cost 4 million euros. On July 14, 1789, French citizens stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, which helped spark the French Revolution. The day was celebrated all over France each year as the National Day.