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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Energy crisis, the next holidays and chocolatines

In the week that France went back to work, our newsletter Inside France takes a look at energy rationing, climate plans, wine sales, cross-Channel chat and dodgy French jokes about pastries.

Published: 3 September 2022 10:21 CEST
Inside France: Energy crisis, the next holidays and chocolatines
France went back to work and school this week. Photo by LOIC VENANCE / 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.

Happy returns

France is now back at work after the summer break – shops have reopened, offices are fully staffed and the kids are heading back to school (staggering slightly under the weight of all that stationery the French government insists that parents buy).

Loving the vibes from broadcaster BFMTV, which is literally counting the days until the next holiday.

Sober start

The government has also gone back to work, with sobriété energétique (energy sobriety) the main focus – in other words how France can cut its energy use to get through a winter without Russian gas, and in the longer term tackle the climate crisis.

We don’t know the exact details of the plan yet, but Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne started the week with a speech to business leaders, in which she outlined how businesses will be expected to have their ‘sobriety plans’ – detailing how they will cut their energy use – ready for October 1st.

Although the fuel shortage following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the immediate crisis – and householders have been reassured that there will be no power cuts this winter – the plan also looks to the future and the increasingly obvious need for all countries to cut their emissions to tackle the climate crisis.

Borne began her speech with a simple outline of the summer we have just had – record-breaking heatwaves, the worst drought in 60 years, raging wildfires and fatal storms – to underline the necessity for action. 

Exemplary Britain

It’s always exciting when your country is held up as an international example, right? Unfortunately for Brits, the UK is now being used in France as an example of what governments should not do in relation to the energy crisis, with politicians including government spokesman Olivier Véran reassuring the French that “what is happening in the UK [with soaring energy bills] will not happen in France”.

Wine

Other than la rentrée, the other thing that happens every September in France is both the wine harvest and the Foire aux vins – this is essentially a sale when retailers including supermarkets clear out their shelves ready for the new wines, and it’s a great place to grab a bargain, or maybe to get a deal on some wines that are normally out of your price bracket. 

The sex files

You might have heard the stories about Donald Trump having ‘secret intelligence’ on Emmanuel Macron’s sex life? Given that the only evidence that this exists is the word of notorious liar Trump we’re probably not going to dignify that with too much analysis, other than to flag up this seemingly quite relevant scene from one of our favourite French TV shows Au Service de la France (available on Netflix).

Podcast

For fans of our Talking France podcast there is some good news – it’s back from its summer break. We’re working on a new episode that will be out next week, and in the meantime you can catch up with old episodes HERE.

Blague de papa

And let’s finish with a terrible French joke, courtesy of the national police’s airborne unit.

“Did you know? At breakfast for the gendarmerie there is an exactly equal number of pain au chocolat and chocolatine, so as not to offend early morning sensibilities” – the joke being, of course, that a pain au chocolat and a chocolatine is exactly the same thing.

What you call the delicious chocolatey breakfast pastry, however, is the subject of fierce regional debate. 

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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