by fnfeurope

Five Years after the Bataclan Attack – Fear of Terror and Division Still Characterise France Today

Original posted by pepsiline on Flickr

90 people were killed in the attacks at the concert hall in the 11th arrondissement in Paris on 13 November 2015. Although the scars of the survivors and relatives are slowly healing, the recent attacks on the teacher Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and on visitors to a church in Nice in the south of France are catapulting Islamist terror back onto the agenda of French politics. Once again, President Emmanuel Macron has to prove that France will not give in to the attacks of the Republic’s enemies.

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by fnfeurope

Macron’s Crisis Policy on Trial

Besides Belgium, France has been hit particularly hard by the second wave of the corona pandemic. As a result, the government has imposed a strict curfew for the second time. All “non-essential” shops are closed until 1 December, with a high likelihood of extension. This concerns companies especially in the pre-Christmas period, which in some industries defines the annual revenu. Updates to the 2020 forecasts have shown that the second lockdown is expected to reduce France’s GDP by 11 instead of 10 percentage points. By way of comparison, the forecast for GDP decline in Germany is 5.5 percentage points for the entire year of 2020.

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by fnfeurope

Senate Elections in France: LREM Better Than Expected, Greens on the Rise

This Sunday, the Senate elections were held under the impact of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic in France. In the run-up to the elections, it was uncertain whether the party of French President Emanuel Macron “LREM” (“La République en Marche”) would suffer another defeat after the poor results of last municipal elections in June this year.

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by fnfeurope

In the Shadow of the French Senate Elections – Another Defeat for Emmanuel Macron?

By Jeanette Süß, with the support of Oscar Lange

When Emmanuel Macron was elected French President by a large majority on 7 May 2017 and his party La République En Marche (“LREM”) won elections in the National Assembly, many observers were amazed by this strong performance. A political movement that had so openly campaigned for election with classic liberal policy proposals such as simplifying the bureaucracy for companies or demands for tax cuts was not expected to achieve this success in France, where the role of the state is uncontested. The German liberals, too, had well-founded hopes at that time for a resurgence of political liberalism on the old continent.

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by fnfeurope

Local Elections in France: A Defeat for Macrons La République en Marche

Op-ed by Alexandre Robinet-Borgomano

Germany and France are demonstratively moving closer together: President Macron and Chancellor Merkel have jointly presented a package for the economic recovery of Europe due to the Corona pandemic. On Monday, two days before the German EU Council Presidency, both heads of states met at the government guesthouse in Meseberg, not far from Berlin. For Emanuel Macron, the visit was also an opportunity to cast his challenging political situation at home in a different light after his political movement La République En Marche (LREM) suffered a crushing defeat in the local elections.

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