Welcome to French Culture Now, America's leading independent English language news resource for all things French.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
Win a free copy of the art book Monet: Water Lilies, The Complete Series, compliments of Rizzoli USA.
Click here to enter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
You are here: Home » Politics + Society » Archive » December 2007-2
POLITICS AND SOCIETY NEWS AND EVENTS ARCHIVE DECEMBER 2007-2
Archives: Dec. 8-12, 2007
Dissenters Blast Sarko-Gaddafi Visit
UK Times. Dec. 12, 2007
The youngest member of President Sarkozy’s Government criticised her
boss yesterday for letting Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, treat
France like a “doormat” for “wiping off the blood of his victims”. Rama
Yade, 31, the Minister for Human Rights, stole the show as Gaddafi
arrived in Paris for a five-day stay. Ms Yade was summoned to the
Élysée Palace for a reprimand as the Opposition and media voiced
disapproval of Colonel Gaddafi’s first official visit to a Western
state for 25 years. Sarkozy promised to raise the issue of human rights
with Gaddafi, but in comments to the media the Libyan strongman denied
that the issue had been dicussed.
> More
Did Gadaffi outfox Sarkozy?
Financial Times. Dec. 12, 2007
The French president thought rewarding the Libyan leader’s return from
the cold with an official visit to Paris – not to mention the sale of
arms, jets and a nuclear power station – was a neat trick. But Colonel
Gadaffi is proving a difficult guest to handle and his visit has turned
into an embarrassment for the Elysée. Gadaffi condemned France’s
treatment of its immigration population and the brutality of its police.
> More
Good French Economic News
Forbes. Dec. 12 , 2007
France enjoys an upbeat outlook according to Manpower’s global
employment outlook survey. And France's unemployment rate fell to 8.3%
in the third quarter from a revised 8.5% in the second quarter of 2007.
> More
Sarkozy: The Press is Leftist
Editorsweblog. Dec. 12, 2007
In an interview with the Nouvel Observateur, President Sarkozy denied
having any control over the media, despite the fact that stories
unflattering to him have been withdrawn or altered by magazines owned
by his business friends. “The press, generally, is leftist. When one
supports me, it becomes control of the media,” he said.
> More
Sarkozy’s 100 steps to slimmer government
Financial Times. Dec. 12, 2007
President Sarkozy on Wednesday unveiled nearly 100 measures to
streamline France’s cumbersome public administration, cut costs and
provide more consumer-friendly services to business and the public. The
measures, the interim findings of a comprehensive audit of ministerial
functions and resources, could amount to the most ambitious reform in
50 years of one of the costliest government bureaucracies in Europe.
> More
Sarkozy: ethics of a used car salesman?
Financial Times. Dec. 12, 2007
In Sarkozy’s current actions, contradictions abound between official
discourse and reality. Despite his avowals to defend human rights and
unite with Europe, he has embraced and rewarded Putin and Gadaffi.
Despite his pledge to bring France closer to the European community,
his recent policy does not seem to translate into greater unity and
clarity of the European voice. One writer sees opportunism and cynicism
behind Sarkozy’s façade.
> More
France orders Amazon.com to stop free delivery
New York Times. Dec. 12, 2007
In a decision that demonstrates the kind of anti-consumer protectionism
which Sarkozy has pledged to eliminate, a French court ordered that
Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France. The action,
brought in January 2004 by the French Booksellers' Union, accused
Amazon of offering discounts on books and even of selling some books
below cost, which is against current French law. Bad news for French
consumers.
> More
Sarkozy calls his critics “coffee-sipping elites”
ALJazeera. Dec. 12, 2007
French President Sarkozy denied betraying France's human rights
heritage by hosting Gaddafi, whose visit he said would open up new
opportunities for French businesses. His remarks came hours after Rama
Yade, the French secretary of state for human rights, criticised the
Libyan leader's arrival on World Human Rights Day. Sarkozy dismissed
his critics as "idle, coffee-sipping" elites.
> More
Sarkozy and Khadafi: money over morals?
UKGuardian. Dec. 12, 2007
Even President Sarkozy's own minister for human rights accused her boss
of allowing the Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy to use France as a
doormat. The French president may sacrifice human rights for commerce,
but he has an answer to those who criticise the state visit of Gadafy:
shut up, we're selling. American values, indeed. As the AP comments:
“In diplomacy, values matter, but French business interests matter
perhaps even more.”
> More
F
rench Olympic chief may be dismissed over corruption charges
AP. Dec. 11, 2007
Henri Serandour, president of the French Olympic Committee, received a
suspended three-month prison sentence from a Paris criminal court in
October 2006 and may lose his Olympic post. He was convicted on charges
of giving two lucrative jobs to a communications company that had hired
his wife.
> More
France vs. America
Courrierinternational. Dec. 11, 2007
German writer Wolf Lepenies analyses the controversy triggered by an
article in 'Time' Magazine on the death of French culture. The French
see their criticism of themselves, which occasionally reaches the point
of entirely surrendering their identity, as a privilege which they are
loathe to relinquish to outsiders - much less to Americans.
> More
Sarkozy and Kadhafi Sign 10 billion euro nuclear deal
AFP. Dec. 11, 2007
France announced plans to sell nuclear reactors to Libya as well as 10
billion euros of trade deals, as President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Monday for a five-day visit.
> More
European carmakers to build in the USA
New York Times. Dec. 11, 2007
The dollar’s falling value is making European automakers eager to build
more vehicles in the United States, Fiat is reported to be seeking an
American factory to build its Alfa Romeo, to be sold in the United
States after a 13-year absence. Volkswagen of Germany is scouting
locations for a plant in the eastern United States. French carmaker
Renault may be next.
> More
Societe Generale in $4 billion bail-out
BBC News. Dec. 10, 2007
The crisis in sub-prime debt has been felt in global markets. France's
Societe Generale has become the latest bank to take a hit from the US
mortgage debt crisis, bailing out a $4.3bn (£2.1bn) investment vehicle.
> More
Sarkozy & Gaddafi sign deals worth 10 billion euros
Monsters&Critics. Dec 10, 2007
French President Sarkozy and Libyan leader Gaddafi agreed on deals
worth more than 10 billion euros (14.6 billion dollars) Monday, the
first day of Gaddafi's controversial five-day state visit to France.
The agreements include an accord of cooperation on the peaceful use of
nuclear energy by Libya.
> More
French racism: a case study
International Herald Tribune. Dec. 9, 2007
Hamid Senni, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent with a master's degree in
business administration, found it impossible to get a job in France,
but was offered high paying jobs in Ireland, Germany and Britain. His
experience of widespread discrimination in the French job market is a
cautionary tale as France faces riots in heavily immigrant areas.
> More
Sarkozy bashed for Khadafy deals
New York Daily News. Dec. 10, 2007
France rolls out the red carpet Monday for Libyan dictator Moammar
Khadafy, as critics say the one-time terror leader deserves no place on
the world stage. The visit was condemned by human rights groups and by
France's opposition political parties, which criticized an expected $4
billion deal to sell the Libyans Airbus passenger planes, French
fighter jets and a nuclear reactor.
> More
Controversy as France Embraces Gaddafi
Time. Dec. 10, 2007
Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi repudiated state terrorism and weapons
of mass destruction, but he hasn't been the kind of statesman western
leaders have wanted to honor in their capitals. This week French
president Sarkozy welcomes Gaddafi to Paris and trumpets contracts
worth billions of euros. But some critics find it hypocritical, given
Sarkozy's repeated vows to make human rights central in defining French
foreign policy.
> More
Communism Is Dead, Long Live Communism!
L’Humanite. Dec. 10, 2007
To French Marxist philosopher Lucien Sève, the crisis that currently
affects the French communist party (PCF) demands that the vertical
party-form be given up in favour of a horizontal movement-form: Lucien
Sève recommends setting up fully-empowered militant workshops.
> More
Interview with hostage Betancourt’s son
Der Spiegel. Dec. 10, 2007
Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt has been held hostage
by FARC rebels in Colombia since 2002. Her 19-year-old son Lorenzo
Delloye-Betancourt spoke to SPIEGEL about the recent proof that she is
alive and the international efforts to secure her release.
> More
Editor: Jews Endangered by French Muslims
New York Times. Dec. 9, 2007
John Podhoretz, t
he
new editor of the right wing magazine Commentary (and the film critic
for The Weekly Standard) says there exists a higher state of threat to
Jews around the world than has been the case since the death of Hitler,
citing “Muslim youth rioting in the suburbs of Paris.”
> More
French seeking return of Napoleon III's corpse
Telegraph. Dec. 9, 2007
He was the last emperor and the first president of France but for 120
years the Emperor Napoleon III's remains have lain in England. Now the
French want them back. Tomorrow Christian Estrosi, the secretary of
state for overseas territories, will arrive in Britain to request the
return of the remains of the exiled emperor and his wife, Empress
Eugénie, which lie in a crypt in St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough,
Hampshire. But the Benedictine monk who heads the abbey said he hoped
the minister was coming to ask forgiveness for having left the
monastery so long without news or support.
> More
Tapei Protests Sarkozy’s Pro-China Remarks
TapeiTimes. Dec. 9, 2007
J'Accuse! The editor of the Taiwan Communique condemns Sarkozy’s
statements critical of Taiwan’s democratic efforts, made during his
visit to totalitarian Beijing, because they perpetuate the political
isolation of Taiwan.
> More
An Exceptional New French Mosque
Washington Post. Dec. 9, 2007
From London to Cologne to Marseille, governments and residents are
fighting new mosques on their skylines in campaigns that underscore
cultural, religious and ethnic divides within a continent undergoing
its most dramatic demographic change in half a century. But next June,
Muslims in the French town of Creteil are scheduled to move into a new,
$7.4 million mosque with room for more than 2,500 worshipers.
> More
Unions resist Sarkozy the Sunday shopper
UK Times. Dec. 9, 2007
Few subjects stir French tempers as much as whether or not to let
people work – and shop – on what many still refer to here as “the
Lord’s Day”. When hundreds of employees of a chain of furniture shops
held a protest near Paris recently in favour of working on Sundays, a
union militant derided them as “collabos”, the term used for
collaborators with the Nazi occupation during the war.
> More
Lourdes Marks 150th anniversary with papal indulgences
AFP. Dec. 8, 2007
Catholics began marking 150 years since a young French shepherdess saw
visions of the Virgin Mary, with thousands of pilgrims expected at her
shrine at Lourdes over the next year, including Pope Benedict XVI. The
Pope has authorised special indulgences: Catholics visiting the site
within a year of 8 December will be able to receive an indulgence,
which the Church claims can reduce time in purgatory.
> More
France’s sluggishness & Bonapartism is a drag on Europe
Newsweek. Dec. 8, 2007
British labour politician Denis MacShane is “shocked at the number of
homeless people sleeping in the cold and rain in doorways of the
richest arrondissements.” The French economy is slowing compared to its
neighbours. The best minds are emigrating. Sarkozy’s promises to
rectify the situation are hollow. The Bonapartist centralisation of all
power in government bureaucracy is crippling France.
> More
Sarkozy is Fifth Most Admired Head of State
Angus Reid Poll. Dec. 8, 2007
According to a nine-country poll conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for
Maclean’s magazine, the most admired current heads of government are
the Canadian prime minister, the German chancellor, Japanese prime
minister Yasuo Fukuda, followed by Russian president Vladimir Putin
with 5.3 points, French president Nicolas Sarkozy with 5.1 points, and
British prime minister Gordon Brown with 5.0 points.
> More
|
 |
|
|
More
