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France Tag

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 08, 2017 14 Comments
Nowhere has the victory of the establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election been cheered more fervently than in Berlin and Brussels. Last night, President-elect Macron received a ‘warm call’ from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French news agency AFP reported. "Congratulations, Emmanuel Macron. Your victory is a victory for a strong and united Europe and for French-German friendship," Merkel's spokesman said on Twitter. Merkel's Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier was quoted saying “[Macron’s] success is a great opportunity for Franco-German friendship.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 07, 2017 21 Comments
France's hotly contested presidential election showdown between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen sees historically low voter turnout.  Macron, the clear lead in exit polls, has won the election and will be France's next president. Le Pen has phoned Macron to concede and to congratulate him. The Telegraph reports:
Mr Macron has won the election with a substantial majority of 65 per cent, according to the latest exit polls. France's polling agencies say that makes him the victor, and the next president of France.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 05, 2017 12 Comments
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's party En Marche claims hackers have hit the campaign just two days before the country hits the polls. Reuters reported:
Some nine gigabytes of data were posted by a user called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, a document-sharing site that allows anonymous posting. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or if any of them were genuine.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 05, 2017 16 Comments
Obama endorsed Emmanuel Macron for President of France yesterday in the tightly contested election which will take place this weekend. Obama's record on involving himself in the affairs of other countries might have Marine Le Pen's team smiling. USA Today reported:
French candidate Emmanuel Macron endorsed by Barack Obama Former president Barack Obama, who is wildly popular in France, has formally endorsed French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist he calls the candidate of "hope."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 04, 2017 17 Comments
"France will be led by a woman, either me or Angela Merkel," Marine Le Pen said last night as she clashed with the pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron in the final debate ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off. Le Pen's statement points to the long shadow of the German Chancellor that looms large over the establishment candidate Macron. Merkel, hoping to boost Macron's chances, had endorsed him last week, praising his "consistently pro-European policy." "I would be very pleased if Emmanuel Macron were to win, because he stands for consistently pro-European policy," Merkel said in an interview last week, claiming that he will be a "strong president for France" and "his victory would be a good sign for the political center, whose strength we would like to maintain here in Germany, as well."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 24, 2017 8 Comments
The European Union and German establishment are rallying behind French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron after he emerged as the front runner in the first round of the French presidential vote. Pro-EU Macron and nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen have both advanced to the presidential runoff set for May 7, secured 23.7 and 21.7 percent of votes respectively. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman praised Marcon's "firm course for a strong EU" and congratulated him on his preliminary victory, wishing him "all the best for the next two weeks." German Foreign Minister Sigmar endorsed Marcon saying, "I am sure that he will be the next French president." Minister Sigmar called him the “only pro-European candidate” in the French presidential race.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 23, 2017 19 Comments
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and Front National's Marine Le Pen have qualified for the second round in the French presidential election securing 23.7 and 21.7 percent of votes respectively, French news agency AFP reports. Conservative François Fillon conceded defeat after getting 19.5 percent of the votes. Fillon endorsed Macron and called his supporters to vote for his rival in the final round. A fact that should cheer liberals and feminists alike: with today's result, France is just one step away from getting its first female president.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 20, 2017 3 Comments
A gunman opened fire on the famous Champs-Élysées in Paris and killed one police officer before being killed himself. The attack left two other people seriously injured. ISIS immediately claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The assault began around 9 p.m., an Interior Ministry spokesman said, when a car pulled alongside a police patrol and the gunman jumped out wielding an automatic rifle. Police returned fire, killing the gunman, according to authorities.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 19, 2017 26 Comments
Labelled a "surging dark horse" candidate in France's presidential election, communist Jean-Luc Mélenchon has a new proposal that he hopes will maintain his momentum:  a 100% tax on the rich.  Mélenchon is running as the candidate of the "Unbowed France political movement, in an alliance with the French Communist Party." Mélenchon is a colorful character whose repertoire includes showing up at rallies via hologram, enabling him to "appear" at seven rallies at once.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 18, 2017 7 Comments
As France heads to the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, Front National's candidate Marine Le Pen vows to put an end to the Open Borders Policy for illegal migrants. "Mass immigration is not an opportunity for France, it's a tragedy for France," Le Pen told her supporters. "The French sometimes have fewer rights than foreigners -- even illegal ones." Defending her campaign promise to take France out of the European Union, Le Pen said, "France has the right to regain its national sovereignty, its freedom to decide for itself."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 18, 2017 12 Comments
A man on the French terror watch list shot and wounded a police officer in northern Paris before traveling to Orly airport where he tackled a female soldier and tried to take her rifle.  She was among the French soldiers on anti-terror patrols of the airport.  She did not release her weapon to the terrorist, and he was subsequently shot and killed by other soldiers. The dead terrorist has been identified as Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a radicalized Muslim whose apartment was among those searched following the coordinated Paris terror attacks in November 2015.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 08, 2017 4 Comments
The news has lately shown steady and growing markets, pushing optimism to new heights. But is it worth it? Central banks around the world have gone into self preservation mode. While the subject is not sexy, everyone should have information on the financial market. It's another reminder how fragile the global economy remains:
These central banks are showing crisis-like behavior to protect their currencies even in the absence of obvious trouble. This exposes them to losses if their currencies fail to weaken on their own. It also raises doubts as to how long they can keep this up in an era when economic and political uncertainties appear to be a lasting feature of the world economy.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 01, 2017 14 Comments
Some in France would love if former President Barack Obama ran for president. Again. But this time in France. Obama is ineligible since he's a US citizens, but that's not stopping these people. 42,000 French citizens have signed a petition to persuade him to run for president.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on February 14, 2017 13 Comments
With five weeks to go before Dutch elections, politian Geert Wilders' Party of Freedom (PVV) is leading all the major polls with just below 20 percent of the votes. If Wilders' PVV manages to emerge as the single largest party, as polls currently suggest, the 53 year old Dutch politician could be called to build the next coalition government with him as Prime Minister. Capitalising on last year's Brexit vote and President Trump's victory in the U.S. election, Wilders is campaigning with the slogan "The Netherlands is ours again." His 11-point programme aims to "de-Islamise" the country and end the E.U.-mandated Open Borders Policy.
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