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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Macron’s garden, France’s national day and the flying sports superstar

From searing temperatures to national celebrations and glimpse into the presidential gardens, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 16 July 2022 09:54 CEST
Inside France: Macron's garden, France's national day and the flying sports superstar
French President Emmanuel Macron answering French journalists and TV hosts Anne-Claire Coudray (L) and Caroline Roux (R) during a live broadcast interview on the Bastille Day, at the Elysee Palace in Paris on July, 14, 2022. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / 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.

National celebrations

It’s been the Frenchest week of the year in France – the country’s Fête nationale.

After two years of curtailed celebrations on July 14th, the traditional ceremonies, parties and fireworks were back this week, with the added bonus that France’s national holiday fell on a Thursday, giving many the opportunity to take a long weekend off. 

The traditional military parade on the Champs Elysée paid homage to the international situation by inviting servicemen and women from nine eastern European nations to march at the head of the parade, indicating European solidarity against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

But there were also plenty of French troops, plus a contingent of Olympians and Paralympians, as Paris prepares to host the 2024 Games.

And just for fun, France’s national rugby captain Antoine Dupont got to fly with the aerial display team Patrouille de France.

In the garden with Macron

July 14th also saw Emmanuel Macron give the traditional Presidential interview.

Macron seemed to disappear slightly from public view after the April elections and there was much speculation that he was ill or just exhausted from years of constant crisis, but in the televised Thursday interview – filmed in a shady spot in the beautiful gardens of the Elysée – he appeared back to his old self: focused, energetic and with some illusions to classical mythology.

And if you like the look of the presidential gardens, you can visit the Elysée as part of the Journée du patrimonie in September. 

Energy ‘sobriety’

His assessment of the months to come did not make particularly cheerful viewing, however, since he warned of “very tough” summer and autumn in the context of the war in Ukraine, adding that for Europe this means learning to do without Russian gas.

He declared that France would need sobriété énergétique (energy sobriety) in the months to come, with both businesses and individuals regulating their consumption.

A more detailed plan is apparently coming in the next few weeks. 

Energy sobriety: What does Macron’s plan to cut energy use really mean?

Scorchio

It’s hard to get away from the fact that it’s currently ridiculously hot in France, as the climate crisis intensifies and country swelters under another heatwave.

These are the kind of temperatures that can kill, and local authorities across France have activated their heatwave plans to keep the elderly and vulnerable safe.

Ever since the canicule (heatwave) of 2003 that killed 15,000 people, all local authorities have been required to have a plan and activate it once heatwave warnings are in place – since 2003 there have been several longer and more intense heatwave (such as 2019 when all-time temperature records across France were broken) but a lower death toll.

While undoubtedly taking the dangers of hot weather seriously, people have also been finding something to joke about, including the below Twitter-user describing the blast of hot air when you open your car window to pay at the toll booth on the autoroute.

Podcast

Although the Talking France podcast is on its summer break, don’t forget that you can listen to all previous episodes here. 

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.

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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.

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