Bruno Retailleau, the new French interior minister in Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, has, barely ten days into the job, prompted controversy over his outspoken views that “the sovereign people” should have primacy over the constitutional state which, he says, “is neither inviolable nor sacred”, while complaining that a “jungle of judicial regulations” prevent the authorities from being able to deal effectively with immigration. Jérôme Hourdeaux reports on the consternation of public law experts over Retailleau's comments.

The trial of France’s far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen along with 24 others from her Rassemblement National party on charges of embezzling European Parliament funds opened in Paris on Monday, at the start of what is programmed to be two months of hearings. The defendants are accused of operating a fraudulent system by which full-time party workers in Paris were remunerated as parliamentary assistants to the party’s MEPs. If found guilty, Le Pen, who is identified by the prosecution of playing the central role in the alleged scam, could be barred from holding public office, which would scupper her expected bid for the presidency in 2027. Michel Deléan reports.

Chemicals used in pesticides that are banned in France, some of them outlawed 20 years ago, have continued to be produced in the country and are sold abroad where environmental and public health legislation is less strict, according to a joint investigation by French public broadcaster France Télévisions and Swiss NGO Public Eye. The practice is perfectly legal thanks to a loophole in legislation which is still in place despite a government pledge two years ago to remove it. Amélie Poinssot reports.

The composition of the new French government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier was decided during all-male meetings between political representatives of the conservative and centre-right parties. And it shows, write Mediapart’s co-editor Lénaïg Bredoux and political correspondent Ellen Salvi in this op-ed article. There are no women in charge of the most powerful ministries, namely those of the interior, defence, justice, economy and foreign affairs, while some members of Barnier’s government have opposed the inclusion of women’s right to abortion into the French Constitution, and are hostile towards LGBTQI+ rights. Meanwhile, the cause of promoting equality between men and women has been demoted from full-time ministerial status to that of a government department.   

The new French government is the most rightwing in France for more than a decade despite the fact that the leftwing alliance, the Nouveau Front Populaire, won more seats in July's parliamentary elections than any other political group. Mediapart's Fabien Escalona argues in this op-ed article that the creation of prime minister Michel Barnier's government is not in keeping either with the principles of France's Fifth Republic or those of a more traditional parliamentary system. The president and his new prime minister are heading dangerously towards a no man's land of legitimacy, he writes.

On Saturday President Emmanuel Macron appointed France's most rightwing government in twelve years. All factions on the Right are represented in prime minister Michel Barnier's team, even if this has meant disregarding the results of the parliamentary elections held back on July 7th. The appointment of Didier Migaud, a former leftwing MP, to the justice ministry serves as a token gesture to the Left. Otherwise, the sharp shift to the Right is clear, as is the rickety appearance of the whole edifice. Mediapart's political correspondent Ilyes Ramdani gives his analysis of the new government team.

Demonstrations against the high cost of living that began at the start of September have been causing tensions in the French Caribbean département of Martinique. However, the issue of food prices and the cost of other consumer goods is not new, and nor is it confined just to this island. As Amandine Ascensio reports, it is a persistent reality as a result of the obsolete way the economy is organised, something which has its roots in colonial times.

Last week a national conference on information, the 'États Généraux de l'Information', which was established by President Emmanuel Macron in 2023, published its proposals for the future of the news industry. But, writes Mediapart’s publishing editor Carine Fouteau, its report revealed the media sector's inability to grasp the essential changes needed to defend independent, public-interest journalism. This is despite the fact that the need for strong counterbalances to the country's business and political powers is now greater than ever.

Nadia was born in the French overseas département of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean and is the mother of six French children. Recently she was separated from those children after being abruptly deported to the neighbouring country of Comoros, despise the fact that her expulsion order was riddled with errors. Hers is but one of many such cases as France continues to carry out mass indiscriminate deportations from Mayotte, employing hasty and often irregular procedures. In doing so the French authorities are ignoring repeated warnings, including from the Council of Europe. Grégoire Mérot reports from Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou.

The chairman of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party is alleged to have been fraudulently hired as a parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament, while his party stands accused of fabricating evidence to protect him from potential prosecution over the matter. The allegations against Jordan Bardella, who was the RN’s candidate for prime minister in recent legislative elections, are made in a book to be published on Friday. Meanwhile, RN figurehead Marine Le Pen will stand trial alongside 26 others – and the party itself – on September 30th, accused of involvement in a vast embezzlement of European Parliament funds allocated for parliamentary assistants but which, allegedly, were used to pay party staff. Marine Turchi reports.