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LIVING IN FRANCE

11 of the best things that happened in France in 2022

Although 2022 was in many ways a difficult year there were some good things - here are 11 of the moments worth celebrating in France.

Published: 27 December 2022 17:00 CET
11 of the best things that happened in France in 2022
Annie Ernaux (L), winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature, attends a discussionin New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Baguettes got UNESCO status

The year 2022 was when baguettes were finally recognised for the delicacy that they are.

At the end of November, the traditional method of baking French baguettes was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage items. Baguettes are appreciated across the political spectrum in France, and one person who was particularly happy about the UNESCO status was President Emmanuel Macron, who got the news while on a visit to Washington DC and delivered this rather cute speech. 

Here are some ways you can (authentically) celebrate too.

READ MORE: Baguettiquette: Weird things the French do with bread

Free contraception for women under 26 

France took a big step forward regarding access to contraception. At the start of the year, certain birth control pills, contraceptive implants and IUDs became fully reimbursable for women under the age of 26 in France.

And the year 2023 has something to look forward to in this respect – the country is planning to make condoms free for all people under 25 in France starting January 1st in 2023. Meanwhile MPs and senators continue to debate adding the right to abortion into the French constitution.

France (nearly) won the World Cup

After beating Morocco in the semi-finals, France came close to clinching the title of football World Cup champions for the second time in a row – before sadly losing on penalties to Argentina in the finals. Nevertheless, the French team came home to a hero’s welcome and and star player Kylian Mbappé received the Golden Boot award for being the lead goalscorer of the tournament.

Plus, there’s the rugby world cup to look forward to in 2023 – as well as being the hosts, France are among the favourites to win the tournament.

Le Petit Prince made its way home

Written in 1943 in New York by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince was finally flown across the Atlantic Ocean to be exhibited at the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris in 2022. Even though the book is a French classic, this was the first time that the original book left the United States, to come to the author’s home country.

The second French female Astronaut

In other events related to space exploration – though this time in the real world – the astronaut representing France in the new class of the European Space Agency will be Sophie Adenot – the second woman to hold the role. Adenot was chosen from over 22,523 applicants.

You can learn more about her impressive career here.

Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize for Literature

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is not the only French writer to have been recognised in 2022. In October, the 82-year old French author, Annie Ernaux, won the Nobel Prize for Literature “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” Ernaux was the first Frenchwoman and 17th woman in history to have won the award. 

The women’s Tour de France made its retour

In another triumph for gender equality, the women’s Tour de France was finally organised again, after several decades of absence and failed attempts. Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten won the 2022 Tour de France. The 2023 multiple stage bicycle race will begin in Clermond-Ferrand on July 23rd, 2023.

Celebrating 400 years of Molière

While the anglophone world might think of him as the French Shakespeare, many Francophones go so far as to call French the “language of Molière” in the playwright’s honour. 2022 marked 400 years since the birth of Molière, who wrote over 30 plays – ranging from comedies to tragedies.

France invested in cultural activities for the youth

In 2022, France expanded its “culture pass” – a scheme is designed to allow young people, with EU nationality, to receive money to benefit from cultural activities in France – to 15 through 17 year olds. Young people were able to sign up for free, and the plan gave additional funding to French schools per month, per student, to facilitate cultural excursions. 

France launched better protections for digital consumers

As mobile apps, digital subscriptions (like streaming services) and video games become more popular, the French government made sure to pass legislation that would ensure consumers would be able to ask for compensation, replacement or repair if the product ordered failed to conform to the description given pre-purchase.

And finally – The Local France launched its podcast!

In perhaps the most exciting event of 2022 (okay, maybe just for us at The Local…), the Talking France podcast launched. Our podcast started to help readers and listeners have a better grasp on the French presidential election, and now it has transformed into a weekly episode where we discuss the big news and talking points in France as well as explore and explain the major issues that impact life in the country. We also answer your essential questions and look ahead at what’s coming up. 

You can find Talking France on Spotify, Apple or Google podcasts, download it HERE or listen to the latest episode on the link below.

Member comments

  1. I was lucky enough to see the Petit Prince exposition au Musée des arts décoratifs – it was the only museum I visited that week that had a line to get in, and nearly all of the people in line were French. The expo was superbe.

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TRAVEL NEWS

What’s the deal with passport stamping in France?

There are clear guidelines in place about who should have their passport stamped when they enter or leave France - but the letter of the law doesn't always seem to be applied on the ground. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 17 May 2024 14:24 CEST
What's the deal with passport stamping in France?

When you pass through a French border control post, officers will check your passport and – in some cases – stamp the date of your entry or exit of the country onto one of the blank pages in the booklet.

Although the system should be clear and simple, it becomes complicated when conflicting information is given on the ground.

Here’s what the rules say, and whether it’s really a problem if your passport is incorrectly stamped.

Who should be stamped?

The purpose of the date stamps for entry and exit is to calculate how long you have been in France, and therefore whether you have overstayed your allowed time – whether that is the time allowed by a short-stay Schengen visa or the visa-free 90-day allowance that certain non-EU nationals benefit from. 

Those people who are exempt from 90-day restrictions should therefore not have their passports stamped.

EU passport – people who have an EU passport should not have it stamped, because they have the right to unlimited stays due to EU freedom of movement.

Dual nationals – people who have passports of both EU and non-EU countries should not be stamped when they are travelling on their EU passport. However, because the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’, those travelling on their non-EU passports will be stamped, unless they have other proof of residency.

READ ALSO What are the rules for dual-nationals travelling in France?

French residents – the passports of non-EU citizens who have a residency permit in France (carte de séjour) should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in France for as long as their permit is valid.

Visa holders – people who have a long-stay visa or a short-stay visitor visa should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in France for as long as their visa is valid. 

Tourists/visitors – people making short visits to France who do not have a visa should be stamped, with the stamps keeping track of their 90-day allowance. Visitors from nationalities who do not benefit from the 90-day rule (eg Indians) are also stamped.

Travel practicalities

When crossing a French border, you should present your passport along with other documents – visa or carte de séjour – if relevant. Don’t wait for border guards to ask whether you are a resident.

It should be noted that the carte de séjour is not a travel document and cannot be used to cross borders, not even internal Schengen zone borders. The only valid travel documents for entering France are a passport or national ID card. Any other forms of ID – driving licence, residency card etc – cannot be used for travel purposes.

Border problems

While the rules on stamping are simple in theory, many readers of The Local have reported having their passports incorrectly stamped at the border, and this seems to be a particular problem for non-EU nationals who are resident in France.

Travellers are also often given incorrect information by border guards – for example being told that only holders of the post-Brexit Article 50 TUE carte de séjour are exempt from stamping, that all non-EU nationals must have their passports stamped or that only being married to a French national exempts you from stamping.

None of these are correct.

It’s also sometimes the case that people whose passports should be stamped – tourists, visitors and second-home owners who don’t have a visa – do not receive the stamp. For frequent visitors this can be a problem because it looks as though they have had a long stay in France, due to their exit not being recorded.

The system of stamping itself is also a bit haphazard with stamps scattered throughout the passport book in random order, so border guards sometimes make mistakes and miss an entry or exit stamp and therefore think that people have overstayed when they haven’t.

So how much of a problem actually is it if your passport is wrongly stamped?

It’s one thing to know the rules yourself, it’s quite another to have an argument with a border guard, in French, when a long queue is building behind you. Numerous Local readers have reported feeling that they had no choice but to accept a stamp when an implacable guard insisted upon it.

But is this really a problem?

One thing is clear – if you are a resident of France then you have the right to re-enter, and your proof of residency (visa or carte de séjour) takes precedence over any passport stamps. So it’s not a question of being barred from the country – it can, however, be inconvenient as it might lead to delays at the border while your passport record is queried.

Meanwhile people who did not receive correct exit stamps can be incorrectly told that they have over-stayed and even be liable for a fine. 

Will the new EES passport control system improve this?

Theoretically, the EU’s new Entry & Exit System – which does away with the manual stamping of passports – should get rid of these problems.

However, as we have seen, theory and what actually happens on the ground are two different things.

The EES system, due to come into effect later this year, brings in two main changes – it makes passport checks more secure by adding diometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans and it does away with manual stamping of passports and replaces it with scans which automatically calculate how long people have been in France.

You can read full details of how it works HERE. 

So that should eliminate the problems of unclear stamps, stamps being read wrongly or passports not getting the stamps they need.

Residents in France – carte de séjour and visa holders – are not required to complete EES checks and should have a separate system at ports, airports and railway terminals.

However, at present it’s pretty common for border guards to give incorrect information to non-EU residents who are resident in the EU – let’s hope that they are properly briefed before EES is deployed.

Have you had problems with passports being incorrectly stamped? Please share your experiences in the comments section below

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