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POLICE

Uproar over French traffic fine database

The French Interior Ministry is launching a new database to keep track of car owners who challenge fines. A group of French lawyers say the move is illegal and a violation of the rights of citizens. 

Uproar over French traffic fine database

Next time you want to challenge a parking ticket in France, think again. You will land up on a special list of “angry car owners” who have protested fines.  

The Interior ministry is to create a new database called Ares that will include personal details of car owners such as the name, address, date of birth and even job title.  

Rémy Josseaume, president of the lawyers’ Automobile Club, says the ministry is going too far in an interview with Le Parisien.  

Josseaume says he is adamant he will use “all possible means, including legal, to obtain the repeal of a decision that is not legally acceptable”. 

In a couple of days the new file will be operational and officials will have access to the personal details of car owners who complain about fines they have received. 

French authorities sought however to reassure the public and insisted that they weren’t creating a new police database but a tool to help manage fines. 

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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.

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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