Page 4 - France

France braces for day of strikes as unions challenge new PM's budget plans

Strikes and street demonstrations called by all major trade unions to denounce budget cuts were expected Thursday across France, as new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu talks with political opponents about curbing France's massive deficit and debt. Unions are urging Lecornu to abandon draft budget measures proposed by his predecessor, which include social welfare freezes and austerity measures that many say will further erode the purchasing power of low-paid and middle-class workers. In a joint statement issued before the change of prime minister last week, unions described such measures as unprecedented brutality, regretting that previous government had "chosen to make workers, those in precarious employment, retirees, and the sick pay the price. Unions also continue to denounce President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform that raised the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Outgoing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Wednesday he expects a very strong mobilization in the ...

France World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti retires from football aged 31

Former France defender Samuel Umtiti, a World Cup winner in 2018, has retired from soccer. The 31-year-old Umtiti, who also helped Barcelona win two La Liga titles and three Copa del Rey trophies, has been without a club since he left Ligue 1 team Lille at the end of last season. After having lived an intense career with its highs and lows, the time has come to say goodbye, Umtiti said on his Instagram account on Monday. I gave everything with passion and I regret nothing. Umtiti played 31 times for France, and took part in the 2016 home European Championship. He scored four goals, including the winner in the 1-0 defeat of Belgium in the 2018 World Cup semifinals. Sam, who joined the French national team for Euro 2016, played an important role in our conquest of the World Cup title in Russia, France coach Didier Deschamps said. Everyone will remember his headed goal that allowed us to beat Belgium and qualify for the final. I also recall his partnership with Raphal, his defensive

Iran, France near prisoner swap deal including woman held for posts on Gaza

Iran's foreign minister says Iran and France are close to agreeing to an exchange of prisoners, including the release of an Iranian woman arrested in France over her online posts related to the war in Gaza. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV late on Thursday that Mahdieh Esfandiari is expected to be released as part of a swap that he hoped would happen in the coming days. Esfandiari, a translator living in the French city of Lyon since 2018, was arrested in February on a terror-related charge for alleged posts on Telegram about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, according to French media reports. Araghchi did not elaborate on any French prisoners who might be released, but France has long sought the release of two French citizens held in Iran on suspicion of espionage. Ccile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been detained since May 2022. French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot declined on Friday to comment on Araghchi's remarks other

Godrej Enterprises Group signs deal with Safran to build LEAP engine parts

Under the five-year agreement, Godrej will manufacture titanium-based complex ventilation assemblies for LEAP engines, the company said in an official release

India, France hold 17th counter-terrorism meet, vow deeper cooperation

During the meet India and France condemned the April Pahalgam terror attack, assessed threats from cross-border terrorism and extremism, and agreed to expand cooperation

France deploys Rafale jets to Poland after Russian drone incursions

President Emmanuel Macron stressed that defending Europe against Russian actions remains central to French and Nato strategy

French police detain 295 in clashes as Macron appoints new prime minister

Protesters blocked roads, lit blazes and were met with volleys of tear gas on Wednesday in Paris and elsewhere in France, heaping pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and making new Prime Minister Sbastien Lecornu 's first day in office a baptism of fire. The government's interior ministry announced 295 arrests in the first hours of what was a planned day of nationwide demonstrations against Macron, budget cuts and other complaints. Although falling short of its self-declared intention to Block Everything, the protest movement that started online over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes. In the southwest, fire damage to electrical cables stopped train services on one line and disrupted traffic on another, government transport authorities said. Spreading protests The .

'Block Everything' protests sweep across France, protesters arrested

Authorities deployed more than 80,000 security personnel across the country, removing barriers and containing unrest as tensions flared in several places

Protests erupt across France as new PM faces 'baptism of fire'; 200 held

Protesters blocked roads, set blazes and were met with volleys of police tear gas Wednesday in Paris and elsewhere in France, seeking to heap pressure on President Emmanuel Macron by attempting to give his new prime minister a baptism of fire. The interior minister announced nearly 200 arrests in the first hours of the planned day of nationwide protests. Although falling short of its self-declared intention to Block Everything, the protest movement that started online and gathered steam over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line blocked trains on a line in the southwest. He alleged that protesters were attempting to create a climate of insurrection.

France's Macron names loyalist Sebastien Lecornu as new Prime Minister

Macron was forced to appoint a fifth prime minister in less than two years after parliament ousted Francois Bayrou nine months into the role over his plans for taming the country's ballooning debt

Macron appoints Defence Minister Lecornu as France's latest prime minister

French President Emmanuel Macron late Tuesday appointed Defence Minister Sbastien Lecornu as France's new prime minister, the country's fourth in about a year. Lecornu, 39, is the youngest defence minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine. A former conservative who joined Macron's centrist movement in 2017, he has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron's yellow vest great debate, where he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021. His rise reflects Macron's instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift. Legislators toppled Lecornu's predecessor Francois Bayrou and his government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe's second-largest economy. Bayrou gambled that lawmakers would back his view t

Four prime ministers in one year: What led to France's government collapse

France's government collapsed after Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a parliamentary confidence vote on Monday, defeated by 364 to 194 in the National Assembly

Macron looks to appoint new French PM after Bayrou loses confidence vote

While Macron doesn't lack for people who might accept the role, selecting someone who can find common ground among the groups is far from obvious

France's prime minister loses confidence vote, toppling his government

Legislators toppled France's government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe's second-largest economy that obliges President Emmanuel Macron to search for a fourth prime minister in 12 months. Prime Minister Franois Bayrou was ousted overwhelmingly in a 364-194 vote against him. Bayrou paid the price for what appeared to be a staggering political miscalculation, gambling that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to repair its debts. Instead, they seized on the vote that he called to gang up against Bayrou a 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December. The demise of Bayrou's short-lived minority government now constitutionally obliged to submit its resignation to Macron after just under nine months in office heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and t

France faces more political upheaval as PM Bayrou's fate hangs in balance

France risks losing its third prime minister in 12 months on Monday, with incumbent Francois Bayrou facing a parliamentary confidence vote that he called but is widely expected to lose, heralding more instability for the European Union's second-largest economy. The 74-year-old centrist prime minister, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron just under nine months ago, is gambling that the vote will unite lawmakers in the sharply divided National Assembly behind proposed public spending cuts that Bayrou argues are needed to rein in France's spiralling state deficit and debts. But opposition lawmakers are vowing to instead use the opportunity to topple Bayrou and his minority government of centrist and right-wing ministers, an upheaval that would force Macron to begin what could be another arduous hunt for a replacement. A key vote The National Assembly of 577 lawmakers is interrupting its summer recess for the extraordinary session that Bayrou requested, starting at 3 pm (1300 GMT; 0

Why France's financial woes are pushing its govt to the brink

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron's government is expected to fall for the second time in just nine months after a confidence vote in Parliament

European leaders face tough choices as UK, France host meeting on Ukraine

European countries are stuck between a rock and a hard place as a coalition of countries meets in Paris on Thursday to discuss security guarantees for a postwar Ukraine. The war is raging unabated, with no ceasefire in sight and the crucial question of American involvement in ensuring Ukraine's future security remains unresolved. For months, the so-called coalition of the willing has been meeting to discuss aid for Ukraine, including sketching out plans for military support in the event of a ceasefire to deter future Russian aggression. The coalition leaders French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer have insisted that any European reassurance force in Ukraine needs the backing of the United States. But while US President Donald Trump has hinted his country will be involved, he has moved away from calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and refrained from implementing tough additional economic measures to punish Moscow. Although Trump said he is disappointed

France, Saudi to co-chair conference on two-state solution for Palestine

Macron also set priorities for the conference that include permanent ceasefire, hostage release, large-scale aid to Gaza, and a stabilisation mission in the Gaza Strip

US envoys spark diplomatic tensions, White House not doing much about it

Do not antagonise one's opponents unnecessarily, a basic principle of diplomacy says. But as the United States faces a trade war with China and various tensions overseas, President Donald Trump's emissaries are increasingly ticking off allied countries and being called to account. Just this week, no fewer than three US envoys scrambled to extricate themselves from diplomatic hot water. Denmark's foreign minister summoned the top US diplomat in the country to answer for reports that at least three people with connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland, a Danish territory. France summoned the US ambassador, Trump in-law Charles Kushner, over his letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country has not done enough to fight antisemitism. And the American ambassador to Turkiye, longtime Trump friend Tom Barrack, apologised Thursday for using the word animalistic while calling for a gaggle of reporters to quiet down during a press confere

Fight against antisemitism must not be weaponised: Macron tells Netanyahu

The tensions come after Netanyahu, in mid-August, accused Macron of fuelling antisemitism in France by announcing that the country would recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September