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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Reshuffle, political potboilers and France’s biggest scandal magnets

From the latest ins and outs of government to the biggest scandal magnets in French politics, via the weather and tributes to Jane Birkin, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 22 July 2023 08:02 CEST
Inside France: Reshuffle, political potboilers and France's biggest scandal magnets
British singer Jane Birkin and French composer and musician Serge Gainsbourg, pictured in 1985. Photo by Pascal PAVANI / 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.

Shuffle bored

This week in France the news has been dominated by fevered speculation about a government reshuffle – which in the end turned out to be a very minor affair with almost all the big-name ministers remaining in place.

There was a definite shift towards more Macronist loyalists and fewer outside experts in ministries, but other than that the reshuffle was mainly notable for its timidity.

READ ALSO Who’s who in the new French government

One of the new appointments has an interesting backstory however – Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, the new minister for urban affairs, was a TV producer before entering politics and worked on Marseille, Netflix’s fabulously trashy political drama set around a fictional mayor of the Mediterranean port city.

The series is packed with sex, corruption, political scheming and back-stabbing – I wonder if she will be bringing this vibe to Emmanuel Macron’s frankly rather dull government?

Raise the roof

The heatwave that has been frying much of southern Europe has thankfully not extended to most of France, although the Riviera has seen some scorching days.

But I notice that international attention has picked up on the capital’s ‘Paris at 50C’ plan, based on the fascinating work of engineer Frank Lirzin, who has written a book on how city architecture can be adapted for ever-rising temperatures.

In Paris this is going to require big changes to some of the most iconic things about the city – particularly the grey zinc roofs and those wide, exposed Haussmann boulevards.

This is doubtless going to upset a lot of traditionalists – but what’s the point of having a beautiful city if its unlivable for half the year?

Making history fun

If you fancy a French political history lesson with a fun twist, the satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaîné is running a summer series on its ‘best customers’ – ie the people it has done the most exposés on – over the years.

The reels are released on Instagram and Twitter each Monday. So far we have had far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, and ex president Jacques Chirac, who always seems to me to get an easy ride from history despite being really very corrupt indeed.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Le Canard enchaîné (@lecanardenchaine)

(The ‘roi des casseroles‘ title doesn’t mean that Chirac was a great cook, it’s a reference to the phrase avoir des casseroles, which is roughly equivalent to someone having ‘skeletons in the closet’ or being tainted by scandal). 

Foreign accents

The British-born singer and actress Jane Birkin received a great send off after her death was announced last weekend, with blanket coverage in the French media and an outpouring of affection.

If you’re ever seen her films or interviews, you will know that although her French was fluent, her British accent remained very strong even after more than 50 years here – and in fact it was affectionately mentioned by many French commentators after her death.

A reminder that we are probably more embarrassed than we need to be about our own accents and pronunciation fails.

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: Political farce, far-right fears and sharks under Paris

This week in France has been heavily focused on politics due to the surprise election, from the soap opera and the memes of the right-wing parties to grumpy faces among the Macronists, plus some light relief in the form of the weird stuff underneath Paris.

Published: 15 June 2024 11:41 CEST
Inside France: Political farce, far-right fears and sharks under Paris

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.

Ciotti chuckles

Anyone who says that the French have no sense of humour has clearly not spent any time on French social media this week as the jokes and memes came thick and fast in response to the ridiculous election shenanigans of the once-mighty right-wing Les Républicains party.

You can find the full details here but to cut a long story short, party leader Eric Ciotti announced an election alliance with the far-right, his fellow party bigwigs were horrified and attempted to expel him, Ciotti locked himself inside the party HQ and refused to allow anyone in, leaders held their meeting elsewhere and voted to expel him from the party, Ciotti refused to accept their verdict and posted a video of him showing up at work as normal the following day, insisting he was still in charge.

The whole thing was a gift for anyone with a Twitter account and a sense of humour. 

Sense of humour

The whole idea that ‘the French aren’t funny’ is an oddly enduring trope. I think it’s to do with the fact that French humour is often highly referential, making it hard for foreigners to get if they don’t understand the references.

READ ALSO 5 tips for understanding French humour and jokes

Far right

Funny as the whole Ciotti episode was, it didn’t quite distract from the widespread horror in France at the prospect of a far-right government, and bafflement over Emmanuel Macron’s high-stakes election gamble.

His announcement on Sunday night of a snap election took the country and the media entirely by surprise and seemed to catch plenty of his own party members off guard too.

The election is a gamble – un pari – Macron is banking on the country to reject the far-right at the polls and hand his party back an absolute majority in parliament. This could happen, or Marine Le Pen’s party could win and Macron would then go down in history as the man who handed the keys of government to the far-right. Or – and most analysts think this is the most likely scenario – no party could win an absolute majority and the parliament could be plunged into an even more messy deadlock.

READ ALSO What do the snap elections mean for France?

One of the most outspoken critics has been Gabriel Attal, the 35-year-old prime minister often described as a Macron protege. This photo of him with a face like thunder has become another meme, embodying all those who think that this election is a very bad idea. 

Talking France

We of course talk about the elections in a special episode of the Talking France podcast – listen here. During the election period we will be releasing the podcast on Mondays, and we will also be doing a bi-weekly election breakdown for anyone who wants to stay in touch with the latest – sign up here.

Sharknado

And if you want something to help you switch off from all the politics, I highly recommend the new Netflix film Sous la Seine (Under Paris). Not because it’s good – it’s not, in fact it’s terrible but it’s so bad that it’s actually hilarious. 

One thing that you might write off as dramatic licence is the idea of an enormous underground lake beneath Paris – but this is actually true. In fact, there’s a lot weird shit under Paris . . .

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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