In March and April health and safety inspectors stopped work at three high-profile Olympic sites because of safety concerns. The officials decided that parts of the sites, at Versailles, the Place de la Concorde in Paris and the Eiffel Tower, were too dangerous for workers. Work has since resumed and the organisers say the work interruptions have not affected their scheduled timetable for the Games which start in July. But as Dan Israel reports, health and safety officials are now keeping a close eye on the company involved, GL Events, whose boss was one of the first backers of Emmanuel Macron's bid to become president.
A judge close to justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, and who is suspected of having been compromised by the Corsican mafia and of having misused more than 100,000 euros of public money, was remanded in custody in the early hours of Saturday April 6th. Hélène Gerhards – who denies any wrongdoing - had earlier been formally placed under investigation for some ten alleged offences as the judicial probe into the case continues. As Fabrice Arfi reports, it is unprecedented for a serving French judge to be remanded in custody in this way.
Prince Albert II of Monaco is facing the biggest internal crisis this city-state has known for many years, against a backdrop of endemic corruption and a merciless war between rival clans. Fabrice Arfi and Antton Rouget report on the claims and counterclaims being made inside this tiny but ultra-wealthy principality.
The nationwide protest movement by French farmers that began earlier this year erupted from long-simmering unrest over falling incomes and rising costs. But among other key grievances they expressed are the constraints of environmental regulations, which are enforced by the inspectors of the French Office for Biodiversity, the OFB. The inspectors have become a main focus of the anger, whipped up by the largest farmers union, the FNSEA, and entertained by the centre-right government keen to appease the revolt ahead of European Parliament elections in June. Many inspectors have received instructions to suspend their policing of farmland, while their powers and practices are now the subject of review. “We’ve been thrown to the wolves,” said one OFB union official.
The coach at an amateur club in south-west France, who had been accused of having prayed in a changing room before and after a key cup match, was effectively dismissed from his position last year without any normal disciplinary proceedings being taken against him. According to Mediapart's information, state grants to the club were suspended until the club agreed not to renew his membership registration. David Perrotin reports.
The emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, made a two-day state visit to Paris earlier this week. French government documents drawn up to prepare for the trip – seen by Mediapart - show the concessions that the French presidency was prepared to grant in order to curry favour with the head of the gas-rich emirate. The visit also came against the backdrop of the crisis in Gaza in which Qatar is playing a major mediation role. France was rewarded with the announcement that Qatar, which already has substantial interests in the country including the ownership of Paris Saint-Germain football club, will now invest a further ten billion euros here. Yann Philippin and Yunnes Abzouz report.
The anti-terrorism branch of the French prosecution services this month recommended that the cement manufacturer Lafarge, and several of its former directors, be sent for trial on charges of “financing terrorism” and the “non-respect of international financial sanctions” over payments made between 2013 and 2014 to several terrorist groups, including Islamic State, to maintain the activities of its cement production plant in Syria. Mediapart has studied the 275-page document issued by the prosecution services, in which it dismisses the claims of several of the accused that France’s secret services and foreign affairs ministry were complicit in the deals made with the terrorist organisations. Fabrice Arfi reports.
In 2015 France came under a series of bloody terrorist attacks from jihadists. But at the same time an agent from France's domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, was stealing money from a fund that had been set up to pay hackers who were discreetly infiltrating jihadist networks on the nation's behalf. Though the case did eventually go to court, the French secret services have been very reluctant to reveal details of this embarrassing episode. Matthieu Suc reports.
Three weeks ago Philippe Vigier lost his job as France's minister for overseas territories when a new government was formed under prime minister Gabriel Attal. But according to Mediapart's information, the ex-minister has still been using his former ministerial official residence, car and driver despite his removal from office. He has also organised “private dinners” at his old ministry, a practice which has astonished former colleagues. Antton Rouget and Ellen Salvi report.
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.
