French president Emmanuel Macron fears approach would breach principle of immunity of sovereign assets and undermine efforts to strengthen European defence.
The extraordinarily frank criticism from prime minister François Bayrou diverged from the more nuanced tone adopted by French president Emmanuel Macron since the clash at the White House.
The authorities have announced their intention to appeal after an administrative court ordered the suspension of work on the highly-controversial Toulouse-Castres A69 motorway in south-west France. The court – the first in France to strike down plans for a motorway on environmental grounds - annulled the original permission that had allowed work to start on the planned 33-mile route. Yet though the government has reiterated its determination to forge ahead with this major infrastructure project, none of the economic and social reasons it gives to justify this approach reflect the reality on the ground, argues Jade Lindgaard in this op-ed article.
European soldiers would only be deployed on the ground in the second phase of a potential peace deal, the French president has told Le Figaro newspaper.
French president’s urging comes ahead of Thursday’s special EU summit focused on defence, as Trump signals a friendlier approach to Moscow and disengagement from Europe.
Macron told Portuguese TV that if Europe wanted to move towards "greater autonomy" in defence and nuclear deterrence, then its leaders should start a discussion about it.
In the late 1990s, an initial criminal investigation into sexual assaults at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram near Pau in south-west France collapsed following the release from custody of the school's former director. The gendarme in charge of the probe at the time says he was told that François Bayrou – now France's prime minister – intervened with the chief prosecutor over the case involving the prestigious private Catholic establishment, which is located in his political fiefdom and which his own children attended. Bayrou himself has denied any such intervention took place. A lawyer representing victims in the abuse scandal has now called for an inquiry into events. And in an interview with Mediapart the retired gendarme, Alain Hontangs, says he would welcome such a move. David Perrotin and Antton Rouget report.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against France over the 2014 death of activist Rémi Fraisse, highlighting concerns over police tactics and the use of force during protests.
François Bayrou’s threat comes after a deadly weekend knife attack in the city of Mulhouse by an Algerian national whom France had unsuccessfully tried to repatriate and against a backdrop of simmering tensions between the two countries.
The pair are said to have staged a dramatic protest at the Russian consulate in Marseille this week, reportedly motivated by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Jim P., a French citizen employed as a butler, was given a suspended 18-month prison sentence by a French court on Friday for stealing from his former employer Sergei Pugachev, a former Russian oligarch turned critic of Vladimir Putin. In reality, Jim P. had been spying on his boss with the help of a London-based private intelligence-gathering company called Diligence who were themselves apparently working on behalf of a Russian state organisation. Gabrielle Leroyer reports on this intriguing saga.
The actor is suspected of falsely declaring his tax residency to be in Belgium since 2013, a source close to the case said on Monday; his trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a 2021 film shoot is due to begin in March.
