Poste culture. Journaliste à Mediapart depuis sa création, en 2008. Correspondant à Bruxelles sur les affaires européennes (2011-2017), puis reporter, au sein du service international à Paris (2018 - 2025). Co-programme la case « documentaire » chaque samedi sur Mediapart. Toujours en veille sur l’Espagne et l’Argentine.
Ai publié un guide sur l'Argentine (La Découverte, 2011), un essai sur les politiques espagnoles nées du mouvement « indigné » du 15-M (Squatter le pouvoir, Les mairies rebelles d'Espagne, Editions Lux, 2016) et un autre sur l'architecture du quartier européen à Bruxelles (Bruxelles chantiers, Une critique architecturale de l'Europe, Lux, 2018).
Mail : ludovic.lamant[@]mediapart.fr
Declaration of interest
In the interest of transparency towards its readers, Mediapart’s journalists fill out and make public since 2018 a declaration of interests on the model of the one filled out by members of parliament and senior civil servants with the High Authority for Transparency and Public Life (HATVP), a body created in 2014 after Mediapart’s revelations on the Cahuzac affair.
April 17th marked the bicentenary of France’s recognition of the independence of Haiti, its former colony that won freedom in a revolution led by slaves. In return, Paris imposed a crippling debt upon the new Caribbean nation in the form of an indemnity to be paid to former slave masters for their losses, notably plantations. Many historians argue that the huge debt payment stunted Haiti’s future development, leaving it today one of the poorest countries in the world. Emmanuel Macron last week announced the creation of a bi-lateral commission to look at this episode of history “in the face”, but the French President was careful to make no commitment to pay reparations to Haiti. Ludovic Lamant reports.
The collapse of Michel Barnier's administration on Wednesday night after a no-confidence vote has repercussions that spread beyond France itself. For example, the political crisis in Paris further complicates the European Union’s efforts to formulate a response to Donald Trump’s imminent return to power in the United States. And it also comes as negotiations on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement – which is deeply unpopular with French farmers – look as if they could be concluded by the end of this week. Mediapart's Brussels correspondent Ludovic Lamant reports.
A snowballing protest movement by French farmers is the latest of a series of revolts by farmers across Europe, notably in the Netherlands, in Germany and in Spain. In France, where roadblocks and rallies began last week in the south-west of the country, the unrest is essentially over farmers’ dwindling incomes, squeezed by ever-tighter margins imposed by retail chains and energy costs, while some complain over what they argue are “punitive” environmental protection laws. As elsewhere on the continent, the far-right are attempting to make the most of the discontent, notably with an eye on European Parliament elections in early June. Ludovic Lamant reports.
The European Union is currently preparing a directive on corporate “due diligence” which would impose strict rules aimed at preventing the negative social and environmental consequences of business activities. The European Parliament earlier this year voted in favour of including the financial sector in the directive but, according to documents obtained by Mediapart, France has made headway in its lobbying efforts to exclude financial institutions from the initial legislation, subject to a future review. As Ludovic Lamant reports, the move by Paris, denounced by NGOs and MEPs, is on course to significantly weaken what is one of the most awaited pieces of legislation of the European Parliament’s current term.
Six months after the so-called “Qatargate” scandal that rocked the European Parliament, prompting an ongoing investigation in Belgium into allegations that Qatar and Morocco were involved in a cash-for-influence campaign within the chamber, the European Commission on Thursday presented its proposals for an “Ethics Body” to tighten anti-corruption measures. But it has been slammed by many MEPs of all political shades, and also NGOs, as toothless and a missed opportunity, given it has no powers of investigation nor those to sanction wrongdoers. Ludovic Lamant reports.
Belgian judge Michel Claise is leading the investigation into the snowballing corruption scandal rocking the European Parliament in Brussels, and which has already led to the downfall and imprisonment of a now former vice president of the chamber. In this interview with Mediapart, the veteran investigating magistrate, specialised in financial crime, details the extent to which corruption and organised crime are out of control in Europe, and slams the lack of resources to fight it. “When you touch on dirty money, and when that involves the political world, people become transformed into wild animals,” he says.
Revelations in the so-called “Qatargate” corruption scandal engulfing the European Parliament this month, involving past and present members of the chamber, including its former vice-president, are snowballing. While the Belgian authorities continue investigations into those implicated in an alleged Qatari slush-fund used to buy favours from EU lawmakers, MEPs have suspended all legislative work in connection with Qatar, and withdrawn access to the institution by the Gulf State’s representatives. But they shied from including Morocco in the sanctions, despite growing evidence of its involvement in the influence peddling. Mediapart's European affairs correspondent Ludovic Lamant reports.
Widely acclaimed French-Swiss cinema director Jean-Luc Godard, regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, and a major figure of France’s New Wave cinema movement, died in Switzerland on Tuesday in an assisted suicide at the age of 91. Late last year he gave a rare interview to Mediapart’s Ludovic Lamant and Jade Lindgaard, who travelled to meet him at his home in Switzerland, when nothing went quite as had been planned, and which we republish here.
Thierry Mariani, a French far-right Member of the European Parliament who enjoys close links with Moscow, has been appointed to the governing board of an NGO in part funded by the EU and which supports democracy movements in countries neighbouring the bloc, notably countering Russian influence in those to the east. Ludovic Lamant reports on a controversy which again highlights the debate over just how far a strengthened European far-right should be allowed to join in the traditional political process in Brussels.
In the aftermath, when it comes, of the Covid-19 virus pandemic the world will undoubtedly emerge with profound changes to old orders. In one of a series of reflections upon the transformations that lie ahead, Ludovic Lamant interviewed Filipino academic Walden Bello, a leading theoretician of the anti-globalization movement, who warns against the danger of the far-right “espousing deglobalization and economic nationalism of a frightening kind”.
In an interview with Mediapart, history lecturer Johann Chapoutot, an expert on contemporary Germany and the history of the Nazis, uses the example of Germany to highlight France's failings in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He says that while the German chancellor Angela Merkel appeals to people's reason, in France “they lie to us”. Interview by Ludovic Lamant.
Trade officials working for the European Commission may be having to work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic but they are still busy negotiating free trade deals with countries around the world on behalf of the European Union. As Mediapart's Brussels correspondent Ludovic Lamant reports, these officials are behaving as if the Covid-19 outbreak has not had a dramatic effect on everything – including the way people regard world trade and globalisation.
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La 13e édition du festival multidisciplinaire Hors Pistes, qui s’ouvre ce vendredi à Paris, s’attache aux manières de « dire la nation » à distance du discours national identitaire.
Quentin Ravelli est l’auteur d’un diptyque remarqué sur la crise espagnole : d’un côté, « Bricks », film qui vient de sortir en salle, et de l’autre, un livre, « Les briques rouges », publié aux éditions Amsterdam.
A Bruxelles, « L’assemblée d’avril » organise durant onze jours un « campement artistique et citoyen » en réaction aux crises des démocraties européennes.
Leur conférence de presse est passée inaperçue, tandis que les médias n’avaient d’yeux que pour les cérémonies romaines de la fin de semaine. Mais les conseillers municipaux espagnols, passés par le Parlement européen mi-mars, s’emploient, eux aussi, à défendre une certaine conception, plus sociale, de l’Europe. Ils en appellent à la désobéissance.
Ils sont plus de 500 à dire leur inquiétude. Des réalisateurs, techniciens, programmateurs de festivals et critiques ont adressé une lettre ouverte au gouvernement socialiste d’Antonio Costa, pour l’inciter à annuler une réforme du financement qui menace la diversité du cinéma portugais.
