Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Political drama, dodgy French accents and salads 

Always a country keen on drama, there has been plenty going on in France this week , as well as some talking points that you might have missed. Here are the highlights in our new weekend newsletter Inside France.

Published: 21 May 2022 10:37 CEST
Inside France: Political drama, dodgy French accents and salads 
It's been a week of political - and other - drama in France. Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign up box in this article.

———–

France has a new government.

This is actually a lot less dramatic than it sounds, it’s what in English we would call a government reshuffle – the newly re-elected Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne, France’s second ever female PM) she has has announced the new cabinet responsibilities.

READ ALSO Who’s who in France’s new government

We’ve seen quite a few familiar faces – Macron loyalists like Sebastian Lécournu promoted to defence minister and Stanislas Guerini becoming Public functions minister – while the Finance, Europe and Interior ministers kept their jobs.

There were also some new additions, with the big surprise being the appointment of historian and minorities specialist Pap Ndiaye as the Education minister, a big change in direction after the famously ‘anti-woke’ Jean-Michel Blanquer.

The Environment ministry is also an interesting one – instead of having a single Environment minister there are now two ministers, in charge of energy policy and the environmental transformation while PM Elisabeth Borne also has environment added to her title. That puts three women each with a reputation for formidable competence – Borne plus Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Amélie de Montchalin – in charge of France’s environmental policy. Only thing is, none of them have any background in environment . . . 

But definitely the highlight of the whole process has been discovering the existence of the non-profit organisation Clowns without Borders, the former employers of new Culture minister Rima Adbul Malak. The jokes pretty much write themselves . . .

Lesser-known citizenship path

The cause of more than one raised eyebrow – certainly among the British community in France – was the news that the British Brexit PM’s dad Stanley Johnson has become a French citizen.

In the interests of fairness, we should probably point out that Johnson père formerly lived in Brussels, worked at the European Commission and Brexit wasn’t his idea (although he does now support it).

While most people wanting French citizenship need either five years of residency or a French spouse, Stanley has used the lesser-known route of ancestry – his mother was French.

But the French rules state that if your parent has been out of France for more than 50 years before you make your claim you need to be able to demonstrate a “clear link” to France, which is apparently what Stanley has done.

The news left a slightly sour taste among people who live, work and pay tax in France who have not been able to secure citizenship for various reasons, particularly children who grew up in France with British parents but then left to go to university abroad, who by a strict reading of the rules are not eligible for citizenship. 

He’s described as being a fluent French speaker – here’s him being interviewed about his new status on the French TV channel BFM, so you can judge for yourselves. 

Scorched earth

The unusually early heatwave that hit France this week has now broken, but it seems to be a sign of things to come as Europe braces itself for an exceptionally hot summer.

Climate change, long dismissed by many as an academic exercise, is really being felt by many in their daily lives in France, with large areas of the country already on drought alert, much earlier than usual.

It’s something that must be top of the to-do list for the newly expanded Environment ministry, but there are already plenty of policies and advice in place to help people cope with heat and drought on a daily-basis from the legal water restrictions in place to the government advice to shut the shutters and eat regular meals (sadly a nice cooling rosé is not officially recommended).

Several of our readers around France have posted photos this week of dry, parched fields and nearly empty rivers. And it’s only May. 

French carnivores

I have vivid memories of sitting down for dinner in south west France with a local girl who informed me “I’m a vegetarian so I’ll have the chicken”.

It’s a cliché but perhaps not an unfair one that France is a pretty carnivorous society, and although things are changing quite rapidly in the big cities it can still be hard for vegans or vegetarians to get appropriate food in restaurants and cafés in rural or small town France.

Our veggie readers had great fun sharing their horror stories of ordering a ‘vegetarian’ salad that arrived draped in bacon, before sharing their practical tips for vegetarian or vegan dining in France.

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign up box in this article.

Member comments

  1. “long dismissed by many as an ‘academic exercise’??? By who? Who does this help? Pretty sure scientsits have been sounding the alarm since the 1960s at least.

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Violence, QR codes and stuffed animals

From violent unrest in a French territory to the QR codes required at the Paris Olympics, via D-Day and weird taxidermy, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 18 May 2024 07:38 CEST
Inside France: Violence, QR codes and stuffed animals

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

High tension

After a relaxed week with a double holiday and most of the country taking a break, it seems that the news has come roaring back this week – first a highly dramatic jailbreak that left two prison officers dead and a fugitive at large, then the worst rioting in 30 years on the French island of Nouvelle Calédonie which left five people dead, and finally a man shot dead by police while apparently trying to set fire to a synagogue in northern France. It seems that there’s barely been time to breathe. 

These three things are, of course, not connected and in the case of Nouvelle Calédonie have followed years of political and ethnic tensions on the Pacific islands.

But it’s not surprising that people feel a bit punch-drunk at this series of events. Already right-wing parties are attempting to make capital out of this ahead of the European elections – a favourite tactic of the far-right in recent years has been trying to portray France as in the grip of an uncontrolled wave of crime and violence.

While no-one would deny that France has crime and that there are problems with violence, the statistics do not bear out this image of a ‘lawless’ country’. 

QR codes

Talking of security, the big topic in Paris this week has been whether we need QR codes to get around the city during the Olympics, after the security plan for the Games was unveiled in detail.

For many people this will bring back bad memories of Covid restrictions, attestations and health passes – although once you dig into the detail of the Games QR codes you realise that they won’t actually affect all that many people.

The areas that they cover are limited and the most onerous restrictions are only in place for the week leading up to the Opening Ceremony. You can find a complete guide to whether you need a code, and how to get one if you do, HERE.

Talking France

We look at the QR code situation on this week’s Talking France podcast, as well as France’s economic reality, the quirks of the French health system and the new ‘drive like a woman’ campaign.

Plus John Lichfield talks about his involvement in projects to commemorate D-Day in his Normandy home, and why the 1944 landings still hold such a special place in French hearts. Listen here or on the link below. 

Get stuffed

But my biggest question about France remains unanswered – why is weird taxidermy furniture so popular? If you’ve spent time at a French brocante you will likely have come across stuffed animal parts made into a variety of items from coathooks and ashtrays to – as below – chairs or stools.

Answers on a postcard, please.  

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

SHOW COMMENTS