Hinkley Point: endless setbacks at nuclear plant highlight political choice to destroy EDF

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Building work on one of the two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point C, December 15th 2023. © Photo Ben Birchall / PA Photos / Abaca Building work on one of the two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point C, December 15th 2023. © Photo Ben Birchall / PA Photos / Abaca

On January 22nd, state-owned French utilities group EDF announced new delays in the construction of two EPR nuclear reactors at the British plant of Hinkley Point. Originally planned to enter service in 2024, the first of the two reactors is now expected to be, at best, operational in 2029, or possibly “2030 or 2031”, while costs have soared above initial estimates. Seven years after the project was launched, all the warnings against EDF’s involvement in it made by the group’s staff have proved be right, writes Mediapart economics correspondent Martine Orange in this op-ed article. The state-owned group now finds itself in a fatal trap created by Emmanuel Macron.

Behind the anger driving the French farmers’ revolt

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Farmers protesting in the town of Guéret, central France, January 24th 2024. © Photo Mathieu Dejean / Mediapart Farmers protesting in the town of Guéret, central France, January 24th 2024. © Photo Mathieu Dejean / Mediapart

The roadblocks and demonstrations by French farmers protesting a series of grievances, including low incomes, fuel costs, bureaucracy and competition from cheap imports, entered a second week on Thursday amid escalation of the unrest. Farmers’ unions have announced they will block roads around Paris on Friday, when the government is due to announce measures it hopes will defuse the movement. Mathieu Dejean reports from the town of Guéret in central France, where he met with protesting farmers who blocked the streets in a massive turnout that even surprised union officials.

How far-right hopes to benefit from European farmers' unrest

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German farmers protesting in Berlin, January 15th 2024. © Photo John Mac Dougall / AFP German farmers protesting in Berlin, January 15th 2024. © Photo John Mac Dougall / AFP

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.

Eminent French demographer slams 'grotesque' call by Macron for 'demographic rearming'

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For Hervé Le Bras, the significant fall in the birth rate in France in 2023 is ‘quite mysterious’. © Photo Amélie Benoist / BSIP via AFP For Hervé Le Bras, the significant fall in the birth rate in France in 2023 is ‘quite mysterious’. © Photo Amélie Benoist / BSIP via AFP

The birth rate in France fell in 2023 by 6.6% year-on-year, according to figures released this week by France’s national institute for statistics and economic studies, INSEE. Just hours after the figures were released on January 16th, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue during a televised press conference, when he notably raised issues of appeal to a rightwing electorate, when he argued for a “demographic rearming”. In this interview with Mediapart's Youmni Kezzouf, the eminent and veteran French demographer and historian Hervé Le Bras, director of studies at the prestigious School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, gives his view of what he calls the “grotesque” comments by Macron, and the reasons behind the fall in births both in France, in Europe and beyond.

Macron's new education minister under growing pressure after sending children to private school

Prime minister Gabriel Attal with education minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. Prime minister Gabriel Attal with education minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

Shortly after Amélie Oudéa-Castéra's appointment last week, Mediapart revealed that Emmanuel Macron's new education minister sent her three children, now aged 13 to 18, to a “reactionary” Catholic private school near her home in Paris. The minister's defence of her actions – she claims her local state school did not properly cover staff absences – went down badly with teaching unions and parents' groups as well as opposition politicians. Her argument has also now been undermined by comments from a teacher at that state school where Amélie Oudéa-Castéra briefly sent one of her children, leading to damaging claims that the new minister has lied.

South Africa comes to Palestine's rescue: a world overthrown

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The hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. © Photo Remko de Waal / ANP via AFP The hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. © Photo Remko de Waal / ANP via AFP

Europe's and North America's claims to support the universality of human rights are constantly contradicted by their actions. As they stand by and do nothing while the state of Israel destroys Palestine, it is instead South Africa that is today defending these universal values, argues Mediapart's publishing editor Edwy Plenel in this op-ed article.

The pro-business technocrat pulling the strings behind France's new prime minister

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Emmanuel Moulin, right, the new prime minister's chief of staff. © Photo Romuald Meigneux / Sipa Emmanuel Moulin, right, the new prime minister's chief of staff. © Photo Romuald Meigneux / Sipa

Emmanuel Macron has chosen the current director of the French Treasury to take up the strategically-vital position of chief of staff to the new prime minister Gabriel Attal. Like Attal himself, the new chief of staff Emmanuel Moulin represents 'Macronism' in his own style. He has a network of contacts that includes supporters of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, has moved seamlessly between the public and private sectors, and has a distinctly pro-business vision of the economy. Ilyes Ramdan and Mathias Thépot report on the career of this key behind-the-scenes figure who will help shape the new government.

Why France's new prime minister Gabriel Attal faces an uphill political task

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New prime minister Gabriel Attal with President Macron. © Photo Ludovic Marin / AFP New prime minister Gabriel Attal with President Macron. © Photo Ludovic Marin / AFP

On Tuesday  French president Emmanuel Macron chose  Gabriel Attal to replace prime minister Élisabeth Borne, who had been dismissed the day before. At the age of 34, the former socialist activist becomes the youngest head of government in France since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Yet as Mediapart's political correspondent Ilyes Ramdani reports, though former education minister Attal is popular with the public, unless there is a change of direction or style in the government his future political path could turn out to be just as impossible as that of his predecessor.

How Italian 'food nationalism' has blocked Nutri-Score nutrition labelling system in Europe

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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and her brother-in-law Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy's agriculture minister, October 14th 2022. © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and her brother-in-law Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy's agriculture minister, October 14th 2022. © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

The food nutrition labelling system known as Nutri-Score was first introduced in France in 2017 and later adopted by Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Holland and Luxembourg. The aim of the five-coloured label scheme is to help guide consumers towards eating healthier produce. But on the pretext of defending Italian food, Giorgia Meloni's government and the Italian far right have so far prevented this system from being rolled out across the rest of the European Union. Karl Laske reports.

The fears that new French immigration law will plunge more into poverty

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Rennes, north-west France: a family living in emergency accommodation provided by the association ‘Un toit c’est un droit’ (A roof is a right). © Photo Jean-Michel Delage / Hans Lucas via AFP Rennes, north-west France: a family living in emergency accommodation provided by the association ‘Un toit c’est un droit’ (A roof is a right). © Photo Jean-Michel Delage / Hans Lucas via AFP

New legislation adopted by the French parliament in December toughens up existing laws on immigration, including a significant reduction of the rights of non-EU foreign nationals for access to welfare benefits despite paying social security contributions. Faïza Zerouala reports on the fears expressed by NGOs and charitable associations that many families targeted by the law will be plunged into poverty conditions. They now pin their hopes that the most restrictive measures will be rejected by the Constitutional Council, which has yet to rule on the legality of the legislation before it can be promulgated.

French historian Christelle Taraud: femicides were ‘forged at the dawn of humanity’

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Christelle Taraud. © Photo illustration Justine Vernier / Mediapart Christelle Taraud. © Photo illustration Justine Vernier / Mediapart

This week, the French justice minister announced provisional figures that suggest the number of femicides – the killing of a female because of her gender – had fallen year-on-year in 2023 by around 20 percent, a claim which is hotly contested by feminist associations. For the recorded numbers of femicides and crimes of domestic violence against women in France have remained on average largely stable over recent years, despite the increased attention given to the problem. In this interview with Mediapart, the historian Christelle Taraud gives her view on why femicides continue at an appalling level, and why women often suffer greater violence in the wake of high-profile feminist mobilisations.

‘A threshold crossed’: French conservatives adopt the language of the far-right

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Former French prime minister Édouard Philippe. © Photo Lionel Guericolas / MPP / Sipa Former French prime minister Édouard Philippe. © Photo Lionel Guericolas / MPP / Sipa

The French liberal and conservative Right has increasingly adopted the xenophobic terms of language employed by the far-right, to the point where the once-distinct lines separating the two camps have become blurred, if not dissolved. The latest example is a comment by Emmanuel Macron’s former prime minister Édouard Philippe, a centre-right presidential hopeful, who placed “anti-white racism” on a par with other forms of racism. Mediapart’s  Fabien Escalona turned to political scientist Émilien Houard-Vial, a specialist of the contemporary French Right, for his analysis of why and how what was taboo has become normalized.

France's immigration law: when 'Macronism' rhymes with the far-right

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 © Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP © Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

France’s new legislation “to control immigration”, approved by a vote in parliament on Tuesday, transforms the xenophobic programme of the far-right into law, making the foreigner a public enemy and attacking the universal principle of the equality of rights, argues Mediapart publishing editor Edwy Plenel in this op-ed article. History, he writes, will record that the person responsible for this disgrace is the very president who was elected by voters who took to the urns to prevent his far-right rival from gaining power.

Macron's Parliamentary loss over immigration bill: a defeat for irresponsibility

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 © Photo Ludovic Marin / AFP © Photo Ludovic Marin / AFP

On Monday, the French government's new immigration bill was rejected by the National Assembly before it was even debated by MPs. Caught on the back foot by this resounding political defeat, supporters of President Emmanuel Macron cried foul, saying the vote was a “denial of democracy” and attacking the “petty politics” of the opposition parties. This is, to say the least, a bold argument, writes Ellen Salvi in this op-ed article, coming as it does from a government that has constantly forced through legislation and schemed in back corridors, including with the far-right.

French emergency services accused teenager Aïcha of faking pain; days later she was dead

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The recording of the intervention by the emergency services is damming. The recording of the intervention by the emergency services is damming.

When 13-year-old Aïcha fell ill at the family home in Paris her mother called the emergency services and three fire officers – who are often the first responders for medical emergencies in France – arrived at the scene. After thirty minutes the trio left, saying the teenager was faking her suffering, even though she was semi-conscious when they went. Twelve days later Aïcha died in hospital as the result of a brain haemorrhage. Her parents wonder whether their daughter may have lived had the fire officers taken her to hospital, and whether they would have taken her illness more seriously had she not been black. They have now deposed a formal legal complaint for manslaughter. Meanwhile one of fire officers has been disciplined. David Perrotin reports.