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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Burning barricades, political upheaval and ‘le French flair’

From the rapidly rising political temperature in France and increasingly serious street violence to weird tourist selfies, Emily in Paris' politics and French sporting excellence, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about this week.

Published: 25 March 2023 13:41 CET
Inside France: Burning barricades, political upheaval and 'le French flair'
French gendarmes in riot gear in Paris. Photo by Thomas SAMSON / 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.

Temperatures rising

France is a country where strikes are far from uncommon and where political discontent frequently takes the form of street demos. All of which is to say that people who live in France, especially the big cities, are used to strike days, marches and the occasional whiff of tear gas if a protest turns violent.

But even by those standards, the past week has been unusually dramatic as the government sparked fury by using a constitutional tool to push its highly controversial pension reform through without a vote of MPs. Notwithstanding the fact that Article 49.3 is perfectly legal and has been regularly used since 1958, it’s not hard to see where opponents were coming from when they branded it ‘undemocratic’.

Paris and several other cities have seen nightly protests – albeit from very small numbers of demonstrators – in which bins and piles of rubbish were set on fire and police, as they love to do, fired tear gas. 

The government is clearly hoping to just wait it out until the heat goes out of the protests, but the level of anger on the streets is unusual even by French standards.

READ ALSO Is France facing a rerun of the ‘yellow vest’ protests?

Despite their fury, the French have not lost their sense of humour, as witnessed by this excellent protest banner – ‘If we wanted to get fucked by the government, we would have elected Brad Pitt’. 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Michel Denisot (@mdenisot)

Tourists seem to be enjoying the chaos too, if the slightly odd trend of posing for photos in front of piles of uncollected rubbish is any indication . . .

We of course discuss all the latest in the new episode of Talking France – listen here or on the link below. 

Emily at the ballot box

On the lighter side of politics, I hugely enjoyed this thread looking at who the characters in Emily in Paris would have voted for in the 2022 presidential elections (if they were eligible to vote, that is, since only French citizens can vote in presidential elections).

Poetry in motion

And I was lucky enough to be at Stade de France at the weekend to witness this gorgeous try in person (enjoy the commentator crying “Le French flair, voilà !” as the ball goes over the line). They didn’t win the Six Nations, but I’m going to make a prediction that this superlatively talented team will be victorious at the World Cup later this year . . .

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by France Rugby (@francerugby)

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: French political discourse, tax loopholes and sharks in the Seine

From political sharks to sharks in the Seine, via tax loopholes (which really aren't loopholes) and European elections, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 1 June 2024 08:17 CEST
Inside France: French political discourse, tax loopholes and sharks in the Seine

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.

Dumbing down?

I started a new French course this week (my battle with the subjunctive continues) and in the section on honing your debating skills I was amused to note that the textbook described debate as the “veritable sport national en France“.

It’s certainly true that political debates in France are of a higher calibre than in many other countries – in the run-up to elections it’s not uncommon for primetime TV to show a two-hour debate between candidates, and during these debates the politicians are really expected to be across the details of a wide variety of policy areas and to display impressive debating skills.

But do these actually make any difference to voters? Last week’s debate between prime minister Gabriel Attal and far-right party candidate Jordan Bardella was widely agreed by independent observers to have been ‘won’ by Attal who succeeded in exposing some of the gaping holes and contradictions in Bardella’s party policy.

However several viewer polls reported that Bardella made a better impression and came over as more sympathetic to voters despite – or perhaps because – of his stumbles, mistakes and evasions. Attal may have won the debate, but does that matter if voters think he is an unsympathetic clever-dick Parisian (I’m paraphrasing, but only slightly)?

I hope this doesn’t herald the dumbing down of politics in the ways seen in the UK and the US where people with genuine expertise are dismissed in favour of those with ‘good vibes’. One of the things that has always impressed me about French politicians of all stripes is that they are intelligent people usually having real discussions about real issues.

It would be a shame if the French became – in the perhaps slightly inflammatory words of Attal himself – like “the British, who cried after Brexit”.

Talking France

We’re talking more about the European elections in this week’s Talking France podcast, plus the changes to addresses in rural France, new wildfire regulations for property owners and the mysterious ‘Paris Syndrome’ that afflicts some visitors and new arrivals to the city. Listen here or on the link below.

In-Seine ideas

I couldn’t agree more with British actor and writer Simon Pegg’s comment on the tremendous missed opportunity for a film named ‘Shark de Triomphe’.

The Netflix flick (Sous la Seine in French) is due out this summer – and I note from the trailer that it features swimming competitions in the Seine.

So at least the filmmakers are optimistic about the City of Paris’ plans to make the Seine clean enough for swimming (currently on track for the Olympics) – even if they then suggest that swimmers will have bigger creatures to worry about than e-Coli bacteria.

To clarify – there are no sharks in the Seine. Although there is a rumour that a crocodile lives in the Canal Ourcq in northern Paris. 

Tax troubles

We’re fully into the swing of tax season now and as usual The Local is getting lots of queries from readers who are struggling with the rather complicated forms – you can find our Tax Guides here.

READ ALSO The bumper 2024 French tax guide

One thing I have noticed is that among the people who are truly having major problems with the system, almost all of them have set up complicated arrangements (often on the advice of accountants) to try and minimise their tax bill – for example setting up a limited company to own a holiday home or paying themselves as CEO of a nominal company.

While these things are not illegal they almost always create extra complications with your tax affairs – especially if you declare yourself as a business as that takes you out of the system for individuals (designed so that you can do your own tax declaration) and into the considerably more complicated world of business taxation and reporting.

There really are very few genuine loopholes in the French tax system and while some workarounds may save you some cash on your tax bill, setting up a complicated system virtually guarantees that you will need to pay an accountant to do your taxes every year (which might even negate the savings on your tax bill).

Reeling

And if you like your news in a more visual format, check out the reels that my colleague Genevieve has been making for The Local France’s Instagram account – and have your say of her latest poll of overrated French tourist attractions.

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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