French Politiques for an Anglophone Audience
A bill proposed by the Front de gauche (FDG) eliminating the word “race” from French legislation was adopted by the National Assembly last Thursday. The term is to be deleted from the Code Pénal, the Code de procedure pénale, and from the law on the freedom of press. André Chassaigne, Communist deputy and President of […]
Hollande and the Parti Socialiste (PS) have finally introduced a bill regarding the closing of viable industrial sites, which was promised during his campaign in February of last year. The proposal came shortly after the ArcelorMittal steelworkers in Florange erected a tombstone dedicated to Hollande, marked with the word “betrayal”. Hollande had visited the site […]
On Friday, April 26, a French Parti Socialiste (PS) document on Europe was released, putting pressure on already strained Franco-German relations. The document accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of “selfish intransigence” in her unbending efforts to enforce austerity measures throughout the troubled eurozone. As Europe’s economic troubles continue, particularly in France where growth has come […]
Last month, on Saturday, March 16, a group of twenty young people attacked several RER D train carriages – public transportation that links the city of Paris and its outskirts – at the ‘Grigny Centre’ station. The train was headed towards Essonne, a notoriously dangerous part of the Ile-de-France region. At around 10:00 in the […]
On Tuesday, March 19, France’s Cour de Cassation (Court of Cassation) overturned previous rulings on the Baby-Loup case, declaring the dismissal of Fatima Afif to be religious discrimination. This decision revives unsolved disputes on laïcité (secularism) in France, and raises the question of how to maintain the principle of a secular state without infringing on […]
France’s Parti socialiste (PS) was eliminated in a by-election March 17 for the MP of the Oise constituency, a region to the north of Paris. The Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) and Front national (FN) candidates will face off in another round of voting for the seat. The PS candidate, Sylvie Houssin, came in […]
The fight for same-sex marriage and adoption in France is far from over, as evidenced by the struggle between the Parti Socialiste (PS) and the Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP). On January 8 Christian Jacob, president of the UMP in the French National Assembly, announced a motion for an amendment to the marriage equality […]
According to the polls released on October 12th, Harlem Désir will soon become the head of the Parti Socialiste (PS), with the support of 68.42% of the socialist militants supporters and assuming an electoral turn out of about 50%. The result, though a success, was considerably lower than expected. Members of Désir’s staff had predicted […]
On October 7th, Le Metro, a popular daily newspaper, reported Francois Hollande’s public approval rating at 42% of which 49% actually claim they are displeased by the president of the French Republic. His prime minister, Marc Ayrault, even more unpopular, was given an approval rating of only 40%, and 45% are discontent with him. These […]
Watched closely by the media, endorsed by the right, and cautiously observed by the left, Interior Minister Manuel Valls is an intriguing figure. While the President and Prime Minister decline in popularity, Valls remains the most appreciated French Socialist minister out there. During the summer session at La Rochelle University, he was applauded, despite being […]
