Ordre national du Mérite in the context of "President of the French Republic"

The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (French: Président de la République française, [pʁezidɑ̃ d(ə) la ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) or president of the Republic (Président de la République), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the position is the highest office in France. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, in addition to their relation with the prime minister and government of France, have over time differed with the various constitutional documents since the Second Republic.

The president of France is the ex officio co-prince of Andorra, grand master of the Legion of Honour and of the National Order of Merit, and protector of the Institut de France in Paris. The officeholder is also honorary proto-canon of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, although some have rejected the title in the past.

Julia Kristeva (/ˈkrɪstəvə/; French: [kʁisteva]; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, Bulgarian: Юлия Стоянова Кръстева [ˈkrɤstɛvɐ]; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Columbia University, and is now a professor emerita at Université Paris Cité. The author of more than 30 books, including Powers of Horror, Tales of Love, Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia, Proust and the Sense of Time, and the trilogy Female Genius, she has been awarded Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, the Holberg International Memorial Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize, and the Vision 97 Foundation Prize, awarded by the Havel Foundation.

Kristeva became influential in international critical analysis, cultural studies and feminism after publishing her first book, Semeiotikè, in 1969. Her sizeable body of work includes books and essays that address intertextuality, the semiotic, and abjection, in the fields of linguistics, literary theory and criticism, psychoanalysis, biography and autobiography, political and cultural analysis, art and art history. She is prominent in structuralist and poststructuralist thought.

Benoît Puga (born 30 January 1953) is a general in the French Army and the Grand Chancellor of the National Order of the Legion of Honour and the National Order of Merit.

The Order of Arts and Letters (French: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the Ordre national du Mérite was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields.

Its origin is attributed to the Order of Saint Michael (established 1 August 1469), as acknowledged by French government sources.