France news

France news

Emmanuel Macron has performed a humiliating U-turn and agreed to suspend his pension reform in order to avoid another collapsed government - his surrender will ultimately harm France, says John Lichfield. A French economist won a share of the Nobel Prize this week for his work on creative destruction. The country has chosen another path - destructive immobilism. In 2023 Macron won a pensions victory on behalf of the French people but against the will of the French people.

Three of France's main telecom groups have lodged a joint bid for SFR, a debt-laden rival struggling to keep up in an increasingly competitive market. Orange, Iliad and Bouygues Telecom said they would split the bulk of SFR's assets among themselves in an offer valuing them at €17 billion. The firms have made no secret of their interest since SFR's parent company Altice had to restructure its €24 billion debt load with creditors earlier this year.

The €43 million cable car project, which is being part-funded by the government as part of its plans for the city, will travel the 1km distance between the airport's terminal one and the neighbouring commune of Vitrolles in six minutes at a height of some 20m above ground, stopping along the way at the entrance to the Airbus Helicopters facility.

In France, there are several types of speed cameras, but arguably the most discreet type is the mobile 'radar' car ( les radars mobiles or voitures-radars). These are speed cameras installed in police and private vehicles, and they drive on French roads. Normally, these vehicles can be recognised if they are operated by gendarmes or police (and are therefore marked), but many are run by private companies that operate unmarked cars.

"In Paris, many people believe they are spared because they live far from the Seine, or on high ground. "However, an exceptional flood like the one in 1910 can affect all neighbourhoods, through a cascading effect," Bénédicte Cadalen, a representative from the city's crisis management department, told the French press. If a similar disaster were to take place now, it could affect up to 700,000 people across the city, including those who do not live directly along the river - flooding cellars, halting transport and causing power outages and mass evacuations.

Former justice minister Robert Badinter will be inducted into the Panthéon in a solemn ceremony presided by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, October 9th - the 44th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France. The former Minister of Justice, who died at age 95 on February 9, 2024, will be given the honour of a place in the Panthéon on Thursday .

This covers any types of short-term (less than 90 days at a time) rentals to tourists - that would include renting out on Airbnb or similar online platforms, renting as a gite or rentals organised through other means. Any property listed as a maison secondaire (second home) that is rented out to tourists, even just for a couple of weeks of the year, now needs to be registered with local authorities as a meuble de tourisme.

France's political crisis shows no sign of abating. The resignation of Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister this week, after just 27 days in office, means the country is set to have an eighth prime minister in the space of five years. Although President Emmanuel Macron now looks set to name another prime minister before the week is over potentially fending off the need for new elections the political turmoil comes with major consequences for the EU's second-largest economy.

European markets are heading higher in early trade, with the French CAC 40 leading the push despite ongoing political uncertainty that not only sees the country without a Prime Minister, but also faces calls for President Lagarde to step down. While the swift resignation of Sebastien Lecornu understandably brought selling pressure for French stocks, today's recovery highlights the degree to which markets are willing to overlook this political instability if it means that the previously touted spending cuts are taken off the table.