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France formalises ban on certain short-haul domestic flights

France has formalised its ban on domestic flights for journeys possible in less than two-and-a-half hours by train, which is already in effect in practice but was published in a government decree on Tuesday.

France formalises ban on certain short-haul domestic flights
Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP

Although the move was included in a 2021 climate law and already applied in practice, some airlines had asked the European Commission to investigate whether it was legal.

The change mostly rules out air trips between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, with connecting flights unaffected.

Critics have noted that the cutoff point for comparable train journeys is shy of the roughly three hours it takes to travel from Paris to Mediterranean port city Marseille by high-speed rail.

The original proposal – put forward by the citizens’ convention on the climate – was to ban any flight for journeys that could be done within six hours by rail, but this was watered down as the bill passed through parliament.

The law also specifies that train services on the same route must be frequent, timely and well-connected enough to meet the needs of passengers who would otherwise travel by air – and able to absorb the increase in passenger numbers.

People making such trips should be able to make outbound and return train journeys on the same day, having spent eight hours at their destination.

READ ALSO 6 European cities you can reach from France by high-speed train

The law affects only commercial flights, not journeys taken by private jet. The government had already secured Air France’s compliance with the plan in exchange for a 2020 Covid financial support package.

Competitors were banned from simply filling the gap.

The step comes as French politicians have also been debating how to reduce emissions from private jets.

While Green MPs have called for banning small private flights altogether, Transport Minister Clement Beaune last month trailed a higher climate charge for users from next year.

The French football team Paris-Saint-Germain last year came in for an avalanche of criticism for travelling by plane to a match in Nantes – a journey that could be made by train in just two hours.

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CULTURE

French ex-PM behind tense new TV political thriller

It's a television thriller series about a tense campaign for a French presidential election in 2025, where hopes can be dashed by a last-minute change of fortune.

French ex-PM behind tense new TV political thriller

And the person behind “Dans l’ombre” (“In the Shadows”) as co-author of the original book and co-script writer of the drama should know what he is talking about.

It’s Edouard Philippe, President Emmanuel Macron’s first prime minister from 2017 to 2020 and hotly tipped to stand for president in the next election, which in real life is scheduled for 2027.

Philippe is far from the only top French politician to have a sideline in writing.

But there will be particular attention paid to the starry-casted “Dans l’ombre” given his own political ambitions.

The first two episodes of the six-episode series, directed by Pierre Schoeller, were shown at the annual Series Mania television drama festival in the northern city of Lille at the weekend.

The series should be broadcast in the coming months.

Paul Francoeur, played by Melvil Poupaud, wins the nomination of his party against Marie-France Tremeau, played by Karin Viard, despite her being the favourite.

But the momentum comes to a halt when Francoeur’s closest advisor, Cesar — played by Swann Arlaud who starred in the Oscar winning “Anatomy of a Fall” — receives an anonymous phone call informing him the primary was rigged.

Presidential ambitions

The original novel with the same title, written by Edouard Philippe and his long-standing political and literary collaborator Gilles Boyer, was published 15 years ago but has been updated for the series.

Philippe, who now serves as mayor of the northern port of Le Havre, is credited along with Boyer as a co-scriptwriter of the series and the pair were occasionally present on set.

The former premier and his advisor took “great pleasure” in their involvement and this was the “sole motivation”, Boyer said as the episodes were shown at Series Mania.

While not yet formally declaring he intends to run for president, Philippe has made little secret of his desire to stand in 2027.

Many observers see him as the best placed centrist candidate in that race to keep the far-right Marine Le Pen out of the Elysee Palace.

Asked if more such series were in the pipeline, Boyer said: “The calendar will dictate what we will have the time and leisure to do in the coming months.”

Another prominent French political scribe, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, is also hitting bookshops with his latest work.

But unlike his previous book, a novel with a particularly erotic passage that went viral, Le Maire is sticking to politics this time.

“La voie francaise” (“The French Way”) is a presentation of his political vision that is likely to increase talk Le Maire also plans a presidential bid.

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