France news and discussions

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‘We want it to come alive’: architect’s plan to transform Notre Dame area
Sat 2 Jul 2022

For most of the last year, the Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets could be found walking purposefully around the Île de la Cité in central Paris staring at and thinking about Notre Dame Cathedral.

On a blazing hot day in the French capital he is back there, pointing at the landmark, still shrouded in scaffolding after it was ravaged by a devastating fire in April 2019.

“I’ve done this so often, she’s like an old friend,” Smets says. “This is the very cradle of Paris, the heart of the city.”

All the staring and thinking has paid off now for Smets, who this week won an international competition to redesign the area around the cathedral.

His ambitious plan, which garnered the unanimous support of the jury, includes more trees, a clever cooling system for the large area in front of the cathedral during heatwaves and a new reception centre and archaeological museum in the now-abandoned car park underneath the main square opening on to the banks of the Seine.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... area-paris
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France in midst of 4th heat wave amid historic drought
Source: AP
PARIS (AP) — France was in the midst of its fourth heat wave of the year Monday as the country faces what the government warned is its worst drought on record.

National weather agency Meteo France said the heat wave began in the south and is expected to spread across the country and last until the weekend.

Overall, the southern half of France expects daytime temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) ad won’t drop at night below 20 C (68 F).

The high temperatures aren’t helping firefighters battling a wildfire in the Chartreuse Mountains near the Alps in eastern France, where authorities have evacuated around 140 people.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/france-droug ... f9b74f33e3
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‘Serious problem’ if France and UK can’t tell if they are friends or enemies, says Macron

Fri 26 Aug 2022 11.50 BST

Emmanuel Macron has suggested France and Britain may be heading for “serious problems” after Liz Truss told the penultimate Conservative leadership hustings that “the jury is still out” on whether the French president was “friend or foe”.

Asked for his response to the remarks, Macron, on an official visit to Algeria, said it was “not good to lose your bearings. Words have a meaning: friend, foe.”

If he was asked the same question, he said: “I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”

“France is a friend of the British people,” Macron said. “If France and Britain cannot say whether they are friends or enemies … then we are headed for serious problems.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -liz-truss


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Oil Worker Strikes Leave France Running on Empty and Test Weakened Macron
by Cain Burdeau
October 14, 2022

Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — A season of protests has returned to France and put President Emmanuel Macron’s weakened government on the back foot as it tries to quell stubborn refinery worker strikes now broadening into other sectors.

For the past two weeks, French motorists have been hit by a nationwide shortage of fuel following a decision by workers at key oil refineries to go on strike for better wages.

This petrol crisis comes at a volatile moment as fuel prices soar globally, largely due to the war in Ukraine, and as the global economy teeters on the brink of recession.

Scenes reminiscent of the 1970s oil crisis are playing out at gas stations across France as motorists wait for hours in snaking lines to fill up their vehicles. It’s caused chaos for many taxis, courier services, ambulances, truck companies and anyone relying on a vehicle.

Reports show that one out of three French gas stations is low on petrol and many have completely run dry. The labor strikes have taken about 60% of France’s oil supply offline.
Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/oil-wor ... d-macron/
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Tens of Thousands March in Paris to Protest Cost-of-Living Crisis and Climate Inaction
by Julia Conley
October 17, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) A march including tens of thousands of people in Paris on Sunday represented a "great convergence" of crises facing the French public and President Emmanuel Macron's government, said progressive leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the left-wing party France Unbowed and an organizer of the massive protest.

Demanding a greater investment in climate action, higher wages, and an emergency freeze on the prices of groceries, rent, and energy, people marched from the Place de la Nation to the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris as the National Assembly struggles to pass a budget for next year and strikes at oil refineries are expected to spread to the transportation sector this week.

Four months after Macron lost his majority in the National Assembly and France Unbowed formed a coalition with other center-left parties, Mélenchon told the crowd that the president's government is descending into "chaos."

"If you are in difficulty or in misery, it is exclusively because the correlation of forces between those who have everything and those who have little, is in favor of those who have everything," Mélenchon said, calling on protesters to "not allow themselves to be divided by their skin color, their religion, political affiliation or indifference."

"Another life is possible, free from the spoils of profit," he added, "Another world is possible, free from the frenzy of capitalist productivism. With what we are doing today, we are designing a new Popular Front."
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... -inaction


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wjfox wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 12:44 pm
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Climate Activists Tell Macron to Stop Using Trade Rules to Thwart Clean Energy
by Kenny Stancil
December 2, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Environmental campaigners implored French President Emmanuel Macron to stop inhibiting sorely needed climate action by weaponizing global trade rules during a Thursday night protest outside the White House, where U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Macron for the first state visit of his tenure.

In a nod to the ongoing World Cup, activists donning referee outfits and red cards called on Macron to stop threatening to launch a trade dispute against domestic electric vehicle manufacturing incentives, renewable energy tax credits, and other green provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed earlier this year by the U.S. Congress.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... an-energy
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