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Europe

Security Gates to be Installed at Lille, Paris on Cross-Europe Train Lines

2015-11-25

[AnNahar] La Belle France will install security gates at stations in Gay Paree and Lille for the Thalys cross-Europe rail services by December 20 in one of a raft of measures introduced after the Gay Paree attacks, minister Segolene Royal said Tuesday. A Thalys train from Amsterdam to Gay Paree was attacked by a heavily armed man in August, but he was overpowered by passengers. The French government has decided "to install gates for the Thalys in Lille and Gay Paree before December 20," Royal, who is ecology minister but has responsibility for transport, said. The high-speed Thalys service links Gay Paree with Lille in northern La Belle France, the Belgian capital, Brussels, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the western German city of Cologne. Passengers boarding those trains do not currently have to pass through security checks, unlike for the cross-Channel Eurostar train services to Britannia which have airport-style security. Royal indicated that Belgian, German and Dutch authorities would also install security gates, although those countries have not yet confirmed that. She said La Belle France was also considering bringing in a system of named tickets for Thalys passengers. La Belle France has tightened security at its borders and within the country following the jihadist attacks of November 13 on the French capital in which 130 people were killed.

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Europe

Political Earthquake in France as Far Right Triumphs in EU Vote

2014-05-26

[An Nahar] La Belle France suffered a political earthquake on Sunday as the far-right National Front topped the polls in European elections with an unprecedented haul of one in every four votes cast, exit polls indicated. Average results from five polling institutes pointed to the anti-immigration, anti-EU party led by Marine Le Pen taking 24-25 percent of the popular vote and around a third, or 23-25, of La Belle France's 74 seats in the European Parliament. The mainstream right Union for a Popular Movement was beaten into second place with a projected 20-21 percent score and the ruling Socialist Party was left languishing in third place with just 14-15 percent. The result is the highest score ever obtained in a nationwide election by the FN and follows breakthrough gains made by the once pariah party in municipal elections earlier in the year. "It is a historic score. We are now the first party in La Belle France," FN vice-president Florian Philippot declared as the exit polls were published while senior Socialist minister Segolene Royal acknowledged that the far right's success represented "a shock on a global scale." Le Pen, who has been credited with significantly broadening the appeal of a party founded by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, said voters had demonstrated their desire to "reclaim the reins of their own destiny." "Our people demand only one type of politics - a politics of the French, for the French and with the French." "They have said they no longer want to be ruled from outside, to have to submit to laws they did not vote for or to obey (EU) commissioners who are not subject to the legitimacy of universal suffrage."

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Europe

Hollande Axes PM after Election Debacle, Names Valls as New Premier

2014-04-01

[AnNahar] French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... on Monday reacted to a humiliating electoral rout for his Socialist Party by naming popular Interior Minister Manuel Valls as the country's new prime minister. Valls, 51, replaces Jean-Marc Ayrault at the helm of a new government which will not include the two Green ministers who were part of the outgoing administration. Hollande confirmed Ayrault's dismissal and Valls' promotion in a televised address to the nation, a day after the Socialists lost more than 150 towns and cities to the right or far-right in municipal elections on Sunday "In the elections, you expressed your unhappiness and your disappointment. I have heard your message, it is clear," Hollande said, admitting that voters had lost patience with high taxes and record unemployment. He said Valls would be charged with implementing a package of pro-business policies known as the Responsibility Pact, which have been attacked by the left of his party. But he said this would be balanced by a new "solidarity pact" which would include steps to boost spending on education and health, reduce income and payroll taxes - provided they can be financed by cuts in state spending elsewhere. "It is about reforming our state ... and preserving our social model. In short, we want to be both fairer and more efficient," Hollande said. Waking up to headlines Monday that included "A rout", "A slap" and "A kick up the backside", Hollande was left with little option but to order a radical shake-up of a government seen as drifting hopelessly against a backdrop of real economic pain for millions of French families. Both the far-right National Front (FN) and the mainstream opposition made historic gains in Sunday's nationwide elections, which were the first major electoral test since Hollande's 2012 election. The scale of the setback was unprecedented. Marine Le Pen's FN, skilfully rebranded as more than just an anti-immigrant party, won control of 11 towns and more than 1,400 municipal seats nationwide, easily its best ever performance at the grassroots level of French government. But even more worrying for Hollande and Co. was the strong showing of the mainstream Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). The party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd President of the French Republic. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... snatched a string of major towns that were once considered bastions of the left in a performance which, if repeated in national elections, would see them sweep back to power with ease in 2017. Born in Barcelona, Valls is a dapper, good-looking politician who has consistently been the most popular member of the Socialist-led government with approval ratings Hollande can only dream of. Having acted as Hollande's communications manager in the 2012 campaign, the twice-married father of four is personally close to the president. But he is regarded with suspicion by many on the left of his party because of his attacks on shibboleths such as the 35-hour working week and his uncompromising stance on law-and-order issues. Appointing him as prime minister is a bold and decisive move by Hollande, some might say uncharacteristically so. But, as with his adoption of the Responsibility Pact -- which aims to reduce companies payroll taxes in the hope it will lead to them hiring more staff -- it comes with the risk of exacerbating internal party tensions. The issue was underlined on Monday when Green ministers Cecile Duflot and Pascal Canfin announced they would not be part of the new government, describing the appointment of Valls as "not an adequate response to the problems faced by the French." Divisions inside the Socialist Party are already acute because of misgivings on the left over Hollande's pursuit of spending cuts required to get La Belle France's budget deficit under control. The full line-up of the new cabinet is expected to emerge on Tuesday with interest particularly keen in whether Hollande will recall the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, from the political wilderness. Royal was the Socialists' presidential candidate in 2007 but her inclusion in Hollande's first cabinet was reportedly blocked because of hostility from Valerie Trierweiler, the president's then girlfriend. That obstacle has now been removed following Hollande's separation from Trierweiler, and Royal is tipped for a return to the frontline of politics with a major portfolio covering education, sport and youth.

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Europe

Valerie Trierweiler Sues over End-of-Affair Bikini Beach Snaps

2014-02-08

[An Nahar] French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... 's dumped ex, Valerie Trierweiler, is to sue Closer magazine after the French glossy published pictures of her getting over her break-up on a tropical beach. The former first lady announced the move in a statement to Agence La Belle France Presse. The pictures of Trierweiler, 48, and two girlfriends relaxing in bikinis on the island of Mauritius hit newstands on Friday, four weeks after Closer revealed Hollande's affair with an actress, Julie Gayet. According to Closer, the trio rented a luxury beach villa that costs upwards of $2,000 a night shortly after Trierweiler's return from a charity trip to India, which she made the day after Hollande ended their relationship. Trierweiler's companions on the trip, journalist Valerie de Senneville and actress Saida Jawad, are also suing Closer under La Belle France's privacy law, with the latter also bringing a case related to image rights. During her trip to India, Trierweiler told journalists she had not ruled out writing a book about her time with Hollande. The Socialist leader left the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, for Trierweiler in 2005. According to Closer, his affair with Gayet began two years ago but it is unclear whether the relationship is continuing.

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Europe

Le scandale at the Elysee Palace

2012-10-11

THE Elysee Palace was hit with a sex scandal yesterday when it was alleged in a book by two prominent French political journalists that Valerie Trierweiler, the country's first lady, was conducting affairs with the socialist Francois Hollande and a minister from the previous right-wing administration while married to a third man. Busy girl, with a passion for her avocation. A lawyer for Ms Trierweiler, 47, hit back last night at the unauthorised biography, La Frondeuse (The Rebellious One), which is published today, saying that it was based on a collection of "author assertions backed by unproven rumours" and that Ms Trierweiler was planning to sue for breach of privacy. The book alleges that Ms Trierweiler, a mother-of-three, began the affairs while Mr Hollande was still living with Segolene Royal - the mother of his four children and a former presidential candidate - and while Patrick Devedjian, who is a senior member of the opposition and close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, was living with his wife of more than 30 years. Mr Hollande and Ms Royal did not publicly end their relationship until this year, but the book claims he kept a mistress for many years. Ms Trierweiler filed for divorce in 2007 from her husband, Denis, a fellow journalist at Paris Match; the separation was completed in 2010. She is deeply unpopular in opinion polls. She has been described as the "First Concubine" by the French media, who have delighted in the mutual loathing between her and Ms Royal. With Ms Trierweiler, who has her own office in the Elysee Palace, fiercely disputing the allegations, the book is likely to raise further questions about the private lives of French politicians.

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Europe

Sarkozy Takes First Poll Lead after Anti-EU Speech

2012-03-14

[An Nahar] President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... pulled ahead of his Socialist rival for the first time in La Belle France's election race Tuesday according to a poll conducted after the right-winger took a strident anti-EU turn. The survey forecast Sarkozy would lead in the first round but still lose out to Francois Hollande in the second, but it was a symbolic boost for the leader who had consistently trailed his rival for the past five months. "It's true that it's better when things are going well," Sarkozy told news hounds when asked about the poll. "Nothing is settled, nothing is finished. I campaigned before, I will campaign after ... let each say what he will do for the next five years and the French will decide," he said. Sarkozy's spokeswoman claimed there was "panic" among the Socialists after the Ifop poll said the president would win 28.5 percent of the vote in the first round in April, against 27 percent for Hollande. Hollande, who has never held a ministerial post and whose ex-partner Segolene Royal lost to Sarkozy in 2007, is still on course to win the second round in May with 54.5 percent against Sarkozy's 45.5 percent, the poll said. "It's a turning point... but a nuanced turning point," Frederic Dabi of Ifop told Agence La Belle France Presse. Socialist former minister Jack Lang played down the survey's importance, deeming it "abnormal" that an incumbent be as low in the polls as is Sarkozy. "Let's not get taken in or too excited by this or that poll," he said. The survey of 1,638 people was carried out by telephone, shortly after tens of thousands of Sarkozy supporters turned up in a Gay Paree suburb on Sunday for his biggest campaign rally so far. Sarkozy's UMP party had billed that meeting as a key part of their bid to turn the tables on Hollande. The president, who had initially campaigned as the self-styled savior of Europe's single currency, thrilled the cheering crowd with a surprise new Eurosceptic stance. In a tub-thumping speech, he threatened to pull La Belle France out of Europe's 26-nation passport-free travel zone unless the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... does more to keep out undocumented Democrats. And he demanded the EU adopt measures to fight cheap imports, warning that La Belle France might otherwise pass a unilateral "Buy French" law. The left was quick to attack what they saw as a populist stunt, with Hollande's team accusing Sarkozy of behaving like a Eurosceptic British prime minister. Hollande's campaign manager Pierre Moscovici said the new poll results were nothing for his team to worry about. "This poll must be taken with cool heads," he said. "Nothing is settled, we can see that the outgoing president is ready to do a lot to keep power, in particular with a lot of lies ... and with temptations that could be perilous for the building of Europe." Marine Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-EU National Front, meanwhile secured the backing of enough local government officials to run in the two-round presidential election, her party said Tuesday. All French presidential candidates must have the signed endorsement of 500 elected local mayors and officials -- of which there are around 42,000 in La Belle France -- by a March 16 deadline. Although polls consistently put Le Pen in third place in the presidential race, there was speculation that few mayors or regional councilors wanted to take the political risk of associating themselves with her campaign. Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen has repeatedly claimed in the past that he was struggling to garner the signatures necessary to stand for the presidency, but was able to do so at every presidential election since 1988.

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Sarkozy Vows to Bow Out of Politics if Not Re-Elected

2012-03-09

French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... admitted publicly Thursday he will quit politics if he loses next month's election, as his Socialist challenger pressed home his attacks on the incumbent's record. "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." "I tell you, yes," he replied when asked on a television program if he would withdraw from public life if, as opinion polls predict, he loses to Socialist Francois Hollande in the two-round vote in April and May. But Sarkozy made clear he had not already thrown in the towel, announcing a raft of new measures after a week that saw his re-election campaign take a sharp turn to the right on integration and immigration issues. He told BFMTV he was working on a new plan to help La Belle France's underprivileged and unruly suburbs, a fund to help single mothers, and extra measures to stop people cheating on social security benefits. Sarkozy has failed to narrow the gap with Hollande -- who has enjoyed a clear opinion poll lead for five months -- and this week pulled out all the stops to revamp what many critics say has been a lacklustre campaign. In a marathon three-hour television interview on Tuesday, he declared that there were too many immigrants in La Belle France and that the country's attempts to integrate foreign arrivals into its culture and society had become paralyzed. That statement came as French Jewish and Mohammedan leaders united to complain they were being used as pawns in a presidential election increasingly dominated by bitter disputes over national identity and ritual slaughter. Sarkozy picked up on a debate about halal meat -- initially launched by the anti-immigrant National Front leader Marine Le Pen -- and declared that its spread in butchers' shops was a major problem for the French. That fuelled accusations that he is pinning his hopes on catching up on Hollande -- in what appears to be shaping up as a clear two-horse race -- in winning back voters who lean towards the National Front. Others accused him of being sidetracked by side issues at a time when La Belle France is struggling to generate growth and to escape the Eurozone financial crisis. Hollande, who has never held a ministerial post and whose ex-partner Segolene Royal lost to Sarkozy in 2007, this week, pressed home his attacks on his rival's record in five years at the Elysee palace. He mocked Sarkozy's plan -- announced Tuesday -- to slap a new tax on the profits of listed companies which he said would bring in up to three billion euros ($3.9 billion) a year to help cut the public deficit. "Nicolas Sarkozy has realized at the end of his term that some of the country's biggest companies ... beat feet paying tax," he said Wednesday. "It would have been a better idea to do that in 2007," said the 57-year-old, who hopes to become the first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand was re-elected in 1988. Sarkozy has been accused of favoring the rich, but in recent weeks has tried to dispel that image by announcing he wants to ban big pay-offs to corporate bosses and to hit big firms with more tax. Hollande for his part has declared that the "world of finance" is the adversary and said he wants a 75 percent tax rate on annual income above one million euros.

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Europe

Segolene sues French magazine over beach photos

2007-07-13

PARIS: Defeated French presidential candidate Segolene Royal is suing Paris Match magazine for publishing photos of her relaxing in a swimsuit on a Mediterranean beach, her lawyer said Thursday. The glossy weekly’s latest edition carried a front-page picture of Royal’s head and shoulders emerging from the sea as she swam off the coast of the island of Corsica. Inside were more photos of the svelte 53-year-old in a striped swimsuit, along with her 21-year-old bikini-clad daughter Clemence, wading in shallow water and sunbathing on the beach. Royal’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Mignard, told AFP his client was suing the magazine under France’s strict privacy laws for taking unauthorised photographs and for invasion of privacy.

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'Steamroller' Sarkozy set for landslide

2007-06-17

And the best part is the hand-wringing at the Guardian. In the final seal of approval for President Nicolas Sarkozy from the French people, he appears to have won a crushing victory in today's parliamentary elections. He now has a massive endorsement for an ambitious and controversial programme of reforms. The latest round of polls gave the right-wing president's party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), a historic majority, with more than 65 per cent of the vote, paving the way for a summer of new laws and a potential winter of industrial discontent. The UMP, the party which Sarkozy led until being elected president in May for a five-year term, now seems likely to have up to 450 of the 577 seats in the national assembly. The total will be boosted by a variety of small centre-right groups who will be parliamentary allies. It is set to be the biggest single parliamentary majority under the 49-year-old constitution of the Fifth Republic. 'It's going to be a landslide,' said one parliamentary candidate yesterday. 'The people are with us and there is no real opposition.' According to satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine, the parliamentary election has pitted the 'steamroller' of the right against the 'rolling pin' of the left, with a 'Rhapsody in Blue' as the likely result. "Hegemony, dominance, supremacy...all describe the grip of the "Sarkozy system",' said the newspaper. Along with economic revival, liberty, hard work, success ... The left, split by internal divisions and undermined by ideological weaknesses, has not been helped by high level of abstentions. 'The moment the intensity of a campaign falls, it's the young, the least educated, the most economically disadvantaged who fall away fastest,' said election expert Celine Braconnier. The seats of several senior Socialist figures are now threatened. Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist candidate, has played on fears of an all-powerful Sarkozy, but public divisions between Royal and the secretary of the Socialist Party, her partner Francois Hollande, and public sniping among senior figures have damaged her campaign. On Friday, Royal insisted her party 'came together when the stakes are high'. However, MPs, grass-roots militants and voters are disgusted at the internal rivalry. 'There is no point in replacing [one leader] with another unless we have a real debate. We need a genuine calm, cool analysis of what has happened,' said Philippe Martin, a Socialist MP. You're Socialists. Calm and cool aren't in your vocabulary. Sarkozy has wasted no time in announcing a raft of economic reforms designed to give his country's sluggish economy a 'fiscal shock'. These include rebates on mortgage payments to create a 'nation of home-owners', the exemption of hours worked beyond the 35-hour limit and a top limit of 50 per cent on total tax paid. Although Sarkozy's approval levels have hit record levels of 67 per cent, the government has been rattled by mounting concerns among voters about a proposed hike to value added tax. Sarkozy's government is considering raising VAT from 19.5 per cent to 24.5 per cent to help finance plans to reduce payroll charges and make French companies more competitive. The Socialists argue that the move would hurt the poor, and a poll published on Friday said that 60 per cent of voters oppose the idea. Sarkozy had largely stayed away from the debate about VAT until Thursday night, when he issued a statement saying he 'would not accept any increase in VAT in its current form that would decrease the French people's purchasing power'.

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Socialists seek 'balance' as Sarkozy's party heads for big win

2007-06-11

French Socialist leader Francois Hollande called on supporters to mobilise Sunday to restore a balance of power after President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party took a commanding lead in the first round of parliamentary elections. Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party was headed for a crushing victory, with projections showing it could win up to 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly lower house of parliament. "I am calling for a mobilisation of the left to ensure that there is a balance," Hollande said. "To all those who do not want a party that is in sole control of the National Assembly, to all those who do not want vulnerability, let them come and vote next Sunday," said Hollande, who is the partner of defeated presidential candidate Segolene Royal. Projections from polling firms showed the Socialists were struggling to hold onto their 149 seats and could plummet to a low of some 60 seats in parliament. Turnout appeared headed for a record low of around 63 percent, down from 84 percent in the presidential vote last month.

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Europe

French Elections

2007-06-10

President Nicolas Sarkozy will seek to bolster his mandate for pervasive reforms to energize France's sluggish economy in legislative elections starting Sunday. The vote is crucial to Sarkozy's reform program because the composition of his Cabinet and its ability to push through legislation is tied to the number of seats the mainstream right has in the 577-seat National Assembly. The balloting Sunday is the first round. In France's complex electoral calculus, only candidates who win a majority of votes Sunday land a seat immediately. In races with no majority winner, any hopeful who gets more than 12.5 percent will qualify for a decisive second round June 17. Sarkozy wants to shake up a country down on its economic fortunes by slashing taxes and payroll fees, making it easier for companies to hire and fire, and cutting the number of public sector workers. Labor unions and student groups are wary and ready to mount strikes and protests if they deem that Sarkozy wants to go too far in trimming welfare state protections. The bigger the victory for conservatives, the stronger Sarkozy's advantage will be in talks with opponents for his reforms. Conservatives want to capitalize on momentum from Sarkozy's 53-47 percent victory over Socialist Segolene Royal in the May 6 presidential election. Turnout this weekend is expected to be lower than the 84 percent in the presidential contest. Since his election, Sarkozy has drawn plaudits for getting straight to work and for his energetic style which contrasts to former President Jacques Chirac's slower pace. At a legislative campaign stop, Sarkozy called on the French in northern Le Havre to "renew their trust" so he could "keep the commitments" made in the presidential race. Sarkozy has already met with labor union leaders to discuss his labor reform plans, launched plans for an environmental conference later this year, and jetted to Brussels, Madrid and to Germany twice. Polls suggest conservatives have even more support now than when Sarkozy defeated Royal.

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Chirac to say, "Adieu", tonight

2007-05-15

PARIS, May 15 (KUNA) -- After two terms and 12 years in office, outgoing French President Jacques Chirac will bid the French people farewell as he addresses the nation on national television and radio Tuesday evening before handing over power on Wednesday to the newly elected President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Chirac said his goodbye to Europe from Berlin on Sunday, during which he stressed the importance of a stronger role for Europe in a "multi polar" world. It is expected that during his speech to the nation, Chirac will recall the tasks and actions he has carried out during his 12 years in office and over 40 years in political life, in addition to focusing on important issues that concern France. Chirac is expected to hand over power to Sarkozy and leave the Elysee Palace at 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday where it has been reported that he will immediately go on vacation to an undisclosed destination, although there is speculation this is likely to be Morocco. Chirac is planning to establish a foundation later this year under his name, focusing on issues that are dear to his heart, like the environment, sustainable development and dialogue between cultures. After the transition ceremony, Sarkozy will visit the Arc de Triomphe to rekindle the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier, as it is a French tradition to do so. He will later travel to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Say hello to TGA, willya? Sarkozy won the presidential elections on May 6, defeating socialist Segolene Royal, and he has vowed to carry out several key reforms and called for a special session of the National Assembly in July to pass these reforms. This will depend on him getting a majority to support his program in the French legislative elections which will be held June 10 and 17. Sarkozy is opening up his cabinet to take in both opposition Socialist figures and Centrists in an attempt to woo the electorate and show that his program is government is not drawn up along party lines. This strategy has already caused him some problems within the ranks of this Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, with some prominent party members saying he should look to his own supporters first before considering "outsiders" for key cabinet posts.

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