Emmanuel Macron

July 26, 2024 11:18 PM

Olympics-Games’ opening ceremony starts under watchful eye of security forces

The Olympics' opening ceremony began in Paris on Friday by depicting a fictional scenario in which the arrival of theOlympic flame goes awry, ahead of an extravagant show on the river Seine that will kick off the summer Games. French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane was shown running across Paris to bring the flame, in a pre-recorded video that included him taking it onto the metro. A huge police force was on display in Paris, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail netwo...

ARROMANCHES-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 07, 2024: View of the French national flag in Arromanches-les-Bains, France, on June 07, 2024. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

July 9, 2024 5:16 PM

French left wants to rule but centrists demand a role

said they intended to govern according to their tax-and-spend programme, but centrists laid claim to a role as the left lacks a majority. The unexpected outcome of the snap election has plunged France into uncertainty just before the Paris Olympics, with no obvious path to a stable government capable of getting any legislation passed by a fragmented parliament. The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) won the most seats in the National Assembly but fell short of an absolute majority by about 100 ...

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 07: Supporters of the left wing union, New Popular Front, gather at the Place de la Republique on July 7, 2024 in Paris, France following the defeat of the far-right in France's legislative elections. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

July 8, 2024 11:19 AM

France election: Policy paralysis looms as left gains and far right stumbles

France faced a hung parliament and the prospect of taxing negotiations starting Monday to form a government, after a surprise left-wing surge blockedç's quest to bring the far right to power. The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the dominant force in the National Assembly after Sunday's election, but with no single group securing a working majority the possibilities include the NFP forming a minority government or the building of a broad, unwieldy coalition. The result delivered a s...

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 30: Voters queue outside a polling station during the first round of parliamentary elections on June 30, 2024 in Paris, France. Today is the first round of legislative elections, with the second vote being held on July 7. The snap election was called by President Macron in response to his party's defeat in the European elections earlier this month. (Photo by Owen Franken - Corbis/Getty Images)

July 4, 2024 12:09 PM

As France votes, Europe holds its breath

When President Emmanuel Macron shocked France last month by calling a snap election, he was gambling with the future of Europe as well as his own country. While much depends on the second round of voting on Sunday, it already seems clear that Macron's role as a driver of European integration will be significantly diminished. The two most likely scenarios – a government led by the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen or a hung parliament – would present unprecedented challenges fo...

BAYEUX, FRANCE - JUNE 28: Illustrative photo of a set of French electoral ballots for the first round of the 2024 legislative election distributed to electors in the 5th constituency of Calvados, on June 28, 2024, in Bayeux, Normandy, France. France will hold an early legislative election in two rounds on June 30 and July 7 2024, following President Emmanuel Macrons decision which was triggered by his partys heavy defeat to the far-right National Rally in the 2024 European Parliament election. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

July 1, 2024 10:18 AM

Far-right National Rally wins first round in France election

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party scored historic gains to win the first round of France's parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on days of horsetrading before next week's run-off. The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed, in a huge setback for President Emmanuel Macron who had called the snap election after his ticket was trounced by the RN in European Parliament ...

June 10, 2024 4:33 PM

Italy’s PM Meloni comes out on top in EU vote, strengthening her hand

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's arch-conservative Brothers of Italy group won the most votes in the European parliamentary election over the weekend, boosting her standing both at home and abroad. With almost all ballots counted, Brothers of Italy won 28.8% of the vote, more than four times what it took in the last European Union election in 2019, and exceeding the 26% it secured in the 2022 national ballot, when it rose to power. "I am proud that Italy will present itself to the G7, to Europe...

June 10, 2024 3:46 PM

Euro and French markets roiled by shock Macron election call

The euro tumbled, while French bonds and stocks were hit hard on Monday, following French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap parliamentary election after being trounced in a European Union vote by the far right. The euro fell 0.5% to a one-month low of $1.0764 and slumped to a 21-month trough against sterling of 84.53 pence. French blue-chip stocks dropped 2%, led by steep losses in the likes of lenders such as BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, making the CAC 40 the worst-...

June 10, 2024 9:51 AM

French President dissolves country’s parliament after heavy defeat in EU vote, elections on June 30

French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the country's parliament, as well as the National Assembly, calling for snap elections after exit polls showcased his party's heavy loss in European parliamentary elections on Sunday. Preliminary estimates showed that the far-right National Rally (RN) party won 31.5 per cent of the vote, more than double the share of Macron's Renaissance Party, which barely managed to secure second place with 15.2 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Socialists in th...

May 26, 2024 12:14 PM

Macron heads to Germany in first French presidential state visit in 24 years

French President Emanuel Macron lands in Germany on Sunday for a three-day state visit followed by a bilateral cabinet meeting as the European Union's two biggest powers seek to show unity ahead of next month's EU parliamentary elections. Macron's trip to the capital Berlin, Dresden in the east and Muenster in the west is the first French presidential state visit to Germany in 24 years. The visit will be watched as a checkup on the health of the German-French relationship that drives EU policy...

New Caledonians (Kanaks) of Toulouse are taking to the streets in protest against the constitutional revision of the French Constitution by French President Macron to expand the electorate who can vote in local elections. Kanaks are saying they are already outnumbered by French people coming from the metropole and that the widening launched by Macron will be catastrophic for them. They are explaining this is plain colonialism. Since the vote on the law to widen the electorate, riots are happening in New Caledonia and the French government is sending riot police and military to quell the insurrection there. Five people have already died. In Toulouse, France, on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

May 24, 2024 5:24 PM

The colonial-era inequalities that fuelled the New Caledonia crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron said on a visit to New Caledonia on Thursday that inequalities had widened on the French-ruled Pacific archipelago and were a driving force in the deadly civil unrest that broke out last week. The island territory is marked by deep disparities in education and employment, according to census data and experts on New Caledonia, despite equal opportunities policies that were part of past political agreements in the 1980s and 1990s. The poverty rate among indigenou...