Links

Former French conservative prime minister François Fillon and his British wife Penelope, who in 2020 were handed five and three years in jail respectively for embezzling public funds in a fake jobs scam in parliament, were on Monday given shorter prison terms by a Paris appeals court.  

French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said Ukraine's application to join the European Union, launched in February soon after Russia's invasion of the country, 'would take several years indeed, probably several decades'.

Re-elected French president Emmanuel Macron's ruling centre-right La République en Marche (LREM) party has been renamed as Renaissance ahead of parliamentary elections to be held in June, which its secretary general said was a nod to 'enlightenment over obscurantism'.

Emmanuel Macron, who was last month re-elected to a second five-year term as president, was officially sworn in on Saturday, when he gave a short speech promising to act with 'respect' and 'consideration' in a 'new method' of governance.

The French Socialist Party has agreed in principle, ahead of a final decision by its national committee, to engage in June's parliamentary elections as part of a leftwing alliance led by the radical-left LFI party and which also includes the Greens and communists. 

Household spending in France fell by 1.3% in March, capping a first trimester that saw gross domestic product reaching a standstill, raising fears that the country may be on the verge of a period of 'stagflation' – a term designating a combination of stagnant or weak economic growth and enduring high inflation.

Régine, credited with having created the disco format of nightclubs in the 1950s in France, who later opened a chain of nightclubs attracting the wealthy and famous across the globe, and who was also a successful singer and occasional actress, has died at the age of 92.

Most protests were peaceful but violence broke out in Paris, where police  made 29 arrests, interior minister Gérald Darmanin said.

French president's pledge to offer more backing came during a one-hour telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

The annual May Day protests may be a taste of newly re-elected Emmanuel Macron may expect when he presses ahead with pro-business reforms, including a plan to push back retirement age.