French politics

From FT.com May 7, 2012

By Gideon Rachman

In rural France on Sunday night, the newly-elected French president took to the stage and announced that he would lead the battle in Europe against austerity. On the other side of the continent, Greek voters were calling his bluff. By overwhelmingly opting for parties that want to either repudiate or renegotiate Greece’s bailout deal, they have handed François Hollande a painful dilemma. Will he stand with the Greek people against austerity? Or will he stand with the German government and the International Monetary Fund, in insisting that the Greek bailout cannot be renegotiated?

Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, France, French politics, Germany, Greece |

European elections reaction: live blog

May 7, 2012 7:21 am by John Aglionby

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the reaction to elections in France and Greece on a big day for Europe.

By Tom Burgis, John Aglionby and Esther Bintliff in London with contributions from FT correspondents around the world. All times are London time.

This post should update automatically every few minutes, although it might take longer on mobile devices.

16.52 That’s the lot of the live blog today. See FT.com for more news and analysis through the night.

We’ll leave you with a quick summary and some reading. Today:

  • Markets reacted warily at first to the French and Greece results, although equities and bonds recovered through the day. The euro stayed weaker though
  • Angela Merkel promised François Hollande a warm welcome in Berlin but said the eurozone’s fiscal pact was not up for re-negotiation. She also urged Greece to stick to the cuts programme agreed with lenders
  • Greece’s political leaders wrangled over a possible coalition government after voters administered a thumping to the two biggest parties, leading to predictions of a fresh election and a potential move to tinker with the terms of the country’s €174bn bail-out
  • Spain reversed course and said it plans to pump public cash into troubled lender Bankia
  • Leftists from Dublin to Stockholm hailed the victory of a Socialist in France, with many seeking to use Hollande’s triumph to push for more pro-growth policies to temper European austerity
    Continue reading: “European elections reaction: live blog”

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Posted in Europe, French politics, Greece |

Sarkozy, Hollande and the foreign policy question

May 3, 2012 3:32 pm by FT
AP Photo/Patrick Kovarik, Pool

AP Photo/Patrick Kovarik, Pool

By Tony Barber in Paris

The temperature of France’s presidential election debate shot up on Thursday night when Nicolas Sarkozy snapped at François Hollande that he was “a little slanderer”. Up to that point, Sarkozy had contented himself with the rather more tame accusation that Hollande was telling lies. But “a little slanderer” – that stood out.

Otherwise, the really striking feature of the debate, I thought, was how little the two candidates had to say about international affairs.

Continue reading: “Sarkozy, Hollande and the foreign policy question”

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Posted in France, French politics |

Is the Front National fascist?

April 27, 2012 11:45 am by Gideon Rachman

Campaigning for the second round of the French presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy has justified his attempt to reach out to the 18% of the electorate who voted for the Front National, asking rhetorically – “Are 6.5m French people fascists?” One assumes that the answer to that is, clearly, not. And, certainly, watching Le Pen give a speech in Paris last week, I didn’t feel that I was watching the performance of a fascist. A nationalist certainly; a xenophobe, possibly. But we weren’t talking Mussolini or Hitler.

On the other hand, before one dismisses the links between the FN and the extreme right too hastily, it is worth looking at who the Front National regard as their sister parties in Europe. In the case of Britain, it is the British National Party – as this press-release from the BNP makes clear.

Continue reading: “Is the Front National fascist?”

Posted in France, French politics |

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

April 27, 2012 12:40 am by FT

Austerity backlash in Europe and UN monitors in Syria

As the Dutch government falls, a socialist wins the first round of the French presidential election, and the UK slides back into recession, Brussels bureau chief Peter Spiegel and Europe editor Ben Hall discuss the backlash against Europe’s austerity politics.

Michael Peel reports from Syria on the progress of UN monitors in the country, and diplomatic editor James Blitz looks at how the West’s intervention could be made more effective.

Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, France, French politics, Middle East, World affairs |
From FT.com April 23, 2012

By Gideon Rachman

The battle for France has a couple of weeks to run. After that, the battle for Europe will begin. Both Nicolas Sarkozy and his challenger in the French presidential election, François Hollande, are promising to save the “French exception” by radically changing the direction of the European Union.

Posted in Europe, France, French politics, World affairs |

Eurozone in crisis: live coverage

April 23, 2012 7:53 am by FT

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the day’s developments in the eurozone.

Today the live blog comes from Paris, as France digests a surge of far right support in the presidential election, but we’ll also be updating you on news from around Europe. All times Paris time.

By Tom Burgis in Paris and Esther Bintliff in London with contributions from FT correspondents around the world.

17.27 That’s about it for our live coverage from Paris today. A quick round-up of the day’s developments.

We leave you with news of a rare moment of accountability in said crisis:

Geir Haarde, the former prime minister of Iceland, has been found guilty of one count of negligence in the run-up to the country’s 2008 banking crash but will receive no punishment. The FT’s Michael Stothard reports from Stockholm:

Geir Haarde, the former prime minister of Iceland, has been found guilty of one count of negligence in the run-up to the country’s 2008 banking crash but will receive no punishment.

A special court of impeachment designed to deal with criminal charges against Icelandic government ministers found Mr Haarde guilty of failing to hold dedicated cabinet meetings ahead of the crisis.

But the court cleared him of three more significant charges that could have carried a sentence of up to two years in jail.

The full story is here. À la prochaine…

Continue reading: “Eurozone in crisis: live coverage”

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Posted in Foreign affairs, French politics, World affairs |

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

April 20, 2012 12:41 am by FT

Nicolas Sarkozy’s legacy in French politics
With the first round of the French presidential election upon us and the second round just around the corner, the FT’s Hugh Carnegy, Ben Hall and John Thornhill join Shawn Donnan to discuss the legacy of president Nicolas Sarkozy and his chances of reelection.

Posted in Europe, France, French politics |

Does France want a normal president?

April 19, 2012 11:08 pm by Gideon Rachman
France's Socialist Party candidate François Hollande greets supporters after a campaign speech in Bordeaux. Getty Images

France's Socialist Party candidate François Hollande greets supporters after a campaign speech in Bordeaux. Getty Images

For a man who stands on the brink of the French presidency, François Hollande is remarkably low-key, as I discovered tonight at his last campaign rally before the first round of voting on Sunday.

Over the weekend President Sarkozy staged a big campaign rally in the Place de la Concorde and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate, spoke in Marseilles before a crowd estimated at around 100,000. By contrast, tonight Hollande spoke at a suburban park in Bordeaux, before a crowd of just a few thousand. His reception was warm, but there was no sense of fervour. And yet the opinion polls suggest that Hollande will win the decisive second round on May 6th – beating Sarkozy by a wide margin.

Continue reading: “Does France want a normal president?”

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Posted in France, French politics |

In the Picture: François Hollande, president-in-waiting?

April 19, 2012 9:00 pm by Esther Bintliff
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

If the latest polls are to be believed, Nicolas Sarkozy will be a one-term wonder. A president who has broken with convention throughout his career will likely do so once again: only one other president of the fifth republic - Valéry Giscard d’Estaing – has tried and failed to be re-elected for a second term.

The man likely to topple Sarkozy is an affable creature of the French elite. He’s had a long career traversing the backrooms of politics, yet never held ministerial office. So who is François Hollande?

Continue reading: “In the Picture: François Hollande, president-in-waiting?”

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Posted in French politics, In The Picture |
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