Rebuke for breaking European Union rules that require strict financial discipline comes two weeks before French voters head to the polls for parliamentary elections.
Former French socialist president François Hollande, 69, has announced he will stand in snap general elections for the leftwing coalition, the New Popular Front, in his political fiefdom of Tulle, south-west France.
Following comments at a press conference by the France national football team forward Marcus Thuram, who urged people in France to "fight daily" to prevent the far-right from gaining power in snap elections called by Emmanuel Macron, the French football federation has asked the media not to ask questions about political affairs during the Euro 2024 competition being played in Germany.
The socialists, communists, radical-left and greeens have formed a coalition 'New Popular Front', a reference to the 1936-1938 alliance of the Left, and will field candidates in all 577 parliamentary constituencies in the snap elections called by Emmanuel Macron for June 30th and July 7th, when the far-right hopes to gain an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
Françoise Hardy, one of France's most popular and talented singers, who first found fame in France and abroad in the early 1960s, has died at the age of 80.