Keyword: France

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in the border town of Aachen on Tuesday to sign a pact that brings greater cooperation between their two countries, notably in economic and security issues, and including the aim of creating a 'German-French economic area with common rules' and a 'common military culture' that Merkel said could 'contribute to the creation of a European army'.

While Britain's transport minister described setting up new post-Brexit controls at its borders as 'utterly unrealistic', France has begun building new customs inspection posts dedicated to UK-exported horses and other large animals in Calais, and another for fish in nearby Boulogne, as part of a 50-million-euro contingency plan announecd last week in the case of a no-deal withdawal of the UK from the European Union.

French farmers' union, the FNSEA, has voiced its concern at the possibility of a withdrawal from the EU by the UK, to which France exports a yearly 3 billion euros-worth of agricultural goods, without a trade deal.

Ahead of a planned visit to Egypt later this month by French President Emmanuel Macron, an Irish human rights NGO has highlighted the serious violations of the labour rights of Egyptian workers employed in the construction of French-designed battleships at naval yards where staff from France's Naval Group company have a permanent presence.

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on Thursday announced a 50-million-euro contingency plan in the case that Britain would leave the European Union on March 29th without a trade agreement, which he described as 'less and less unlikely', which includes the building of infrastructures around transport hubs to deal with delays in commercial traffic and the recruitment of around 600 extra staff in customs and veterinary services.

The French ambassador to Poland, Pierre Levy, has said he was 'shocked' at comments made by Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz in which he said recent social unrest in France and the slowdown of President Emmanuel Macron's timetable of reforms had made the country 'the sick man of Europe, dragging Europe down'.

Peter Cherif, 36, alias Abou Hamza, wanted for his suspected role in the January 2015 gun attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine which left 12 dead, was was immediately placed in detention after his extradition to France from Djibouti.

President Macron apparently spoke to President Trump in advance to try convince him not to remove US troops from Syria.

Seventy percent of the mothers giving birth in maternity ward in French territory of Mayotte off Africa are foreign, most of them illegal migrants.

France had been pushing for Commission to agree EU-wide measures by end of 2018 but countries such as Sweden and Finland were against.

As  phone companies in France begin seeking suppliers to build 5G networks, parts of the country’s telecoms infrastructure is being made inaccessible to Chinese telecom and electronic equipment company Huawei through legal and regulatory revisions, many classified, with the country's largest telecoms operator, Orange, saying it will not use Huawei products after 'a call to prudence by French authorities'.

Report commissioned by President Macron recommends the restitution of artworks taken during France's colonial era.

Beginning in January 2019, the French government will send a small team of senior civil servants to Facebook offices in Ireland for six months to assess the effectiveness of the social media giant's checks on racist, sexist or hate-fuelled speech, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday.

While the centenary commemorations in France marking the end of WWI saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel take part in a symbolic ceremony with French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Donald Trump began his visit with a Twitter message attacking Macron's championing of a joint European defence force, and cancelled a visit to a US cemetery of fallen US soldiers, citing bad weather conditions.