Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron Meet in Paris ahead of Notre Dame Reopening Ceremony

Dec 7, 2024 | On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump and France's President Emmanuel Macron met before the Notre Dame Reopening Ceremony in Paris, France.

A picture paints a thousand words! – © Mark Alexander

Democracy Now! Political Chaos in France: Macron Refuses to Resign After Hand-picked PM Ousted by Lawmakers

Dec 6, 2024 | France has been plunged into political chaos after lawmakers from across the political spectrum voted to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote Wednesday, a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron, who had hand-picked the conservative lawmaker to lead the National Assembly. Macron called a snap election earlier this year to counter the rise of the racist National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, but he then refused to work with the leftist New Popular Front that won the most seats, opting for an establishment pick instead. With the government's collapse, Macron has vowed to name a new prime minister and stay on to finish his own term, which ends in 2027, despite his growing unpopularity. "We're in this unprecedented situation of turmoil," says journalist Cole Stangler in Marseilles. He says Macron's decision to call early elections was "a self-inflicted wound" that ended up empowering the far right and making it virtually impossible for any faction to lead. "We have a mathematical problem. France needs to have a government, and you have three pretty evenly split blocs," says Stangler.

Emmanuel Macron : Adresse aux Français.

Dec 5, 2024

Macron Gave 'Combative, Scathing Address, But No Real Visibility': Analyst • FRANCE 24 English

Dec 25, 2024 | French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to remain French president 'until end of mandate'. He says he'll name a new prime minister within days following the vote of no confidence that brought the Barnier government down on Wednesday. FRANCE 24's speaks to Ariane Bogain, senior lecturer in French and Politics at the University of Northumbria. She says Macron's address to the nation was surprisingly combative and showed no contrition about the crisis.

Can France's Opposition Pressure Macron into Resignation? | DW News

Dec 5, 2024 | French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has lost a vote of no-confidence in parliament after just three months in office. President Emanuel Macron had appointed Barnier against considerable opposition from parties on both the right and the left. President Macron is now urgently seeking ways to solve the growing political and financial crisis. He is due to speak later on Thursday, what is he expected to say?

Donald Trump : «Macron, c'est un type intelligent, il vous dépouillerait si vous ne faisiez pas attention»

LE FIGARO : Le candidat républicain à la Maison-Blanche évoquait notamment dans cette émission la présidence de Joe Biden, qu'il a qualifié de «clown» et d'«idiot».

Donald Trump a assuré dans un podcast diffusé mercredi que le président français Emmanuel Macron était «un type intelligent» qui «vous dépouillerait si vous ne faisiez pas attention». Le candidat républicain à la Maison-Blanche évoquait notamment dans cette émission la présidence de Joe Biden, qu'il a qualifié de «clown» et d'«idiot». «Nous n'avons pas un vrai président. Nous avons un homme qui est fondamentalement inepte et c'est très dangereux parce que les autres gars (dirigeants, ndlr) sont au top de leur forme», a lancé le milliardaire de 78 ans, qui émet des critiques régulières sur les capacités cognitives de Joe Biden. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mercredi 9 octobre 2024

Netanyahu Hits Out at Macron over Call for Halt to Arms Exports to Israel

THE GUARDIAN: Israeli prime minister turns on French counterpart’s continuing efforts towards a ceasefire and end to violence in Lebanon

A call by Emmanuel Macron for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The French president’s comments were directed mainly at the US and were part of continuing French efforts to revive its call for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

France provides few arms to Israel but is keen to strengthen its longstanding influence in Lebanon by showing it wants the US to put some genuine pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire. Washington appeared to mount little diplomatic resistance when Israel – after sending mixed signals – rejected a US-French plan for a 21 day ceasefire in Lebanon announced at the UN in New York nearly a fortnight ago.

In an interview recorded on Monday, but broadcast on Saturday, Macron told France Inter radio: “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop supplying weapons to lead the fighting in Gaza.” » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Sunday, October 6, 2024

To my great surprise, Emmanuel Macron is on the wrong side of history on this! Macron is ignoring what Hamas did to Israel and Israelis on October 7th, 2023, and he is ignoring the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu with our help will be able to rid the world of the scourges of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hamas. The Palestinian question will never be solved with these two rogue powers undermining peace in the region. We all want the very best for Palestinians. These poor people have suffered enough. But we cannot help Palestinians attain peace and prosperity if Iran and Hamas are big players in the region. They will sour it all. And let us not forget the heinous crimes that Hamas committed against the Israelis in 2023. – © Mark Alexander

«C’est simplement de la cohérence» : Emmanuel Macron demande l’arrêt de livraison d’armes à Israël utilisées à Gaza

LE FIGARO : Le chef de l’État a par ailleurs déploré que la communauté internationale ne soit «pas entendue» par Benyamin Netanyahou et appelle à ne pas «sacrifier» le peuple libanais.

Dans une interview accordée à France Inter, Emmanuel Macron s'est prononcé samedi pour l'arrêt des livraisons d'armes à Israël qui sont utilisées dans le conflit à Gaza. «Je pense qu'aujourd'hui, la priorité, c'est qu'on revienne à une solution politique, qu'on cesse de livrer les armes pour mener les combats sur Gaza», a-t-il déclaré lors d'une émission spéciale sur la radio du service public consacrée à la francophonie, préenregistrée le 1er octobre. » | Par Le Figaro et AFP agence | samedi 5 octobre 2024

French Audit Cautions Élysée over €475k Cost of King Charles Dinner

THE GUARDIAN: Versailles banquet among lavish spending in 2023 that has plunged president’s office €8m into red

The Versailles banquet aimed to improve political ties, with dignitaries downing almost £36,000-worth of drinks. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images | Screenshot taken from the accompanying article
The French president’s office spent nearly €475,000 (£400,100) on a dinner for King Charles last year, the country’s top audit court said in a report cautioning about high spending.

In September 2023, King Charles attended a lavish state banquet at the Palace of Versailles attended by more than 150 people, part of a “soft power” visit aimed at improving ties between London and Paris.

The guests dined on lobster and crab, French poultry marinaded in champagne and a gratin of French ceps (a wild mushroom). Vintage wines and champagnes were on offer, while the dessert was a French macaron with lychee and rose sorbet and raspberry compote. » | Lili Bayer | Tuesday, July 30, 2024

The Center Collapses in France, Leaving Macron Marooned

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Squeezed by the far-right National Rally party and the left, President Emmanuel Macron faces a country that may prove ungovernable.

President Emmanuel Macron of France at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France, on Sunday. | Pool photo by Yara Nardi
An era has ended in France.

The seven-year domination of national politics by President Emmanuel Macron was laid to rest by his party’s overwhelming defeat in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday. Not only did he dissolve Parliament by calling a snap vote, he effectively dissolved the centrist movement known as “Macronism.”

The far-right National Rally, in winning a third of the vote, did not guarantee that it will win an absolute majority in a runoff six days from now, although it will likely get close. But Mr. Macron, risking all by calling the election, did end up guaranteeing that he will be marginalized, with perhaps no more than a third of the seats his party now holds.

“The decision to dissolve the National Assembly has, in fact, put an end to the political configuration that emerged from the presidential election of 2017,” said Édouard Philippe, one of Mr. Macron’s former prime ministers.

In 2017, Mr. Macron, then 39, swept to power, eviscerating the center-right Gaullists and the center-left socialists, the pillars of postwar France, in the name of a 21st-century realignment around a pragmatic center. It worked for a while, but increasingly, as Mr. Macron failed to form a credible moderate political party, the result has been one man and a shrinking circle of allies standing against the extremes of right and left. » | Roger Cohen, Reporting from Paris | Monday, July 1, 2024

Le Pen Set to Humiliate Macron in French Elections

Jun 30, 2024 | Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies could win control of the French parliament in a humiliation for President Macron, final polls indicate before the first round of voting on Sunday. This would open the way for her protégé, Jordan Bardella, 28, to become the country’s youngest prime minister after the run-off next Sunday, ushering in a period of so-called cohabitation that would curb Macron’s powers during the final three years of his presidency.

Polls Predict ‘Extremely Bad Result’ for Macron’s Centrist Party as National Rally ‘Widens Lead’

Jun 30, 2024 | “The National Rally has actually widened its lead over Macron’s party and its allies since the European elections.”

President Macron’s centrist political coalition is currently polling in third place, behind an alliance of leftist parties in second place and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in first place, says The Times reporter David Chazan.

Will Macron’s Snap Election Gamble Backfire? | DW News

June 28, 2024 | France goes to the polls on Sunday in snap parliamentary elections. President Emmanuel Macron called the vote in response to his party's dismal showing in the European elections earlier this month. It's a gamble for Macron. He hopes to see off right-wing opponents - but may end up losing power. We spoke to DW’s correspondent Sonia Phalnikar in Paris about what's at stake for France.

France Is in Danger

OPINION : GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Whatever happens next, it’ll go down as one of the wildest gambles in modern French history. President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly and hold snap legislative elections on June 30 and July 7 has given the far right its best shot at governing France for the first time since the Vichy regime of World War II.

The move stunned the country’s political class, including high-ranking Macronists from whom the president’s plans were reportedly heavily guarded. And for much of France, the decision remains perplexing. For those with the most to lose from the far right in power — above all, immigrants and the descendants of recent immigrants — the news is downright terrifying. Mr. Macron, who has a habit of disregarding conventional wisdom, will surely hope the move redounds to his benefit. But make no mistake: France is in danger. » | Cole Stangler | Mr. Stangler is a journalist based in France who writes about its politics and culture. | Thursday, June 13, 2024

Andrew Neil on the National Rally, Macron's Demise and a Populist Europe | SpectatorTV

Jun 8, 2024 | Andrew Neil joins Freddy Gray to discuss the rise of Marine Le Pen in the lead up the EU elections; how the right now appeals to the working class voter base; and what the EU elections could mean for British politics.

Les Républicains leader says he wants alliance with France’s far-right National Rally: Éric Ciotti’s announcement welcomed by Marine Le Pen as ‘brave choice’ but seen as betrayal by members of mainstream right »

Macron Gambles on Snap Election after European Defeat

President Macron's announcement came as a surprise, despite defeat in European elections | REUTERS
BBC: President Emmanuel Macron has called snap parliamentary elections later this month in the wake of a big victory for his rival Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the European Parliament vote.

The far-right party is on course to win 32% of the vote, exit polls say, more than twice that of the president's Renaissance party.

Announcing the dissolution of parliament, he said the two rounds of voting would take place on 30 June and 7 July, a few weeks before the Paris Olympics.

Mr Macron made the dramatic and surprise decision in a televised address from the Élysée Palace an hour after voting closed and exit polls had been declared in France's EU elections.

His decision came not long after National Rally's 28-year-old leader, Jordan Bardella, openly called on the president to call parliamentary elections. » | Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris | Sunday, June 9, 2024

Macron Calls Hamas Attacks ‘Biggest Antisemitic Massacre of Our Century’

THE GUARDIAN: President says ‘nothing can justify or excuse terrorism’, at Paris ceremony honouring French victims

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel the “biggest antisemitic massacre of our century” as he led a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims.

Macron described the attacks by the Palestinian militant group as “barbarism … which is fed by antisemitism and propagates it”. He said: “We must fight against hatred, we must not give in to rampant, unbridled antisemitism. Nothing can justify or excuse terrorism.” » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Wednesday, January 7, 2024

EU Must Defend Ukraine Even If US Reduces Military Support, Macron Says

THE GUADIAN: French president says future security architecture of Europe could no longer be settled by the US and Russia

The European Union has to make bold decisions to defend Ukraine, pre-empting any US decision to withhold or reduce its military support, Emmanuel Macron has said.

In a speech in Sweden, which hopes to be the next country to join Nato, the French president also said the future security architecture of Europe, including arms control agreements covering European territory, could no longer be settled simply by the US and Russia, and Europe had to have a right to determine its own future.

His remarks were designed as a warning to Europe that it needs to ramp up its whole defence effort and prepare for the possibility that either Joe Biden will be unable to push his military assistance budget for Ukraine through Congress, or that later in the year he is defeated in a presidential election by an isolationist Donald Trump. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Tuesday, January 30, 2023

Hear! Hear! – © Mark Alexander

Wiederbewaffnung à la Macron

FRANKREICH
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Schuluniform, Nationalhymne, mehr Kinder und mehr Marschflugkörper für die Ukraine: Mit zahlreichen konservativen Maßnahmen will Präsident Macron ein „starkes Frankreich“ schaffen.

Die „Wiederbewaffnung“ ist das Lieblingswort des französischen Präsidenten. Zum Ende seiner mehr als zweistündigen Pressekonferenz im Elysée-Palast machte Emmanuel Macron klar, dass er nicht nur die französische Gesellschaft wehrhafter machen will. „Die russische Aggression gegen die Ukraine ist zweifellos die größte Bedrohung für Frankreich“, sagte Macron. Er kündigte die Lieferung von 40 weiteren Marschflugkörpern vom Typ SCALP an. Die vom europäischen Raketenkonsortium MBDA gebauten Raketen werden von der Ukraine bereits erfolgreich hinter den Frontlinien gegen russische Ziele eingesetzt, während die Bundesregierung zögert, die vergleichbaren Taurus-Marschflugkörper mit noch größerer Reichweite zu liefern.

Macron kündigte an, dass er im Februar nach Kiew reisen werde, um ein bilaterales Sicherheitsabkommen mit der Ukraine zu unterzeichnen. Alle G-7-Länder haben sich dazu verpflichtet, für Großbritannien hat der britische Premierminister Rishi Sunak seine Unterschrift bereits unter eine entsprechende Sicherheitsgarantie gesetzt. Macron sagte am Dienstagabend in Paris, dass Frankreich der Ukraine auch Hunderte Bomben liefern werde, ohne konkreter zu werden. Zudem soll die Produktion der Caesar-Haubitzen weiter hochgefahren werden, die bei den ukrainischen Truppen sehr beliebt sind. Die Haubitzen werden auf einem Allrad-Lkw montiert und sind beweglicher als die deutschen Panzerhaubitzen 2000. „Wir können Putin nicht erlauben, dass er siegt. Die Sicherheit Europas wäre dann kompromittiert“, warnte Macron. » | Von Michaela Wiegel, Paris | Mittwoch, 17. Januar 2024

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Emmanuel Macron Appoints France’s Youngest Prime Minister

THE TELEGRAPH: Gabriel Attal, the 34-year-old education minister known as ‘Macron Boy’, succeeds the sacked Elisabeth Borne

Newly appointed Prime minister Gabriel Attal is welcomed by outgoing Prime minister Elisabeth Borne as he arrives for the handover ceremony in ParisCREDIT: EMMANUEL DUNAND/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Emmanuel Macron has appointed a 34-year-old who made his name by banning Muslim abaya robes in schools as France’s youngest prime minister.

Gabriel Attal, the education minister, was chosen to breathe new life into the president’s flagging second term in office.

The move will not necessarily lead to any major political shift but signals Macron’s desire to try to move beyond last year’s unpopular pension and immigration reforms and improve his centrist party’s chances in June’s EU ballot.

Mr Attal, who has been called “Macron Boy”, is seen by some as a potential presidential candidate in 2027. He is the first openly gay prime minister. » | Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Tuesday, January 9, 2024

LE MONDE : Gabriel Attal à Matignon, la promotion spectaculaire d’un fidèle du chef de l’Etat : Le ministre de l’éducation nationale, l’un des plus populaires du gouvernement, a été propulsé, mardi, à Matignon. Ancien socialiste, il avait rejoint Emmanuel Macron dès 2016. A 34 ans, il devient le plus jeune premier ministre de la Vᵉ République » [€]

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG : Gabriel Attal, ein Klon Macrons: Gabriel Attal tritt als jüngster Regierungschef an. Weitere Ähnlichkeiten mit dem Präsidenten sind gewollt. In Gestalt des 34 Jahre alten Gabriel Attal setzt der französische Präsident auf ein frisches, unverbrauchtes Gesicht an der Regierungsspitze. In den französischen Medien wird der neue Premierminister als politisches Wunderkind gefeiert. Attal hat bislang schlicht die Zeit gefehlt, sich in seinen Ämtern zu bewähren. Das Bildungsministerium hatte er erst im vergangenen Sommer übernommen. Er stellte sich mit dem Verbot der Abaja genannten islamischen Überkleider in den Klassenräumen vor. » [€]

THE GUARDIAN: Gabriel Attal appointed youngest French PM as Macron tries to revive popularity: Attal, 34, rose in opinion polls during his time as education minister and may improve ruling party’s chances in EU elections »

Who Is Gabriel Attal de Couriss? The French PM who climbed the ranks in record time?