Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FRANCE

Volvo Cars guilty of manslaughter

An appeals court in France on Thursday affirmed a €200,000 ($300,000) fine against Volvo Cars, finding the Swedish automaker guilty of manslaughter in a case resulting from a fatal 1999 car crash.

Published: 18 December 2008 10:39 CET
Volvo Cars guilty of manslaughter

The court upheld a previous ruling that found that faulty brakes on the Volvo 850 TDI vehicle indirectly caused the accident, in which a French schoolteacher ran over and killed two young children on their way to school in eastern France.

The court also confirmed the sentence handed to the driver, Catherine Kohtz, 57, who received a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €300 fine, and had her licence temporarily revoked for failure to control her vehicle.

“The most important thing for my client is that Volvo’s guilt has been recognised, after years of legal procedures,” said Kohtz’s lawyer Thierry Cahn.

“The accident stemmed from a failure in the braking system, as she insisted from the beginning.”

The appeal court ordered the ruling to be published in two French national newspapers.

POLITICS

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.

Published: 31 January 2024 15:46 CET
France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.

They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of farmers’ protests?

“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.

The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.

The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.

READ ALSO 5 minutes to understand French farmer protests

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.

The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.

The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.

The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.

SHOW COMMENTS