France24 - France (10 hours ago)
The Olympic flame rose over Paris Friday night in a floating cauldron lit by French athletes Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner at the height of the Opening Ceremony. Canadian music icon Céline Dion brought down the curtain by giving her first public performance in four years, singing Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'Amour” from the Eiffel Tower....
ReadFrance24 - France (3 days ago)
Final preparations are under way as the French capital prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Streets and bridges are closed, large areas are inaccessible, and security is tight as the city gears up for an unprecedented Opening Ceremony on Friday involving a 6-kilometre (4-mile) floating procession down the River Seine.
ReadFrance24 - France (4 days ago)
France's left-wing New Popular Front alliance said on Tuesday it has agreed to propose Lucie Castets, a senior civil servant with the Paris Mayor's office, as their candidate for prime minister. Castets accepted the nomination "in all humility but with great conviction".
ReadFrance24 - France (4 days ago)
Parliamentarians at the lower-house National Assembly on Thursday re-elected Yaël Braun-Pivet as the chamber's president following snap legislative elections that failed to give any party a majority. The vote for a new leader, a role that has taken on increasing importance amid stalled negotiations to nominate a new prime minister, went into a...
ReadFrance24 - France (5 days ago)
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said on Monday that the "Israeli delegation is welcome in France", adding that the call by a far-left lawmaker for the country's exclusion from the Games over the weekend had been "irresponsible and dangerous".
ReadFrance24 - France (5 days ago)
From a possible performance by Franco-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world, to a tribute to Notre-Dame cathedral, the specifics of the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics ceremony have been mostly kept under wraps. Instead of using the athletics stadium for the opening parade, per usual, organisers...
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
Five protesters and a police officer were injured during a mobilisation against irrigation reservoirs being built on France's Atlantic coast. Critics of the massive infrastructure projects say that they will benefit larger agricultural producers at the expense of small farmers.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
Preparations for the Paris Olympics intensified in the French capital on Saturday as security teams patrolled the six-kilometre route along the Seine for the waterborne opening ceremony, the first of its kind to take place during a Summer Games. While these preparations have greatly disrupted life for residents of central Paris, organisers say that...
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
French lawmakers called for an investigation on Friday amid suspicions of ballot-stuffing in a vote for deputy speakers in the National Assembly. A re-vote led to the election of deputies from the hard left to the centre right, but none from the far right.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
The organising committee of the Paris Olympics, which kick off on July 26, say they have experienced limited impacts from the global technology outage that struck Friday morning. The accreditation system issuing badges for the opening ceremony has been affected, and the arrival of some athletes could be delayed, organisers said.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the controversial French founder of the modern Olympics, is proving to be a divisive figure for organisers of the Paris Games. Yet while some deplore his sexist and colonialist remarks, others have praised his dedication to using sport to promote peace, viewing him as a visionary and a humanist.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
Two French international rugby players accused of violently raping a woman in the western Argentine city of Mendoza last Sunday have been granted house arrest while they await a legal hearing. The alleged assault has drawn outrage in France and Argentina and raised questions about misogyny and sexual violence in the sports community.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
The snap legislative elections called by French President Emmanuel Macron left the country with a hung parliament and no dominant political bloc in power in the lower-house National Assembly for the first time in France's modern history. One solution proposed to end the deadlock is for a government of experts, or "technocrats”, to take care of...
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
The late French humanitarian priest Henri Grouès, better known as Abbé Pierre, has been accused of having sexually assaulted a number of women throughout his life, according to the charities that he himself founded. The allegations are detailed in an independent report commissioned by homeless charity Emmaüs and the Abbé Pierre foundation
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
French security services have arrested an 18-year-old far-right extremist suspected to be plotting attacks during the upcoming Paris Olympics. The young man, who was the administrator of a Telegram group called "French Aryan division", is being questioned by anti-terror police after having been detained in France's northeast.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
As the French National Assembly prepares for its first session after snap elections, Greens party leader Marine Tondelier on Wednesday urged the left bloc to rally together to reach a consensus candidate for prime minister after more than a week of "shameful” discord.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
Marine Le Pen on Wednesday said her far-right National Rally party's accession to power was only "postponed", despite its third-place finish in the July 7 second round of the legislative elections. Although the party elected a record number of deputies to the National Assembly, its weaknesses were also exposed during the campaign.
ReadFrance24 - France (A week ago)
The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo will swim in the Seine to show it's clean for the Paris Olympics' outdoor swimming events. Despite a €1.4 billion investment to prevent sewage leaks, the Seine's water quality remains questionable, repeatedly failing tests before the Games start on July 26.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Tuesday, the presidential office said, adding that Attal will lead a caretaker government with restricted powers until a new government is named. The leftist New Popular Front alliance has still not managed to name a consensus candidate for prime minister...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
The 2024 Paris Olympics are less than a fortnight away and questions still abound over the state of the Seine River – whether it will be safe for athletes to compete in the triathlon and marathon swimming events. However, French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra took a dip in the Seine on Saturday and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has vowed to...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
France's left-wing New Popular Front alliance is struggling to form a government or choose a prime minister in the wake of legislative elections earlier this month that left them with the most seats but well short of a majority, the head of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure said on Monday.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
France is preparing for another week of political maneuvering as the newly elected National Assembly meets for the first time this Thursday. With the leftist New Popular Front alliance still divided over a candidate for prime minister, the fight for the powerful speaker's role in parliament seems likely to dominate the coming days.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
France's legislative elections have resulted in a hung parliament, with the National Assembly divided into three distinct blocs. Although the leftist coalition, the New Popular Front, came out on top with 182 seats, it does not have an absolute majority. While Macron has asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to remain in his post "for the time...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron lashed out at his allies on Friday in a meeting at the presidential palace, saying that they had made a "disastrous spectacle" of themselves since the snap parliamentary election. Participants at the meeting – attended notably by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and former prime...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
As France's left-wing alliance scrambles to agree on a candidate for prime minister after taking the most parliamentary seats in the July 7 snap election, the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party has proposed veteran politician Huguette Bello as a compromise candidate. The former Communist Party member from the French overseas region of Reunion is...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
With the water quality of the River Seine meeting required standards over the past few days, French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera on Saturday swam in the river in a boost for Olympics organisers ahead of the July 26 kickoff. The question of whether the river will be consistently clean enough for official swimming events to be held in it has...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
Two French international rugby players were charged with aggravated rape after a 39-year-old woman accused them of assaulting her in a Mendoza hotel room following a match. The men deny the accusation, but according to their lawyer "are worried about this whole situation that they have had to live through".
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
Paris city hall announced on Friday that the Seine has been clean enough for swimming for most of the past 12 days, just weeks before the start of the 2024 Games. Despite recent unseasonable rain that has raised pollution levels, city officials remain confident that the river will be ready to host Olympic events such as the triathlon and swimming...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
In this week's episode, climb aboard an institution in France: the TGV. The high-speed bullet train is an important part of the French landscape that's been connecting the far flung parts of the country for over 40 years. The first journey of a TGV was inaugurated by President Francois Mitterrand in September 1981. Not only was it an industrial...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
Several lawmakers from the New Popular Front have reacted to Macron's letter calling for mainstream parties to form a coalition by saying that he should accept the leftist alliance's pick for prime minister and allow the bloc to form a government after they came first in snap elections. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
French police shot and killed an alleged gunman in New Caledonia on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from nearly two months of chaos in the French Pacific territory to 10. The unrest began over plans to expand the electoral roll, which indigenous Kanak people fear would diminish their chances for independence, leading to widespread roadblocks,...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 weeks ago)
French leftist parties on Tuesday pitched potential candidates to head a minority government, hoping to name a potential prime minister by the end of the week. They also "solemnly” warned President Macron not to keep Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in his role for much longer. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
France needs to watch out for the ongoing rise of the far right as the National Rally prepares for the presidential election in three years' time. That's the view of an expert on the far right, who says that after the party's loss in the legislative elections it can once again present itself as the outsider in French politics. Jim Wolfreys from...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
This time, the polls got it wrong. The French stared at the prospect of a far-right win and – despite the start of summer vacation – voted in their greatest numbers since 1981 to stop that populist surge. Instead, a left-wing alliance cobbled together three weeks ago after President Emmanuel Macron's shock dissolution of parliament now boasts...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to remain temporarily in office after the government's political camp lost its majority in high-stakes legislative elections. The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) coalition won the most parliamentary seats, but failed to win an absolute majority in the National Assembly....
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
Election results show French voters have chosen to give a broad leftist coalition the most parliamentary seats in pivotal legislative elections, keeping the far right away from power. Yet no party won an outright majority, putting France in an uncertain, unprecedented situation. President Emmanuel Macron 's centrist alliance arrived in second...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
"The nation rallied against the National Rally." That's the analysis from our political expert after France's legislative elections returned a hung parliament, with the far-right bloc finishing third. He says that France's left wing stood down its candidates where required, and that in the end the country as a whole chose to not endorse the far...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
PRESS REVIEW – Monday, July 8: The surprise defeat of the far right in the second round of French legislative elections is all over the front pages, with analysis of just how the leftist and centrist blocs managed to hold up. But there are also divisions, as far-right voters feel cheated by the result. We bring you all the reaction in this...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen won a resounding victory in the first round of the polls Sunday, with 33.15 percent of the votes cast for members of the National Assembly. The anti-immigration party made large gains in the southeastern Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur region but failed to make a breakthrough in Paris.
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
Buoyed by its resounding success in the first round of the snap legislative elections, France's far-right National Rally party is hoping to secure an absolute majority in the second round on July 7. Before it can achieve this, however, party leader Jordan Bardella will have to fend off both the leftist New Popular Front and President Emmanuel...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
France's far-right National Rally (RN) has its best chance yet of clinching power in a second round of legislative elections on July 7, running on a platform that proposes restricting the rights of immigrants and dual nationals. The party's surge is in step with a broader rise in racism and xenophobia, spurred by the preeminence of far-right ideas...
ReadFrance24 - France (3 weeks ago)
The Paris Olympic village will be fitted with 2,500 temporary cooling units when athletes arrive later this month, organisers said Tuesday, in a blow to the event's eco-friendly credentials. The organising committee had initially announced they would steer clear of air conditioning in the athletes' accommodation, instead using a geothermal cooling...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
The "clarification” President Emmanuel Macron invoked as he called France's snap elections has clarified this much: that French voters no longer want him to govern alone – or indeed at all. Exactly who he should share power with remains an open question after an inconclusive first round that has handed Marine Le Pen's far right a commanding...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
France is heading into a second and final round of voting on July 7 after the far right came out ahead in the first round of legislative elections on Sunday. The result has sent centrist and leftist parties scrambling to keep the far right from securing a majority. In our Science segment, we take a look at the health proposals of the three...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
On the evening that results trickled in from the first round of France's snap legislative elections, misleading claims began to circulate on social media. As well as a viral video claiming that left-wing voters set fire to a government building in reaction to the far right coming out on top, another video emerged claiming to show tampered, damaged...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
It turns out the polls did get it right. One in three French voters chose the far right in Sunday's first round of snap legislative elections, putting Marine Le Pen's party on the brink of power with an unprecedented score for an extreme party that's never before won in France through the ballot box. With one short week before the run-off, we ask...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
An indigenous Kanak pro-independence activist from the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia said Monday that he considered himself a "political prisoner" as authorities held him in jail in mainland France pending charges over a wave of deadly rioting.
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
The first round of France's legislative elections has confirmed that Marine Le Pen's far right is now the dominant force in French politics, putting her anti-immigrant National Rally within reach of power. Whether the rest of the political spectrum still has the ability – and the will – to hold it back will determine the outcome of July 7...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
Leading French film directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, who have been accused by actress and director Judith Godrèche of rape and sexual assault respectively when she was a minor, were detained on Monday by French authorities for questioning. Godrèche, a leading voice in France's #MeToo movement, wrote on social media that she was...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
France is headed into a second and final round of voting on July 7 after the far right came out ahead in a first round on Sunday, sending centrist and leftist parties scrambling to keep it from securing a majority. FRANCE 24 looks at some of the possibilities that lie ahead.
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
PRESS REVIEW – Monday, July 1: In this special edition, we bring you front pages, opinion pieces and cartoons from the French press and around the world after the far-right National Rally's victory in the first round of snap French legislative elections. Papers are expressing concern at the results, amid a consensus that Macron's gamble in...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron's camp saw an embarrassing third-place finish in the first round of snap legislative elections on Sunday, behind both the far-right National Rally party and a new leftist alliance. With the National Rally now poised to secure the largest block in parliament, Macron's shock decision to dissolve the National Assembly...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly in June and called for snap legislative elections, with a first round of voting on June 30 and a second round on July 7. A total of 577 seats are up for grabs in the lower-house National Assembly, and France's next prime minister will likely come from the party or coalition winning...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
Marine Le Pen's anti-immigrant National Rally led a first round of voting on Sunday in exceptionally high-stakes elections that could put France's government in the hands of a far-right party for the first time since World War II. President Emmanuel Macron's ruling coalition was beaten into third place by a fledgling alliance of the left as the...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
France's high-stakes parliamentary elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote on Sunday, said pollster Ipsos Talan, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. The leftist union New Popular Front was projected to come in second place while Macron's centrist alliance...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
Raphaël Glucksmann, co-founder of the centre-left Place Publique party, emerged from a surprisingly strong showing in the June 9 European elections to find himself a key member of a new leftist alliance in France – one hastily forged to battle the far-right party leading in polls ahead of snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron. But...
ReadFrance24 - France (4 weeks ago)
The French far right is leading opinion polls with three days left before voters cast their ballots in snap legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron following his party's defeat in European elections over two weeks ago. Marine Le Pen's National Rally is estimated to win more than 35 percent in the first round on Sunday, with a...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
A French court on Friday ruled that composer Maurice Ravel wrote his famous "Bolero" piece by himself. The heirs of stage designer Alexandre Benois, who worked on the original performance of the piece, argued that celebrated Russian set-dresser should have been credited as a co-author.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
The latest water quality tests on the Seine show that the the river is still too polluted to swim in. And with a range of water sports scheduled to take place along the Seine in central Paris during next month's Olympic Games, organisers are hoping that the July sun will be enough to make the river fit for the world's top athletes.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
French tycoon Vincent Bolloré has put his sprawling media empire at the service of the country's nationalist right, precipitating a rightward shift in French politics. Pulling strings from behind the scenes in the manner of Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire corporate raider has orchestrated an alliance of bitter right-wing rivals in the run-up to...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
During a televised debate Thursday evening with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Socialist leader Olivier Faure, Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally party, vowed that his party would not allow Russia to "absorb" Ukraine if it comes to power after snap legislative elections starting Sunday, June 30.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Marine Le Pen, former president of France's far-right party National Rally and currently a French presidential candidate, on Thursday raised the question in an interview with a French newspaper of who would be in charge of the military if her party takes over the government after snap parliamentary elections starting Sunday, June 30.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
French basketball star Victor Wembanyama on Thursday joined football star Kylian Mbappe and other leading sports heroes, many of whom come from immigrant backgrounds, in warning against voting for the "extremes" in the first round of the country's snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, June 30.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
This week we take a deep dive into the national institution that is France's postal service. The French are very attached to "La Poste", though they love to complain about it too, and its evolution mirrors changes in society. Come rain or shine, postal workers in their trademark daffodil-yellow vehicles have delivered mail 24/7, making them some of...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Ticket prices for visiting the Eiffel Tower have been raised 20 percent in a bid to offset its sky-high maintenance costs. The increase comes just weeks before the opening of the 2024 Olympics and after months of tensions between the "Iron Lady"'s management company and Paris City Hall over the revenues generated by this symbol of the City of...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
The ethnically diverse northeastern suburbs of Paris are traditionally a bastion of the political left – and of voter abstention. With France's legislative elections just days away, activists are battling widespread apathy and resignation as they seek to get out the vote and bar Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally from power.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Since French President Emmanuel Macron lost the European elections to the far-right National Rally on June 9 and announced snap parliamentary elections, attacks on LGBTQ people have been deliberately political. Rights groups fear that if the far right comes to power in under two weeks, laws put in place to protect LGBTQ people could be dismantled...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
In this week's show, we retrace the turbulent life of 19th-century French writer Alexandre Dumas. The wildly successful mixed-race author faced racism, financial ruin and ghostwriter allegations during his lifetime. It was only 132 years after his death that his remains were laid to rest at the Pantheon mausoleum, in 2002. We retell the story of...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
In the blink of an eye, France is already into the final days of campaigning; a speed-dating exercise that has got the far right more than ever knocking on the doors of power. Polls suggest that Emmanuel Macron's surprise decision to dissolve parliament just two weeks ago has not sparked a rethink. On the contrary, Marine Le Pen and Jordan...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Saturday, June 22, 2024: In this week's roundup of French news, we bring you the latest from the lightning campaign ahead of snap legislative elections. Anti-Semitism came back to the forefront of political debate after the shocking rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl by boys her own age. Plus, a Paris medical centre that serves migrants closes its...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
The Seine is set to be a star feature of the Paris Olympics, but with just one month remaining until the opening of the games, heavy rains and pollution are keeping organisers in suspense on whether they will be able to host the open-water swimming events and a leg of the triathlon in the river.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Thousands of people on Sunday rallied in Paris and other cities across France to denounce the far-right National Rally party's "false feminism” and the "real danger” it poses to women's rights. The demonstrations came exactly a week before France's snap parliamentary elections, with polls showing the National Rally and its allies leading the...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
As the far-right National Rally party works hard to win votes from French women in this month's parliamentary elections, feminist groups accuse it of using women's rights in order to advance their agenda. To discuss what's at stake with women's rights in these French elections, Annette Young talks to Paris-based feminist journalist, Megan Clement....
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Christian Tein, a pro-independence leader in the French Pacific territory New Caledonia will be held in France after being charged Saturday over deadly riots last month, his lawyer said. Tein was one of at least three pro-independence activists facing a transfer in custody to mainland France.
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
"Down with the police, White people and fascists" is a placard that's going viral on French social media. It's said to have been seen during last weekend's mass nationwide demonstrations against the far-right National Rally party. Social media users quickly discredited the French left, calling it "racist". Meanwhile, a French politician has accused...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron decided to take a punt by calling snap elections. Now will voters do the same? For all its insistence that it's no longer far right, for all its reversals and reviews on issues like pension reform and support for Ukraine, the cornerstone of Marine Le Pen's party remains identity politics and the notion of national...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
With a charismatic blend of youthful vigour and strategic communication, far-right leader Jordan Bardella has captivated millions on social media, a sign of the "Bardella mania" that has swept through France's younger demographic. At just 28, Bardella's ascent to the top of the National Rally party formerly led by Marine Le Pen and Macron's call...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
For the first time since its founding, France's anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party has clawed its way to within arm's reach of governing. The far-right party's rise has fundamentally changed France's immigration debate, dragging besieged President Emmanuel Macron's once-liberal coalition far to the right while bringing together a bloc of...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
When you think of Paris, you probably think of the Eiffel Tower, the Seine or the Mona Lisa. But there's so much more to the capital than its greatest hits. In this edition of French Connections Plus, Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot take you to some of Paris's lesser-known tourist attractions that are definitely worth a visit and fill you in...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Two teenage boys were charged with the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suspected anti-Semitic attack in a Paris suburb that has raised tensions in France ahead of snap parliamentary elections. French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday denounced the "scourge of anti-Semitism”, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Raphaël Glucksmann, whose Socialist-backed coalition came third in Sunday's European elections, has emerged as a pivotal figure of France's political centre-left. His support for the new alliance of the left could swing the balance away from the ascendant far right in the snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron for June 30...
ReadFrance24 - France (A month ago)
Three-time French presidential candidate and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Wednesday said he is "capable" of becoming the country's next prime minister should a leftwing union win a majority in the snap legislative elections set for June 30 and July 7. His statement was met with a cool response from some coalition allies amid concerns...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
A Paris court ruled on Friday to overturn an earlier decision by France's conservative Republicans party to expel Eric Ciotti as the party chief, said Ciotti, in a move that could boost the far-right National Rally party ahead of parliament elections.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said he had called legislative elections in a bid to prevent the far right from winning the presidency in 2027 when his second and final term ends. He called on all French parties "able to say no to extremes” to unite ahead of the snap elections he announced after his centre-right alliance took a...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on June 9 that he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling for new parliamentary elections following the far right's landslide victory in the European elections. The elections for France's lower house of parliament, conducted over two rounds, will be held on June 30 and July 7.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Are the dates chosen by President Emmanuel Macron for France's snap elections legal? Can French far-right leader Jordan Bardella become prime minister? We answer the many confusing claims regarding the upcoming elections in this edition of Truth or Fake.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Support for France's main far-right party, the National Rally, has been climbing steadily in the past two decades, despite the long tradition of mainstream parties uniting to defeat it at the polls. But this tradition may not materialise for the upcoming elections, warns Ariane Bogain, a senior lecturer in French Politics at Northumbria University....
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
The leaders of France's main leftwing parties, including firebrand three-time presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have called for unity in the run-up to snap legislative elections set for June 30 and July 7. However, discussions about an electoral coalition and a common platform may be difficult, especially with just three weeks of...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron fought his last presidential campaign against the far right's Marine Le Pen, and then the ensuing parliamentary polls against a newly united left. Just two years on, his weakened coalition must now take on both opponents at once, in a snap election that Macron has framed as a final showdown between his moderate camp...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Monday described the prospect of French parliamentary elections just weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics as "extremely unsettling", while the International Olympic Committee played down any direct impact on the event.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French President Emmanuel Macron attended a memorial ceremony on Monday to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nazi massacre at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, the site of one of the worst massacres by the Nazis in World War II. The village was destroyed by SS troops in 1944 and 642 inhabitants were killed.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French left-wing parties including the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party, the Greens (EELV) and France Unbowed presented a united front Monday evening, a day after President Emmanuel Macron called for snap legislative elections. Macron's shock announcement Sunday came after a bruising loss to the far right in the European...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Saturday, June 8, 2024: Alison Sargent brings you a roundup of French stories after a week dominated by commemorations in Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings. The presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky added an extra layer of resonance. Meanwhile in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has been decked out with the Olympic...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
PRESS REVIEW – Monday, June 10: French President Emmanuel Macron stuns the country by announcing the dissolution of parliament, after his party is trounced by the far-right National Rally in the European elections. The papers in France are calling it an extraordinary gamble. The news also makes a splash internationally, with one German paper...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Charles Norman Shay was one of the 500 Native Americans who came ashore on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was barely 20 years old and had grown up on an Indian reservation in the US state of Maine. Today, the former combat medic has settled permanently in the Calvados district of Normandy, a few kilometres from where "the most...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
World leaders gathered in Normandy on June 6 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, one of the largest military operations in history. At the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer and at Omaha Beach, the few hundred veterans who survived that fatal day were honoured for their bravery as crowds of emotional participants looked on.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, French President Emmanuel Macron will preside over an international ceremony on Omaha Beach on June 6. Every 10-year anniversary of D-Day has become a not-to-be-missed event for many heads of state. These commemorations have not always had a political and diplomatic dimension, but have...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Between the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 and the liberation of Paris on August 25 lies the Battle of Normandy. For three months, the Allied forces fought fiercely against the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. From heavily bombed towns, to relentless artillery fire and hand-to-hand combat in the "Falaise pocket", Normandy was ravaged and civilians were...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Citizen activists in southeastern France's Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence region have been campaigning for two years against the growing number of solar power parks in a protected natural area around the Lure mountain. The local authorities, and the parks' investors, claim the plants are "essential” projects in the fight against climate change, and in...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
The trial on Monday of a small-town mayor and her deputy for complicity in drug trafficking appears to illustrate the scale of France's drug dealing problem, highlighting how drug barons have encroached upon some rural French communities and even held sway over their elected representatives.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
On Thursday of last week, pharmacists closed their doors in France in a rare strike – the first of its kind in over a decade. They were protesting against government plans to relax online sales regulations, which they fear could lead to some pharmacies closing down. They also wanted to raise awareness of a shortage of medicines in France. FRANCE...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
France's Marion Maréchal has made the "defence” of European civilisation and fighting against the "Islamification” of Europe a cornerstone of her platform as she leads the far-right Reconquest party's candidate list in the European elections. Maréchal is the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the far-right National Front, and the...
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
A review of the voting records from the European Parliament shows that members of the far-right National Rally party (formerly the National Front) are often absent from the legislative process, cast votes that contradict stated party positions and are receptive to overtures from industrial lobbyists.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
French authorities have charged the prominent French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis over the spraying of the words "MeToo" on five artworks including a famous 19th-century painting of a woman's vulva, a prosecutor said Monday.
ReadFrance24 - France (2 months ago)
Europeans will be voting from June 6-9 for members of the European Parliament, where France holds 81 of the 720 seats up for grabs. French voters will choose among candidate lists submitted by the country's political parties; those hoping to lead their parties to EU victory are known as têtes de liste (head of the list). FRANCE 24 looks at the...
Read