France

Spanish Politics 19th January 2023

The Hispano-French summit in Barcelona and the schizophrenia of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, the most centralist and Jacobin of European states, will be received today in the most decentralised country on the continent, Spain. The government has chosen Barcelona as the meeting place, the Barcelona mountain of Montjuic, which was the site of the 1929 Universal Exhibition and the 1992 Games, where the pro-independence supporters, led by Oriol Junqueras, await them. The ERC leader pardoned by Sánchez’s government…

European economy, Relevant News Item 23rd August 2022

Business activity in Germany declines for second consecutive month; France activity also drops for first time in 18 months

The downturn in the German private sector economy deepened in August, as business activity fell for the second month running and at a fasterrate in August. This is according to the latest ‘flash’ PMI® data from S&P Global. The deepening downturn was linked by surveyed businesses to a combination of factors, S&P Global noted. These included uncertainty, high inflation and rising interest rates. That said, companies’ expectations registered an uptick…

European economy 13th June 2022

Macron And Melenchon Tie Amid Record Abstention And Everything Will Be Decided In The Second Round

The candidates of Macron’s centrist grouping and the left-wing candidates of Mélenchon’s “New Popular Ecological and Social Union” (NUPES) obtained around 25% of the vote each in the first round of the French legislative elections, which ended with a record abstention rate in France’s recent history. More than half of the electorate (around 53%) stayed away from the polls. All will be decided in the second round next Sunday. The…

European politics 26th April 2022

Thirteen Million French People Are Not The “Far Right”.

Fernando González Urbaneja | Until the French electoral cycle concludes with the June legislative elections, which will define the composition of the new government, it is premature to conclude on the ideological-social-moral map of the French. The right-left axis is of little use when the winning candidate, Enmanuel Macron, flees from this taxonomy, and the losing candidate accumulates 13 million votes (425) that are incompatible with the category of “extreme”….

European politics 25th April 2022

Macron Stays In The Elysée

After a crisis-plagued mandate, centrist Emmanuel Macron on Sunday became the first president to win re-election in France since 2002. With 58.54% of the vote, the candidate of La République en Marche, once again defeated Marine Le Pen, standard-bearer of Rassemblement Nationale, who would have won 41.46% of the vote in Sunday’s election. “From now on, I am no longer the candidate of one camp, but the president of all,”…

European politics 22nd April 2022

Macron Is Lesser of Evils for Mélenchon Voters

Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | Supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who are thinking of sitting out the second round of the French presidential election ought to take a lesson from Bernie Sanders’ supporters in the United States. When they abstained from the 2016 presidential election, or voted for Green party candidate Jill Stein, they made it possible for Donald Trump to win. Just 1.5 out of 136 million Americans voted for…

European economy 22nd January 2022

Labelling Of Nuclear Power As ‘Sustainable’ Under EU Taxonomy Will Benefit France

Scope Ratings ( Thomas Gillet) | The European Commission has started consultations on a draft text for labelling nuclear as a ‘green’ energy source under the EU’s taxonomy for environmentally sustainable activities. If the proposal is approved by the European Parliament and the Council, it would have positive credit implications for France (AA/Stable) given the importance of nuclear in the country’s power mix, climate plan and energy independence. The EU…

Relevant News Item 6th December 2021

French Republicans Do Macron A Favor

Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | French Republicans have thrown away their two best chances of denying Emmanuel Macron a second term. Party members eliminated Michel Barnier and Xavier Bertrand from the center-right’s presidential primary on Thursday, giving the men 24 and 22 percent support, respectively. The more right-wing Éric Ciotti and Valérie Pécresse qualified for the runoff on Saturday. Neither polls well against the president. Besting Macron Bertrand, the conservative…

Spanish economy 22nd September 2021

Renfe Denounces Obstacles In France And Calls For The Same Treatment SNCF Enjoys In Spain

José Alves (Capital Madrid) | France is experiencing a historic moment in its rail industry: the beginning of the end of the national public service monopoly for passenger transport. Since the nationalisation of the network (1937) this has been in the hands of the state-owned SNCF. The government had announced this, as required by the EU, but it will be another three and a half years before the decision taken…

World economy 12th September 2021

France Leads The Way In Public-Private Partnerships

Henry McCaw | In 2011, France dominated the European PPP market, accounting for 62% of the overall market value. According to the World Bank, this was reflected in the “wave of new ‘social infrastructure’ investments in health, education, defense, transport and urban planning sectors.” In the water sector, France is a global leader in private sector participation, with three French companies, Veolia, Suez and SAUR, dominating on the world stage. The French model of concession agreements in the water sector has increasingly been adopted in developing countries.

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