Category Archives: Emmanuel Macron

Macron hopes for ‘historic solution’ to Ukraine crisis ahead of Putin meeting

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French leader, who will travel to Kyiv on Tuesday, is optimistic he can secure peace, despite the US saying Russia could invade ‘tomorrow’

French president Emmanuel Macron believes he can deliver “a historic solution” to the Ukraine crisis ahead of his arrival in Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

After a flurry of diplomatic activity that included talks with US president Joe Biden this weekend and three phone calls with Putin, Macron will land in Moscow on Monday seeking a “de-escalation” of the tense standoff on Ukraine’s eastern borders.

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Priti Patel says Macron ‘absolutely wrong’ over Channel crossings

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Home secretary rebuffs French claim UK immigration policy encourages people to risk dangerous journey

Priti Patel, the home secretary, has said Emmanuel Macron is wrong to say the UK’s immigration policy is encouraging people to risk their lives crossing the Channel from France.

In a further escalation of the row between the two countries, Patel has dismissed claims by the French president that Britain’s immigration system favours clandestine migration and does not allow for asylum seekers to seek legal ways into the country.

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Ukraine urges west to be ‘vigilant and firm’ in Russia talks

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US president announces small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears of invasion

Kyiv has urged the west to remain “vigilant and firm” in its talks with Russia, as Joe Biden announced a small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears Moscow could invade Ukraine.

Washington’s top defence officials warned on Friday that the Kremlin had massed enough troops and hardware at the border to threaten the whole of Ukraine, but called for further diplomatic efforts to avert a “horrific” conflict.

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Macron meets Algerian-born French citizens with one eye on election

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French president seeks to address France’s colonial legacy in north Africa

Emmanuel Macron is to meet representatives of the Pieds Noirs – the Algerian-born French citizens who fled to France after Algerian independence in 1962 – as he seeks to address France’s colonial legacy in north Africa ahead of a bid for re-election this spring.

The Elysée said the aim was to continue Macron’s drive to build a “calm, shared memory, common to all” of the Algerian conflict.

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French parliament approves vaccine pass law to tackle Covid

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Law will require people to have a certificate to enter public places such as restaurants and cinemas

France’s parliament has given final approval to the government’s latest measures to tackle Covid-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament voted 215 in favour to 58 against on Sunday, paving the way for the law to enter force in the coming days.

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France’s divided leftwing candidates called on to back ‘people’s primary’

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Activists are gaining support for move to hold popular vote to decide who stands in presidential election

A group of political activists will make one desperate last attempt this month to save the bitterly divided French left from an electoral catastrophe in the presidential election with a “people’s primary” to designate a single candidate.

The Primaire Populaire was initiated by young people dismayed by the fractures that could mean no leftwing or socialist figure will reach the second round of the election in April.

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Election battle lines set as Macron pits himself against France’s unvaccinated

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Growing political divisions over Covid rules have emerged in run-up to presidential election in April

Emmanuel Macron is facing growing political divisions over Covid rules in the run-up to the spring presidential election, after his proposed vaccine pass was delayed and teachers took strike action, amid ongoing street demonstrations and a rise in violent threats against politicians.

With an increasing mood of fatigue among French voters after two years of the pandemic and a significant mistrust of the political class, the president –– who is likely to hold off declaring his re-election bid for several weeks as the coronavirus health crisis continues –– wants to be seen as reliable but firm.

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France to push for EU-wide UK migration treaty over Channel crossings

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French government wants whole bloc to act despite warnings other member states have no appetite

France will press the EU to negotiate an asylum and migration treaty with the UK in an attempt to deter people from making the dangerous Channel crossing.

The French government, which last week took up the six-month rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers, wants the whole bloc to act, despite warnings that other member states have no appetite for a migration treaty with Britain.

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French MPs pass controversial Covid vaccine bill with large majority

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Bill to restrict restaurant, theatre and other access to vaccinated follows Macron’s pledge to ‘piss off’ those without jabs

French MPs have passed the government’s controversial vaccine pass bill after three days of an angry stop-start debate.

The legislation, which requires people to be fully vaccinated to enjoy social, sporting and cultural activities, was approved by a large majority in the assemblée nationale in the early hours of Thursday morning.

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Macron declares his Covid strategy is to ‘piss off’ the unvaccinated

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French president stokes divisions as parliament debates tighter requirements for mandatory health pass

Emmanuel Macron has prompted a furore after saying that his government’s vaccination strategy is to “piss off” people who have not had coronavirus jabs by continuing to make daily life more and more difficult for them.

“I am not about pissing off the French people,” the president said in an interview with readers of Le Parisien daily on Tuesday. “But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy.”

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Why Europe’s Muslims are braced for France’s stint running the EU presidency | Shada Islam

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There is concern that the country’s divisive anti-Muslim political discourse will seep into the union’s institutional policymaking

  • Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs

France has taken over the rotating EU presidency for the next six months, an opportunity the president, Emmanuel Macron, will no doubt use to nudge Europe towards his goal of greater “strategic autonomy” in the world. Some in Brussels worry that hotly contested presidential elections in April could interfere with France’s EU presidency before a key conference on the future of Europe delivers any results. It’s not reassuring that Macron’s decision, temporarily, to fly the blue and gold EU flag at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has already drawn the fury of far-right and conservative election candidates.

But many European Muslims are concerned about the French stint in the EU chair for another reason: they fear that France’s divisive anti-Muslim political discourse will seep dangerously into EU policymaking.

Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs

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Emmanuel Macron says ‘Australia behaved badly’ over Aukus submarine deal – video

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French President Emmanuel Macron says Australia behaved badly after ending its submarine deal with France before opting for a nuclear powered arrangement in collaboration with the United States and United Kingdom. Macron previously accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over the abandoned $90bn submarine contract. Speaking in an interview with TF1 and LCI television stations, Macron said: "The Australians have treated us in a bad manner, industrially and strategically. We responded in the firmest manner, and it will be felt in time, believe me. The Australians behaved badly"

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Macron accuses UK of not keeping its word on Brexit and fishing

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France willing to re-engage on Channel crossings, but UK economy relies on illegal labour, says president

Relations between France and Britain are strained because the current UK government does not honour its word, president Emmanuel Macron has said.

Macron accused London of failing to keep its word on Brexit and fishing licences, but said France was willing to re-engage in good faith, and called for “British re-engagement” over the “humanitarian question” of dangerous Channel crossings, after at least 27 migrants drowned trying to reach the British coast.

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Macron takes on far-right presidential rival in visit to Vichy

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President warns about ‘manipulation’ of history after Éric Zemmour claims Vichy regime protected French Jews from Nazis

Emmanuel Macron has warned against the “manipulation” of history in a clear message to the far-right presidential candidate, Éric Zemmour, on a symbolic visit to Vichy.

After the German occupation in 1940, the spa town was chosen for Marshal Philippe Pétain’s puppet regime, which collaborated with the Nazis and ensured the deportation of Jews to death camps. Zemmour has angered historians by claiming, instead, that Pétain saved French Jews.

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Emmanuel Macron accused of trying to ‘rehabilitate’ Mohammed bin Salman

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Human rights groups criticise French president’s planned meeting with crown prince in Saudi Arabia

Human rights groups have criticised Emmanuel Macron’s planned meeting with Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, which will mark the first one-on-one public meeting of a major western leader with the crown prince since the state-sponsored assassination of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

For three years since the 2018 murder, western heads of state have avoided direct one-on-one meetings with the crown prince in the kingdom. The US president, Joe Biden, has even avoided speaking to the future king in what has widely been seen as an attempt to avoid conferring legitimacy on the de facto ruler.

But Macron’s move suggests at least one major western leader is ready to formally re-establish ties to the crown prince directly, less than a year after US intelligence agencies released a report stating they believed that Prince Mohammed had approved the murder of Khashoggi.

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UK Covid live: PM says people should not cancel Christmas events after highest cases since 17 July recorded

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Latest updates: Boris Johnson says ‘no need’ to cancel Christmas events as UK reports 53,945 daily coronavirus cases

Jeremy Corbyn posted a tweet this morning promoting a virtual Stop the War fundraiser this Christmas, not an in-person one. So my earlier post (now removed) about this being an example of a party going ahead that might not meet with George Freeman’s approval was completely wrong. I apologise for the mistake.

The Cabinet Office has been fined £500,000 for accidentally disclosing the postal addresses of the 2020 new year honours list recipients online, in breach of data protection laws.

On 27 December 2019 the Cabinet Office published a file on GOV.UK containing the names and unredacted addresses of more than 1,000 people announced in the new year honours list. People from a wide range of professions across the UK were affected, including individuals with a high public profile.

After becoming aware of the data breach, the Cabinet Office removed the weblink to the file. However, the file was still cached and accessible online to people who had the exact webpage address.

When data breaches happen, they have real-life consequences. In this case, more than 1,000 people were affected. At a time when they should have been celebrating and enjoying the announcement of their honour, they were faced with the distress of their personal details being exposed.

The Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety.

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Macron privately called Boris Johnson a ‘clown’, says French magazine

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Report follows French president’s complaint about PM’s behaviour after they discussed sinking of refugee boat in the Channel

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, referred to Boris Johnson in a private conversation as a “clown”, according to reports in France.

The political magazine Le Canard enchaîné, often described as the French equivalent of Private Eye, reported Macron as saying the British prime minister has “the attitude of a vulgarian”.

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Josephine Baker, music hall star and civil rights activist, enters Panthéon

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French-American war hero is first Black woman inducted into Paris mausoleum for revered figures

Josephine Baker, the French-American civil rights activist, music hall superstar and second world war resistance hero, has become the first Black woman to enter France’s Panthéon mausoleum of revered historical figures – taking the nation’s highest honour at a moment when tensions over national identity and immigration are dominating the run-up to next year’s presidential race.

The elaborate ceremony on Tuesday – presided over by the French president, Emmanuel Macron – focused on Baker’s legacy as a resistance fighter, activist and anti-fascist who fled the racial segregation of the 1920s US for the Paris cabaret stage, and who fought for inclusion and against hatred.

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UK’s ‘double talk’ on Channel crisis must stop, says French interior minister

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Exclusive: Gérald Darmanin says UK ministers must stop saying one thing in private while insulting his country in public

The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has said British ministers including his counterpart, Priti Patel, should stop saying one thing in private while insulting his country in public if there is to be a solution to the crisis in the Channel.

In an interview with the Guardian, Darmanin strongly criticised what he called “double talk” coming out of London and said France was not a “vassal” of the UK.

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Controversial Pegasus spyware faces its day of reckoning | John Naughton

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The infamous hacking tool is now at the centre of international lawsuits thanks to a courageous research lab

If you were compiling a list of the most toxic tech companies, Facebook – strangely – would not come out on top. First place belongs to NSO, an outfit of which most people have probably never heard. Wikipedia tells us that “NSO Group is an Israeli technology firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones”.

Pause for a moment on that phrase: “remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones”. Most smartphone users assume that the ability of a hacker to penetrate their device relies upon the user doing something careless or naive – clicking on a weblink, or opening an attachment. And in most cases they would be right in that assumption. But Pegasus can get in without the user doing anything untoward. And once in, it turns everything on the device into an open book for whoever deployed the malware.

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