Here's What's Next for France After Macron Win

The tumultuous French election has raised as many questions as it has answered. Are we witnessing "peak populism" in Europe, and can the continent now put divisive debates about its break up in the rear-view mirror? Bloomberg's Caroline Connan gives a breakdown of what’s next for France with Macron at the helm.

France Faces Autumn of Discontent, Claims Gérard Depardieu

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France is facing an autumn of discontent and the economic crisis in the country will be "even worse" next year, Gérard Depardieu has claimed, in the actor's latest broadside against the Socialist government whose tax hikes he famously fled.

The 64-year old Gallic screen icon made his incendiary remarks while on his first film shoot in France since he took up Russian citizenship and residence in Belgium to avoid President François Hollande's planned 75 per cent super tax on millionaire earners.

Despite record unemployment levels and a deeply sluggish economy, Mr Hollande's government insists that there are tentative signs of recovery and that the jobless rate will start receding by the end of the year.

Mr Depardieu claimed this was pie in the sky. "I think things will really heat up this autumn and I think that in 2014, things will be much worse in France, despite what some people are saying," he predicted in an interview with AFP. Read on and comment » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Monday, August 05, 2013

Debt Crisis: Tensions Mount as Angela Merkel Attacks French Economy
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Deepening splits between Angela Merkel and François Hollande erupted into the open on Friday as the German chancellor attacked Paris for allowing the French economy to stall.

Mrs Merkel warned the policies of the new Socialist president could destroy the eurozone by bringing the sovereign debt crisis to France itself.

The bleak assessment came on the eve of an important weekend that will see elections in Greece and France and a key G20 meeting of world leaders in Mexico.

"Europe must discuss the growing differences in economic strength between France and Germany," she said.

Tensions are running so high that Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French prime minister, was forced to deny that Paris had broken off the Franco-German partnership, following Berlin anger at a Franco-Italian summit in Rome on Thursday.

There was a growing sense of crisis in European capitals after David Cameron, the Prime Minister, took part in a tense conference call with Mrs Merkel, Mr Hollande and Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister.

G20 leaders meet in Los Cabos on Monday afternoon for talks dominated by the deepening eurozone crisis and the result of close elections that could put Greece on course to leave the EU's single currency.

Eurozone finance ministers are on standby for an emergency telephone conference on Sunday night, if Greek exit polls put the radical Left Syriza coalition in the lead, to trigger contingency plans, including possible capital controls in the event of a run on banks in Greece, Portugal or Spain.

A victory for Syriza could prompt a default and Greek exit of the eurozone. Read on and comment » | Bruno Waterfield in Berlin | Friday, June 15, 2012