President Sarkozy also presented a top French honour to Ingrid Betancourt, who had recently been released from captivity in Columbia where Farc rebels had held her.
The military parade took place after a weekend in which the president of France had launched the Union for the Mediterranean, which is a new international organisation with 43 member nations aimed at bettering links between the EU and African and Middle Eastern countries.
A lot of the leaders from the different countries, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, who had attended the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean on Sunday stayed on in France for the Bastille Day celebrations.
