Category Archives: France

Police raid migrant smuggling ring accused over small boat Channel crossings

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More than 500 officers participated in the operation, which was co-ordinated with British, French and European agencies

Police have carried out dawn raids in several cities in Germany and France in an internationally coordinated operation to smash a network accused of smuggling migrants to Britain in small boats.

Coordinated with Europol, the French security service and British police after months of intelligence-gathering, the raids on Wednesday concentrated on western German cities where gangs are believed to have procured small boats and found migrants wanting to be taken to the UK from France across the English Channel.

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Will the far right in France seize the chance to topple the government?

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Triggered by an austerity budget, a no-confidence vote threatens fresh instability – and Macron’s future

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With threats mounting inside and outside the EU’s borders and Germany in paralysis, the last thing Europe needed was fresh upheaval besetting its other big power. Yet that is exactly what France is facing with a no-confidence vote expected today that could bring down the government.

The shaky minority administration assembled by Prime Minister Michel Barnier only three months ago began to wobble badly on Monday after he triggered an extraordinary constitutional mechanism to force through an austerity budget.

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French government teeters on brink of collapse as no-confidence vote looms

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Administration of Michel Barnier likely to fall after far-left and far-right opponents table motions

France is staring into the unknown as the minority government of the prime minister, Michel Barnier, faces near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote that could dramatically intensify the political crisis in one of the EU’s key member states.

If the vote on Wednesday is carried, Barnier’s administration, which took office only in September, would be the first in France to be ousted with a motion of no confidence since 1962. Its fall, at the hands of the far-right and leftwing parties, would be a significant blow to Europe weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

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It’s the best of times for Notre Dame, but the worst of times for the French PM

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It seems Michel Barnier’s experience of negotiating Brexit with the British was no match for the bitter rivalry of French politics

When Emmanuel Macron welcomes world leaders to the reopening of Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral this weekend, after fire damaged it five years ago, he might have hoped it would serve as a metaphor for people from all backgrounds coming together to prevent a hallowed edifice collapsing.

Instead, it is likely the French government itself will have fallen by Wednesday evening, with voters’ trust of politicians and the political process in charred ruins.

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Michel Barnier defends budget in TV interview as government faces no confidence vote on Wednesday – as it happened

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Minority government of prime minister faces near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote that could spark crisis

The Libertés, indépendants, outre-mer et territoires (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories, Liot) group, which has about two dozen elected members, will not vote for Wednesday’s censure motion (i.e. the no confidence motion over the budget).

“At this stage, none of the Liot MPs intend to vote for censure tomorrow,” Harold Huwart, the MP for Eure-et-Loir and spokesperson for the parliamentary group, was quoted as saying:

First of all, because the country is in a difficult moment, censorship is an act whose final consequences no one can measure. Voting for censorship is particularly irresponsible.

None of the deputies (of Liot) want to be associated with an act of destabilisation plotted by extremes who come together in a desperate attempt.

Let’s be clear: a motion of censure is not a coalition or a political agreement, it is nothing other than the expression of a disavowal of the policy and budgetary choices proposed by the Government.

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French government faces no-confidence vote on Wednesday

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PM Michel Barnier tells MPs they face ‘moment of truth’ after left and right lodge motions censuring government

The French government appears likely to fall this week after leftwing and far-right parties lodged motions of no confidence in response to the prime minister’s decision to push through a belt-tightening budget without a vote.

If passed by MPs, the motions, which will be put to a vote in the national assembly on Wednesday, will bring down the government and force Michel Barnier’s resignation after only two and a half months.

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‘Photographs did not do it justice’: King Louis XV’s magnificent rhino is star of new London exhibition

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After wowing the court of Versailles over 200 years ago, the jet-black beast is back in the spotlight at the Science Museum

King Louis XV’s rhinoceros was the star of the court of Versailles. Fed on a diet of bread, its tough hide was regularly massaged with oil. But it proved not an easy pet to keep and unfortunately killed two people who entered its enclosure.

Now, the magnificent beast, since stuffed and preserved, has left Paris for the first time since it arrived in 1770, travelling to London to take up a temporary place under the spotlight at the Science Museum in London.

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Why has France’s austerity budget caused a political storm?

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Country is at risk of fresh turmoil with its government on the brink amid soaring sovereign borrowing costs

France is at risk of being plunged into fresh political turmoil as its minority government teeters on the brink of collapse amid opposition anger over a planned austerity budget.

Reflecting growing unease in financial markets, French sovereign borrowing costs have risen sharply, reaching the highest premium over German bonds since the height of the eurozone debt crisis in 2012.

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French PM abandons electricity tax rise amid pressure from far right

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Michel Barnier makes concession over budget but may still face confidence vote

The French government has promised to scrap proposed tax increases on electricity as it scrambles to calm the far right and prevent a political crisis that could lead to the prime minister, Michel Barnier, being toppled in a confidence vote as early as next week.

“I’ve decided not to raise taxes on electricity,” Barnier told Le Figaro on Wednesday in a major concession to opposition parties who are threatening to bring down the unpopular government over its belt-tightening budget.

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France says Netanyahu is immune from ICC warrant as Israel is not member of court

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Claim comes after Paris signalled it would fulfil obligations as signatory to Rome statute after arrest warrant issued

The French government has claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu has immunity from arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court for war crimes on the grounds that Israel is not an ICC member.

The claim came soon after Netanyahu’s cabinet agreed to a French-backed ceasefire in Lebanon and is in contrast to Paris’s attitude towards last year’s ICC war crimes warrant issued against Vladimir Putin, another leader of a non-member country.

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French sovereign borrowing costs rise to highest premium in 12 years

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Government faces risk of collapse over planned austerity budget

French sovereign borrowing costs have soared to the highest premium since the eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil as the government faces the risk of collapse over a planned austerity budget.

The gap between French 10-year government bond yields and their German equivalent ballooned to as much as 90 basis points on Wednesday, the widest level in 12 years, while shares listed on the Paris stock exchange also tumbled.

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Dominique Pelicot has split personality caused by trauma, defence argues

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Lawyer for man who drugged wife and invited strangers to rape her says she has felt like ‘devil’s advocate’

Dominique Pelicot, the French man on trial for drugging his wife and inviting strangers to rape her, has a split personality caused by the effect of childhood trauma, his defence lawyer has argued.

In her summing up on Wednesday, Béatrice Zavarro told the court in Avignon there were “two Dominiques”, one a man apparently devoted to his family and the other with a “certain perversity”.

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‘It’s been a lot of detective work’: Madame de Pompadour’s £1m wall lights discovered in Yorkshire hotel

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Four gilt-bronze sconces that lit up home of Louis XV’s mistress are set to go on sale at Sotheby’s in December

For almost 140 years, four massive gilt-bronze wall lights have hung in the 18th-century drawing room at Swinton Castle in Yorkshire, now an opulent luxury hotel.

Guests will almost certainly have noticed the one metre-high rococo appliques with their entwined branches decorated with leaves, berries and cherubim, and passed them off as impressive reproductions of more valuable original works.

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Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis

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Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’

An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount.

So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world’s population heading to the polls, there have been major wins for Donald Trump, the US president-elect who calls the climate crisis “a big hoax”; the climate-skeptic right in European Union elections; and Vladimir Putin, who won another term and has endured sanctions to maintain Russia’s robust oil and gas exports.

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Pelicot rape trial: ‘It is Gisèle’s name that will be remembered’

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Woman who has become a feminist hero says she is ‘determined to change society’, as trial approaches its end

More than a hundred women formed a line and applauded as Gisèle Pelicot left the courtroom of the French mass rape trial this week. Pelicot, whose husband has admitted drugging her and inviting dozens of strangers into her bedroom to rape her for a decade, thanked supporters, putting a hand to her heart.

She would, she told the court, now go for walk. “I heal by hours and hours of walking – it’s a way to protect myself. That and my psychologist, music and chocolate … Everyone has their own therapy for suffering.”

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Haiti summons French ambassador after Macron called its leaders ‘morons’

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Government protests ‘unfriendly and inappropriate’ comments by French president caught on camera

Haiti’s government has summoned the French ambassador to the country to protest about “unfriendly and inappropriate” comments from Emmanuel Macron, who was caught on camera calling the country’s leaders “morons”.

The French president had on Wednesday described the decision of the Caribbean country’s transitional presidential council to oust the prime minister earlier this month amid an escalation in gang warfare as “completely dumb”.

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Hungary invites Netanyahu to visit as world leaders split over ICC arrest warrant

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Viktor Orbán says he will not enforce ICC decision that requires court members to detain Israeli PM if he enters their country

Hungary’s illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit in defiance of an international criminal court arrest warrant, as world leaders split over the ICC’s momentous decision.

The world’s highest criminal court issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas commander Ibrahim al-Masri, commonly known as Mohammed Deif, who is believed to be dead, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Armed gang steal jewels from French museum’s £6m ‘national treasure’

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Thieves fired shots and took parts of 1904 work by goldsmith Joseph Chaumet from Hiéron Museum

Armed robbers snatched jewels worth millions from a work by the famed Parisian goldsmith Joseph Chaumet classed as a national treasure, in a brazen heist at a French museum.

The thieves arrived on motorbikes at the Hiéron Museum in Paray-le-Monial, in central France, at about 4pm local time on Thursday. Three entered the building and one stood guard outside, said the local mayor, Jean-Marc Nesme.

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Defence firm Thales faces bribery and corruption investigation

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UK Serious Fraud Office and French equivalent ‘will pursue every avenue’ in allegations against Paris-based company

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating suspected bribery and corruption at Thales Group, a multinational aerospace and defence electronics contractor.

The company, which is headquartered in Paris and has a UK subsidiary employing more than 7,000 staff, is known in defence circles for its varied businesses, which include making missiles and launchers, supplying sonar systems for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines and designing the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

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Author Kamel Daoud sued over claim he used life of wife’s patient in novel

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Woman says French-Algerian writer’s prize-winning Houris uses her story as she told it to therapist Aicha Dehdouh

Two complaints have been filed in Algeria against the French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, the winner of France’s most prestigious literary award, and his wife, a therapist, alleging that they used a patient’s life story as the basis for his prize-winning novel.

The writer, the first Algerian novelist to be awarded the Prix Goncourt, won this year’s prize for his novel Houris, a fictional account of a young woman who lost her voice when an Islamist cut her throat during the country’s brutal 1992-2002 civil war.

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