France news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

Macron and Le Pen cast ballots in second-round vote for French presidency
Source: France 24

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen cast ballots on Sunday in the second round of the country’s presidential election, a rematch of the candidates’ 2017 duel. Midday turnout stood at 26.41%, according to the interior ministry, almost 2 points less than at noon in the vote five years ago. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for full coverage of election day.

Macron, 44, topped the first round of the election on April 10 with 27.8% of votes cast. The pro-European incumbent is aiming to become the first president to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002.

Le Pen, who took 23.1% of the first-round vote, is making her third run for the presidency. The 53-year-old nationalist leader is hoping to become the first woman to hold the job.

First exit polls are expected at 8pm Paris time (GMT+2) when the last polling stations close in Paris and other cities. Until then, French media are barred from quoting candidates or publishing polls to ensure they don’t influence voters.

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/france/2022 ... presidency

[Time_Traveller]

French election: Le Pen concedes defeat with parting barb over Macron's 'brutal methods'

Sunday 24 April 2022



Emmanuel Macron will become the first French president in 20 years to win a second term after an official vote projection suggested he has seen off the challenge from Marine Le Pen.

The projected result from Ipsos saw Mr Macron get 58.2% of the votes compared with Ms Le Pen's 41.8%.

Five years ago, Mr Macron won a sweeping victory to become France's youngest president at 39.

The margin is expected to be way smaller this time: Polling agencies Opinionway, Harris and Ifop projected that Macron would win between 57% and 58.5% of the vote, with Ms Le Pen getting between 41.5% and 43%.

https://news.sky.com/story/french-elect ... n-12598054

Le Pen has been defeated.

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^^^More on that:

Macron Reelected, Vows to Unite a Divided France
by Cain Burdeau
April 25, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/macron-r ... ed-france/

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) The ease of Macron’s reelection nevertheless does not dispel the reality that France is a deeply divided nation, and his victory had more to do with opposition to Le Pen than support for his pro-business and pro-European platform.

In his victory speech in front of the Eiffel Tower, Macron acknowledged the deep divisions in French society and vowed to be a “president of all us.”

“I know that a number of French people have voted for me today not to support my ideas but to stop the ideas of the far right,” Macron said. “I’m not the candidate of one camp any more, but the president of all of us.”

The level of his support and ability to govern will be determined in June when French voters go back to the polls for legislative elections. Polling remains limited on how those elections may turn out.

In 2017, the Republic on the March, a new liberal party Macron created in conjunction with his unorthodox bid for the presidency, won a majority, but its continued dominance in the National Assembly is far from certain. It has struggled to build a nationwide grassroots party system and performed poorly in recent elections for the European parliament and French municipalities.

[weatheriscool]

How exactly is macron going to unite a country that literally has 40% of its population wanting a stop to immigration?

[Time_Traveller]

Emmanuel Macron’s coalition level with new leftwing group in French elections

Mon 13 Jun 2022

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping was neck and neck with a new leftwing alliance led by the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the vote share of the first round of parliamentary elections.

A frantic final week of campaigning will begin on Monday before the second round, as Macron’s centrists still hope to edge ahead but face uncertainty over whether they can win a crucial majority of seats in parliament.

Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble (Together), took 25.75% of the vote, according to results published by the interior ministry on Monday morning. A historic alliance of parties on the left, led by Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party and including the Socialists and the Greens, took 25.66% – presenting a challenge to Macron.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally took 18.68%, and is now hoping to increase its seats. The right’s Les Républicains and its allies took 13.62%.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -elections

[weatheriscool]

French Police Arrest Far-Left Extremist Linked to Estimated 60 Car Burnings
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/0 ... -burnings/

Earlier this week, French anti-terrorist police arrested a man in his 40s who is believed to have been behind at least sixty car burnings since 2017, many of the vehicles belonging to public companies.

The man, who was not identified by name, was arrested last weekend and has been placed in pre-trial detention after being accused of setting at least 60 vehicles on fire since 2017, many of them belonging to various companies, including telecommunications companies.

The anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) of the judicial police is said to have carried out the arrest after the man was accused of setting a diplomatic vehicle on fire in the 17th arrondissement of Paris on the night of June 10th, Europe1 reports.

Investigators say the man, who is believed to be linked to the far-left extremist movement, was already under investigation and was known to police after a series of arson attacks on public companies and telecommunications companies.

[weatheriscool]

Macron's bloc falls short of absolute majority, leftist coalition second, large gains for far right
Source: France 24

French voters have cast their votes to fill the 577-seat National Assembly, the French parliament’s lower-house chamber, and shorn President Emmanuel Macron of his parliamentary majority.

The latest estimations show Macron’s centre-right alliance Together won 234 seats, the leftwing bloc NUPES has taken 141, and the far-right National Rally has won 90 seats, among others.

Reacting to the night's first estimates, Macron's Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said, "It's less than what we hoped for. The French have not given us an absolute majority. It's an unprecedented situation that will require us to overcome our divisions."

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/france/2022 ... cond-round

[Time_Traveller]

France: parties reject Mélenchon’s call to form opposition bloc

Mon 20 Jun 2022

An alliance of France’s leftwing and Green parties led by the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon has rejected his calls to form a single parliamentary bloc less than 24 hours after it won the second largest number of seats in legislative elections.

The split came as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, held talks with members of his centre-right party over how to form a government after it unexpectedly lost its absolute majority in Sunday’s second-round vote.

It was unclear whether the reported disintegration of La Nouvelle Union Popular, Ecologique et Sociale (Nupes – the New Popular Ecological and Social Union) would help or hinder the president, who now faces having to negotiate alliances and compromises to push through any legislation during his second term in office.

Mélenchon had called in comments to the press on Monday for the parties in the hastily arranged Nupes to form a single parliamentary opposition group in the Assemblée Nationale, the lower house, but his suggestion was rejected outright by the three main parties – Socialists, Greens/Ecologists and Communists – who had joined forces with his radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) to fight the general election.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... ition-bloc

[Time_Traveller]

Macron holds talks with opposition over French parliamentary majority

Tue 21 Jun 2022

Emmanuel Macron has met leaders of opposition groups including the far right’s Marine Le Pen to sound out his chances of negotiating a parliamentary majority.

The French president, whose centre-right alliance fell 44 seats short of controlling the Assemblée Nationale, was said to be exploring his “room for manoeuvre” after losing control of the lower house in Sunday’s legislative elections.

Macron is reported to have turned down an offer by Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister appointed a month ago, to resign believing his government needs to stay on track. However, he will need to garner support from MPs who are not natural supporters to break the deadlock that threatens to paralyse parliament.

Radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called on Borne to submit to a vote on confidence. “That woman has no legitimacy. None. We’re wasting our time until she leaves,” Mélenchon told reporters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... y-majority

[Time_Traveller]

French government supports enshrining abortion in constitution, after US ruling

41 MINS AGO - 25 June 2022

PARIS (AFP) - Politicians representing a parliamentary majority on Saturday (June 25) voiced support for a Bill enshrining abortion rights in France's constitution, after the US Supreme Court revoked the nationwide legal protection for American women to terminate pregnancies.

The landmark ruling by the conservative-majority court on Friday overturned almost five decades of constitutional protections for abortion in the United States, allowing individual states to regulate the procedure.

The American religious right had never accepted the previous 1973 "Roe versus Wade" ruling that guaranteed US abortion rights and several conservative states immediately announced they would ban abortion.

France was one of several US allies to condemn the decision, with President Emmanuel Macron denouncing a threat to women's freedom.

The leader of Macron's party in parliament on Saturday said she had tabled a bill to "enshrine the respect for abortion in our constitution" amid the rise of the far-right National Rally, a party she described as "fierce opponents" of abortion.

"Women's rights are always fragile rights that are regularly threatened," Aurore Berge told the France Inter radio station.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/euro ... -us-ruling

[Time_Traveller]

‘We want it to come alive’: architect’s plan to transform Notre Dame area

Sat 2 Jul 2022

For most of the last year, the Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets could be found walking purposefully around the Île de la Cité in central Paris staring at and thinking about Notre Dame Cathedral.

On a blazing hot day in the French capital he is back there, pointing at the landmark, still shrouded in scaffolding after it was ravaged by a devastating fire in April 2019.

“I’ve done this so often, she’s like an old friend,” Smets says. “This is the very cradle of Paris, the heart of the city.”

All the staring and thinking has paid off now for Smets, who this week won an international competition to redesign the area around the cathedral.

His ambitious plan, which garnered the unanimous support of the jury, includes more trees, a clever cooling system for the large area in front of the cathedral during heatwaves and a new reception centre and archaeological museum in the now-abandoned car park underneath the main square opening on to the banks of the Seine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... area-paris

[weatheriscool]

France in midst of 4th heat wave amid historic drought
Source: AP

PARIS (AP) — France was in the midst of its fourth heat wave of the year Monday as the country faces what the government warned is its worst drought on record.

National weather agency Meteo France said the heat wave began in the south and is expected to spread across the country and last until the weekend.

Overall, the southern half of France expects daytime temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) ad won’t drop at night below 20 C (68 F).

The high temperatures aren’t helping firefighters battling a wildfire in the Chartreuse Mountains near the Alps in eastern France, where authorities have evacuated around 140 people.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/france-droug ... f9b74f33e3

[wjfox]

‘Serious problem’ if France and UK can’t tell if they are friends or enemies, says Macron

Fri 26 Aug 2022 11.50 BST

Emmanuel Macron has suggested France and Britain may be heading for “serious problems” after Liz Truss told the penultimate Conservative leadership hustings that “the jury is still out” on whether the French president was “friend or foe”.

Asked for his response to the remarks, Macron, on an official visit to Algeria, said it was “not good to lose your bearings. Words have a meaning: friend, foe.”

If he was asked the same question, he said: “I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”

“France is a friend of the British people,” Macron said. “If France and Britain cannot say whether they are friends or enemies … then we are headed for serious problems.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -liz-truss

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Oil Worker Strikes Leave France Running on Empty and Test Weakened Macron
by Cain Burdeau
October 14, 2022

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — A season of protests has returned to France and put President Emmanuel Macron’s weakened government on the back foot as it tries to quell stubborn refinery worker strikes now broadening into other sectors.

For the past two weeks, French motorists have been hit by a nationwide shortage of fuel following a decision by workers at key oil refineries to go on strike for better wages.

This petrol crisis comes at a volatile moment as fuel prices soar globally, largely due to the war in Ukraine, and as the global economy teeters on the brink of recession.

Scenes reminiscent of the 1970s oil crisis are playing out at gas stations across France as motorists wait for hours in snaking lines to fill up their vehicles. It’s caused chaos for many taxis, courier services, ambulances, truck companies and anyone relying on a vehicle.

Reports show that one out of three French gas stations is low on petrol and many have completely run dry. The labor strikes have taken about 60% of France’s oil supply offline.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/oil-wor ... d-macron/

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Tens of Thousands March in Paris to Protest Cost-of-Living Crisis and Climate Inaction
by Julia Conley
October 17, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) A march including tens of thousands of people in Paris on Sunday represented a "great convergence" of crises facing the French public and President Emmanuel Macron's government, said progressive leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the left-wing party France Unbowed and an organizer of the massive protest.

Demanding a greater investment in climate action, higher wages, and an emergency freeze on the prices of groceries, rent, and energy, people marched from the Place de la Nation to the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris as the National Assembly struggles to pass a budget for next year and strikes at oil refineries are expected to spread to the transportation sector this week.

Four months after Macron lost his majority in the National Assembly and France Unbowed formed a coalition with other center-left parties, Mélenchon told the crowd that the president's government is descending into "chaos."

"If you are in difficulty or in misery, it is exclusively because the correlation of forces between those who have everything and those who have little, is in favor of those who have everything," Mélenchon said, calling on protesters to "not allow themselves to be divided by their skin color, their religion, political affiliation or indifference."

"Another life is possible, free from the spoils of profit," he added, "Another world is possible, free from the frenzy of capitalist productivism. With what we are doing today, we are designing a new Popular Front."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... -inaction

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Climate Activists Tell Macron to Stop Using Trade Rules to Thwart Clean Energy
by Kenny Stancil
December 2, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Environmental campaigners implored French President Emmanuel Macron to stop inhibiting sorely needed climate action by weaponizing global trade rules during a Thursday night protest outside the White House, where U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Macron for the first state visit of his tenure.

In a nod to the ongoing World Cup, activists donning referee outfits and red cards called on Macron to stop threatening to launch a trade dispute against domestic electric vehicle manufacturing incentives, renewable energy tax credits, and other green provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed earlier this year by the U.S. Congress.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... an-energy