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ACCIDENT

Swedish man found dead in France

A 21-year-old Swedish man reported missing in north-western France was found dead on Saturday afternoon.

Published: 28 February 2009 15:30 CET

Nils Wärmegård left a bar in Le Mans last Sunday night but never arrived home.

French police divers found Wärmegård’s body at lunchtime on Saturday in a river close to where he was last seen alive.

Wärmegård had been in Le Zoo bar with a group of friends. He left at around 1.30am Sunday night to walk the 500 metres to his home at a student residence.

Wärmegård’s father Per, who has been in France assisting police with enquiries, had expressed a fear earlier on Saturday that his son may have fallen into the river.

“I fear that an accident has occurred. But my hope is that he has been abducted,” Per Wärmegrård said to Aftonbladet.

According to Arne Kallin, press officer at the Swedish embassy in Paris, police deployed significant resources to search for the man.

Nils Wärmegård, from Kramfors in northern Sweden, moved to France to work as an acrobat with a circus group based in Le Mans.

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.

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