Emmanuel Macron has announced a delay to the expected announcement this month of his reform of the retirement age to bring it to 64 or 65, up from 62, citing the need to give more opportunity for discussions, but which critics say is down to delaying tactics to avoid unrest over the immediate winter period.
Newly appointed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has held phone talks with French President Emmanuel Macron which Downing Street claimed were centred on cracking down on migrant crossings of the Channel although the Élsée made no mention of the subject.
A Kremlin spokesman has described as 'simply impossible' that any deal was agreed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron during their talks in Moscow on Monday over the Ukraine crisis, tempering upbeat comments by Macron as he visited Kyiv on Tuesday before travelling on to Berlin.
After a five-hour meeting in the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, held in an attempt to defuse the crisis over fears of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin said Macron's proposals were a possible 'basis for further steps' adding that Russia 'will do everything to find compromises that suit everyone'.
Following talks in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped his visit 'will mark a real turning point' in bilateral relations because following Brexit 'fragility and doubt' had gained the EU, in a move to appease previously strained ties with Poland's right wing populist government over judicial reforms, climate goals and criticism of the bloc's powers.
The strikes crippling French transport systems appeared set to continue through the end-of-year holiday period after talks between government and unions to find a compromise over President Emmanuel Macron's reforms to the pension system failed to reach a conclusion on Thursday.
French foreign minister Jean-Ives Le Drian on Wednesday travelled for talks with the Iraqi authorities on setting up a judicial framework to allow for the trials of jihadists detained in Syria, where Kurdish captors said they can longer ensure guarding them in face of the Turkish offensive in the north of the country.
At a press conference ahead of more than two hours of talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in southern France on Monday evening, Putin said he supported a plan for international talks to seek a resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, while Macron said their discussions would centre on the crises in Syria and Libya because "Russia has an essential role in these situations".
At a press conference ahead of their talks at the French President's official retreat on the Mediterranean coast on Monday, Emmanuel Macron tackled Russian President Vladimir Putin on the crackdown on recent opposition protests in Moscow, to which the Russian leader spoke of a toll of deaths and injuries in France's 'yellow vest' protests, adding that, 'We wouldn’t want such events to take place in the Russian capital'.
French President Emmanuel Macron will host his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks at the Fort de Bregançon, his official summer retreat in southern France, on Monday, ahead of the G7 leaders' meeting in Biarritz next weekend, from which Russia is excluded.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will end her holiday in Italy with a visit to French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday at the latter's official holiday home at the fort of Brigançon in southern France, when the two are expected to discuss increasing tensions over the stalemate in negotiations to reach a deal before Britain's exit from the European Union next March.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, meeting in Paris on Friday after a week-long dispute over Italy's decision to refuse the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea by NGO ship Aquarius, agreed that the EU should set up migration processing centres in African countries of departure.
Talks to defuse two days of blockades of refineries and fuel depots around France by farmers angry at the importation of palm oil by biofuel plants instead of buying locally produced oilseed crops ended with union officials calling for the protests to continue after their 'disapointment' at government propositions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday, when the two swapped opposing views over the Iranian nuclear programme deal and the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, but did agree on concerns over Iran's growing leverage in the Middle East.
French justice minister Nicole Belloubet on Thursday presented an improved offer on pay and security conditions to unions representing France's 28,000 prison guards who last week began an open-ended strike following a series of assaults by inmates, notably including detained Islamic militants.
