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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Diet coke, disinheriting kids and the liberation of Paris

From political infighting to disinheriting children, via a very special 'Diet Coke break', our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Published: 26 August 2023 10:09 CEST
Inside France: Diet coke, disinheriting kids and the liberation of Paris
Picture dated 24 August 1944 showing a Parisian woman kissing French General de Gaulle during a parade on the Champs-Elysees after Paris' liberation. Photo by 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.

September blues

Although it’s still another two weeks before the schools go back, France’s ministers are back from holiday and the government is laying out its ideas for the year ahead.

Emmanuel Macron seems as full of plans as ever, judging by his pre-rentrée interview with Le Point. But having ideas is one thing – putting them into practice without an overall parliamentary majority in a country that appears increasingly divided and while your own ministers are jostling for position ahead of the 2027 election is quite another.

READ ALSO: 8 of the biggest problems facing Macron this September

Diet Coke break

Like many other people, I started off laughing at this video of an American influencer who brought an entire suitcase full of Diet Coke with her on holiday because “they don’t sell it in Europe”.

But then I ended up down a research rabbit hole – is it true that Coke tastes different in the US and Europe? Are Diet Coke and Coke Light the same thing? And why do American bloggers confidently proclaim that Diet Coke is “banned by the EU”?

Is Diet Coke really banned in Europe?

The Local’s Genevieve Mansfield also put together this great piece about the most popular American misconceptions about France (yes, you can drink the tap water. Yes, we have ice and clothes dryers too. No, your apartment probably won’t have air-conditioning).

Liberation

Friday marked 79 years since the liberation of Paris – a chaotic and bloody time that began with a strike and ended in pitched battles in the street. It was followed by the brutal period known as the épuration sauvage – or summary justice when people suspected of collaboration with the Germans were beaten up, shot or – in the case of an estimated 20,000 women accused of ‘horizontal collaboration’ – publicly humiliated and had their heads shaved. 

I always recommend that anyone interested is this period checks out the Musée de la Libération in Denfert-Rochereau, which tells the story of the occupation of Paris and its liberation, with a particular emphasis on what life was like for the ordinary residents of the city during this extraordinary time.

Legal LOLs

It’s not often that advice on inheritance provides a laugh, but many people made the same joke about this article in Le Figaro on how to disinherit your children – assuming that the journalist’s family holiday hadn’t gone exactly to plan.

Maybe I should say it’s more about minimising your children’s inheritance, as disinheriting your kids is practically impossible under French law, however much they might have annoyed you over the two-month summer break.

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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