100 posts
Claude Gueant is an arse hole but its ok in May he will have no power
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Claude Gueant on the left and the runt on the rightClaude Gueant is an arse hole but as his boss Nicolas Sarkozy will not be president of Francein May we dont have toi worry about his courting the far right in an attempt to woe the ignorant follower...
Taxing times for Sarkozy
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France's planned introduction of a "Tobin tax" has broken a practical taboo, but will it help or hamper economic growth, asks Jason Walsh. Speaking on television on Sunday night, French president Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to introduce...
If you're going to quote Shakespeare, make sure you get the right one | Observer editorial
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François Hollande got a little confused between two ShakespearesBe not afear'd. For those of us whose competitive spirit will ignite, and probably expire, in a tussle over the TV remote from the comfort of an armchair, it's a relief to read that the...
If the left wins in France, a critical battle of ideologies must surely follow | Jonathan Fenby
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Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande's high-spending manifesto could rock the rest of EuropeThree decades after its greatest postwar political triumph, the French left is shaping up for an epic battle with the economic orthodoxy that h...
France’s Left Front on the Presidential campaign trail
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L’Humanite newspaper on a workplace meeting demonstrating the deepening ties between the radical Left Front and the French labour movement More...
The French Cultural Exception Explained
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It’s an exemption from the shackles of reason and truth-telling. It’s purpose is to fit whatever uninformed view of reality that you have – because there is simply no way you can’t be right.What’s all that about? You ask... An Elle blogger...
Will a Remake of 2002 See a Le Pen Become One of the Two Winners in the First Round of France's Presidential Election?
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April 22 is the first round of France's 2012 presidential elections, which will thus take place exactly 10 years to the day after the first round of the 2002 presidential elections put a Le Pen in the runoff for the second round, writes Le Monde's om...
Free Speech in Europe: Criminalizing Denials of Genocides
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While the world continued to look on, as if an impotent rich man who cannot afford Viagra, as what could be called a genocide was taking place in Syria (i.e., the systemic killing of a group—in this case, of pro-democracy demonstrators), France’s...
anti France imagery after the genocide bill in Turkish twittersphere
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homophobic, sexist, revanchist in principle…… View the story “anti France imagery after the genocide bill in Turkish twittersphere” on Storify Storified by Erkan Saka Tue, Jan 24 2012 08:27:29 · 101 views 30 anti...
Turkey vs. France. They don’t look like allies anymore after the genocide bill as Turkey takes this as a feud…
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Turkish rage at ‘Yes’ from French Senate from Hurriyet Daily News French senators debate a bill yesterday to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, despite a furious Turkey vowing to punish Paris with “permanent” sanctions if it is passed in...
l’Humanité on the advance of the radical Left Front
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France’s communist newspaper l’Humanité on the rise of the radical Left Front and how it is boosting a debate on genuine alternatives to austerity. Read...
Don’t Mention Les Talibanlieusardes
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Reality being insufficient for their perennial hatred and demonization, French academics turn to fiction, turning to the lecturesome US crime series “The Wire” which another scholar plainly calls a vehicle to convey a political messageI suppose t...
In France, genocide has become a political brickbat | Timothy Garton Ash
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Next week's bill on denial of Ottoman atrocities against Armenians is an attack on free speech, one of many around the worldNext Monday the French Senate is to vote on a bill that will criminalise denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915, along with a...
Which candidate has the most to gain from France's downgrade?
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The race to the Elysee took another turn on Friday when Standard & Poor’s downgraded French debt. The decision had been widely anticipated by the markets since December, when the ratings agency conducted a review of Eurozone finances. Although...
Rating downgrade of France: Is Sarkozy’s reelection bid doomed?
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The 2012 French presidential election will take place on 22 April, 2nd round, if necessary, on 6 May 2012. Question: Will the rating downgrade of France significantly influence President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reelection bid or not, and why? Answers...
On the true causes behind France’s downgrade
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“[T]he financial problems facing the eurozone are as much a consequence of rising external imbalances and divergences in competitiveness between the eurozone’s core and the so-called “periphery.” As such, we believe that a reform...
Who said print journalism was dead?
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Whatever you think of French politics – or ratings agencies – this is a super front page:...
The clock is ticking for Sarkozy
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The Danes said they will conduct a low-cost presidency. I think they made a very good point. Showing up in times of crisis is bad taste. But I think the Danes had one more message to deliver: they wanted to send a message to Sarkozy, the bling-bling...
France’s radical left on the up, new polls show
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IN BRIEF / FRANCE Jean-Luc Mélenchon, candidate for French President for the Left Front will obtain 8% of the vote, up from 7% in December, according to a new poll by le Parisien newspaper. Together with a rise of one point to 4% for the Green candi...
Eric Cantona launches bid to become president of France
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Former Manchester United player Eric Cantona has launched a bid to become the president of France. The eccentric striker has written to mayors requesting that they nominate him for the contest to be held on 22 April, with a possible run-off on 6 May...
on Jan.10 French Senate to vote on Armenian genocide bill… while Algerians oppose Turkey’s use of Algerian massacres against France…
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French Senate to vote on genocide from BBC News | Europe | World Edition The French Senate is to vote this month on a bill making it illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians was genocide, reports say. France sets date to vo...
The Tobin Tax and the Populist Pitch
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Nicolas Sarkozy knows that in order to win re-election, he needs to scarf up the "populist" vote that he won in 2007 by poaching on the FN's xenophobic territory and that he risks losing in 2012 because the FN is poaching on his "defend the working m...
Right wing power violates the Constitution
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FROM THE RADICAL PRESS – HUMANITE (FRANCE ) 23 12 2011 Patrick Le Hyaric Right-wing power violates the Constitution Mr Sarkozy and the right wing government have once again taken sides – that of the bosses against the workers. The workers...
Sarkozy should leave the Armenian genocide to the historians | Agnès Poirier
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Making it a crime to deny the genocide antagonises a useful ally in Turkey – a country founded on the French Republican modelThe French parliament recognised the Armenian killings as genocide in 2001. But this week, French MPs went further, approvi...
French "genocide" bill is attack on Turkey's dignity, foreign minister says
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video Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a final appeal on Wednesday to French parliamentarians not to ba...
Tensions in Europe: Is France Starting Fires all around Europe?
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This end of year has been quite tumultuous in Europe: European citizens are in the street, rating agencies threaten to downgrade the rating of some members of the Eurozone, the race to elections is going full speed in several EU countries, all this t...
Britain and France: seasonal greetings | Editorial
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So long as we are all in the same sinking boat, we would be wise to focus on rowing in the same directionThe political cartoonist of his time JS Gillray depicted William Pitt and Napoleon carving up the plum pudding of the globe (Pitt helps himself t...
Sarkozy Responds to My Question
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The other day I entitled a post "A New Europe?" Question mark. Today, Nicolas Sarkozy told Le Monde that the upshot of the Brussels agreement is indeed "a new Europe." Or at any rate a "different" Europe. He is more optimistic than commentators...
Sarkozy to profit most from Cameron blunder
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Sarkozy is about to realize De Gaulle’s dream rebooted : an intergovernmental Europe, without Britain. The cherry on the cake is the US backing to this new Europe much to the detriment of the UK-US special relationship. Though the media has lo...
The latest Franco-German Agreement: Is it enough?
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So France and Germany reached what was hailed as yet another “comprehensive agreement” on the reform of the Eurozone fiscal policies. In my opinion this wasn’t that comprehensive an agreement. It was only the last of such several st...
France and intergovernmentalism
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Germany has been receiving some bad press lately. It has emerged as the undisputed leader amid this eurozone crisis. So it is Berlin’s medicine that is prevailing. Not everybody else in Europe agrees with the remedy, which is seen as too dogmatic...
Sarkozy: French president and German chancellor to save euro
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Yesterday, 1 December 2011, president Nicolas Sarkozy promised the French people later retirement, longer working weeks and smaller public deficits. Europe offers more sovereignty through added opportunities to act. If France and Germany are united,...
New Blog on European Politics
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My friend and colleague Trisha Craig has just launched a new blog on European politics. There only one post so far, on the Spanish elections, but check it out. There will be more to come, and you're sure to find it interesting.
Unions mobilise as France’s jobless top 2.8 million
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France’s largest trade union central has called a national demonstration on Saturday to protest against the lengthening jobless queues and in-work poverty amid an escalating national economic and social crisis. The call, part of a step up in ac...
Jean-Luc Sauron Président !
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Les Cabris de l’Europe participent aux élections à la présidence du Mouvement européen-France (ME-F) en donnant la parole à un partisan de chaque candidat. Hier, Yannick Hoppe pour Jean-Marie Cavada ; aujourd’hui, Philippe Perchoc pour J...
EU Commissioner Oettinger questions existence of human life in Western France
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Here we go again, another gaffe by EU Commissioner Oettinger. You remember Günther Oettinger? He is the EU Commissioner for Energy and former PM of Baden-Württemberg. If that does not ring a bell maybe you might recall his encounter with ‘tea...
A Guide To French Skiing Vacations
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France is the ultimate choice of the skiing enthusiast who goes on a skiing holiday. This is because there are more than 40 fully fledged ski resorts in France and the good news is that some of them are kept open all year.
BHL, the Byron of Romantic France and the Emancipator of the Libyan People
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As Bernard-Henri Lévy comes out with a book on the Libyan civil war, Natalie Nougayrède has an article in Le Monde evaluating the philosopher's role in French diplomacy. (In it, we learn that Nicolas Sarkozy was ready, if necessary, to intervene in...
Contagion Beyond the Headlines: Portugal and Eastern Europe
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The E.U. states of Greece and Italy were grabbing headlines during the first two weeks of November 2011, given the dramatic resignations of Papandreou and Berlusconi. The only other state to get some attention was France. The Wall Street Journal note...
