France General Discussion

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Surprised the bureaucrats allowed "Breizh" to be on there. It was already quite a fight to get the Gwenn ha du on there over a stupid bureaucratic regional logo (though the current one is much more symbolic and miles better than the old one).

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News from FNland. Marine Le Pen, MEP representing the Ile-de-France EU constituency, has carpetbagged to the North-West constituency (Nord, Picardie etc) to be the top candidate on the 2009 FN list and where she stands a better chance of winning re-election (she wouldn't stand a chance running again in Paris). However, this has pissed off her rival and one of the two current FN MEPs for North-West, Carl Lang, who was the top candidate there in 2004. He is now running a dissident FN list (while technically staying a FN member) against the official FN list, which will be led by Marine Le Pen.

Remember, a list needs 5% of the votes in a constituency to be eligible for a seat.

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Will Le Pen be Jean-Marie's successor?

Possibly. IIRC, she remains by far the most popular of all potential contenders (Gollnisch, Lang). I don't know if Louis Aliot will run or not. Probably not since he's close to Marine.


Ah, found something else from FNland. Carl Lang is trying to get Jean-Claude Martinez to run against Louis Aliot in the South-West.

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The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

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The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

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The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

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The UMP deputy for Moselle-9 has committed suicide after killing a woman.

When's the by-election?

There is no by-election.

Why not?

Suppleants take over when a deputy dies. This has already happened a few times in the 13th legislature.

Then what are by-elections for?

Resignations, invalid original elections.

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Trade union "professional" elections (technically, prud'homale elections) were held in France yesterday. Turnout was 24.76.

Result for the "Collège des Salariés" (workers), where the major trade unions run (the employers college has little known unions)

CGT 33.76 (+1.43). General Confederation of Labour. Second-largest trade union in terms of members, and historically the PCF trade union, although the two are separate since the '90's. Its leader has long hair and looks like he hasn't taken a shower in years.
CFDT 21.67 (-3.56). French Democratic Confederation of Labour. Biggest trade union in terms of members, and historically closer to the PSU and later PS.
FO 15.68 (-2.6). Force Ouvrière. Founded in 1948 by CGT members opposed to the close alliance with the PCF. Sceptical about the Common Programme and PCF ministers in the Mauroy government. Independent trade union, really. I call it Farce Ouvrière (Worker's Farce).
CFTC 8.64 (-1.01). French Confederation of Christian Workers. Very old trade union, from which the CFDT split in 1964. Historically influential in metallurgy.
CFE-CGC 8.17 (+1.16). French Confederation of Management - General Confederation of Executives. The trade union of cadres (management/executives).
UNSA 6.17 (+1.18). Union nationale des syndicats autonomes. New trade union founded in '93.
Solidaires 3.78 (+2.27). Left-wing, anti-globalization trade union.
Others 1.4 (+0.21)

Maybe I'll make a map.

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Talks of a mini cabinet shuffle, according to Roger Karoutchi, in 3-4 days. Xavier Bertrand would leave the government to focus on his job as UMP leader, and Brice Hortefeux would replace him in Labour. Eric Besson, the former Socialist, would leave his Secretary of State for prospective portfolio to replace Hortefeux in Immigration and National Identity.

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Talks of a mini cabinet shuffle, according to Roger Karoutchi, in 3-4 days. Xavier Bertrand would leave the government to focus on his job as UMP leader, and Brice Hortefeux would replace him in Labour. Eric Besson, the former Socialist, would leave his Secretary of State for prospective portfolio to replace Hortefeux in Immigration and National Identity.

And Bruno Retailleau, MPF Senator from Vendée would take Besson's spot in prospective (mainly, a post dealing with interwebs, technology, telly, downloading and so forth).

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I don't like France. (Just its President and First Lady)

Any chance you'll ever contribute something on this forum?

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Results of the so-called "mini-shuffle"

As expected, Hortefeux takes Bertrand's Social Affairs/Labour portfolio, and Besson takes Immigration/National Identity (his focus is, apparently, on changing the ministry's negative image). Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet moves from Secretary of State for Ecology etc. (under Borloo) to take Besson's job as (get ready for this) Secretary of State for Economic Prospective, Evaluation of Public Policies, and Development of the Digital Economy.

Christine Boutin, Minister of Housing and the City loses the "City" part, which goes to Hortefeux. Fadela Amara, Secretary of State for Urban Policies, is now under Hortefeux.

According to Fillon, Retailleau, who was indeed favourite for Economic Prospective was dropped because the Viscount got pissed. According to Fillon, the Viscount was the author of a scène de ménage (roughly, household feud). And apparently Retailleau is not happy that he wasn't chosen.

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Everybody's favourite French politician is making headlines again!

The de Villiers family rape scandal is making some news again. A few years ago, Laurent, one of the Viscount's sons, accused his brother, Guillaume, of raping him. In June 2007, Laurent said Guillaume had asked for forgiveness, but in November 2007 he said that his family told him to lie. The Viscount is denouncing a conspiracy, but the rest of the family is strongly behind Guillaume. Laurent accuses them of treason etc.

In more upbeat news, the UMP is apparently considering changing its name. Just a rumour, of course. There was a similar one in 2004, where they wanted to change the name to The Republicans (roflmao).

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La Marseillaise sang at Assemblée National by PS deputies.

The thought of people like Arnaud Montebourg singing scares me.

Anyone have a video of when they sang La Marseillaise? I'd love to hear it.

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The Assembly has passed the parliamentary procedural reform, the very controversial one which was the cause of the PS becoming a choir last week. They boycotted the vote.

Breakdown:

Assembly

UMP 283 in favour, 1 abstaining (Jacques Myard, eurosceptic and pro-death penalty guy), 1 non-voting (Accoyer)
Socialist, PRG, MRC 9 against (all PRG)
GDR (Commies + Greenies) 21 against
NC 18 in favour
NI, MoDem, DLR 7 against (MoDem, MPF, DLR, 1-ex UMP Gaullist)

339 voting, 338 valid votes, majority of 170. 301 in favour, 37 against.

The Senate will also vote.

The Assembly also rejected a NCM proposed by the PS, supported by Bayrou. The SRC, GDR groups voted against and so did the MoDem. It received 231 votes, it needed 289 to pass.

The FN infighting also continued today, with two FN regional councillors in IDF, Martine Lehideux and Martial Bild leaving the FN group in the regional council. It is presided by Marine Le Pen, whom they had asked to leave the presidency of the group since she wasn't running in IDF for the European elections, and she refused. Bild and Lehideux also said that 3 to 4 other top FN figures in IDF, Myriam Baeckeroot, Michel Bayvet, and Michel de Rostolan would leave. Jean-François Touzé could also leave. Bild led the FN list in Paris for last years local elections, and has also decided to leave the party itself entirely. Yay for FN divisions!

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The PS has adopted a special logo for their version of the plan de relance (economic recovery plan). How so very ugly.

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The PG's founding convention finished today in the Val-de-Marne. They talked a lot about their wet dream, le front de gauche (left-wing front). Apparently, there were some delegates from the PCF and the NPA.

A newsclip showed the cliche lefties singing L'Internationale with their raised fists. Looked cool, but also hilarious, considering it's 2008! But then, the French left is still stuck in the days of the Soviet Union and they still have to sing L'Internationale. Didn't the PS itself still sing it until 2006 or 2007?

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It's a busy time on the left in France, with yet another founding congress. This time, the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), Besancenot's political machine, died today. The New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) replaces it. The NPA won't be a Trot party (officially), and it will not be a member of the Trot Fourth Internationale.

The NPA is just a temporary name, and we should know the new name by Saturday! (It's sad that I'm all happy about a new name for a Trot party).

Already, the NPA is off to a good start, claiming 9,000 members, a lot more than the LCR had. It is also at around 10% in polls for the June EU elections.


Also, the midget was on TV tonight.

In other news, the drug addict (Segogo Royal) wants to organize another Fête de la fraternité, where she acts like a retard/druggie in public with her fans.

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By Segolène Royal, on forums, we find fans who seem to see her as a kind of Messiah, sounds they just wait for her words in order to do what she says, the fact that she's in photo everywhere on it go in that sens.

Somehow I'm not surprised that her fan base is as mentally unstable as she is.

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The PS site is one of the worst political party site I've seen. I'm not that surprised though, that a party lacking unity, structure and always fighting over words has a crap site. Another interesting thing, I've never been able to find a link to a political platform on the PS website. Proof that they don't have one.

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The UMP and the Elysee's websites have been a lot more modern and clean since Sarkozy took over. They seem to have entered the age of internet.

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I can't wait.

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The NPA is just a temporary name, and we should know the new name by Saturday!

The delegates voted 316-270 to keep the name NPA rather than adopt the name PAR (Revolutionary Anticapitalist Party).

Tinpot name.

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Segolene Royal wants to be in charge of the DOM-TOMs in the PS, in the wake of the massive strikes in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Her reason: She lived three years in Martinique. 1960-1963, or from age 7 to 10. Now, that's some real experience!

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Segolene Royal wants to be in charge of the DOM-TOMs in the PS, in the wake of the massive strikes in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Her reason: She lived three years in Martinique. 1960-1963, or from age 7 to 10. Now, that's some real experience!

No, no, that's not her reason, and you probably knows that the reason is surely before in your post (underlined).

No. She actually boasted her 3 years in Martinique as a reason she should get it.

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Segolene Royal wants to be in charge of the DOM-TOMs in the PS, in the wake of the massive strikes in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Her reason: She lived three years in Martinique. 1960-1963, or from age 7 to 10. Now, that's some real experience!

No, no, that's not her reason, and you probably knows that the reason is surely before in your post (underlined).

No. She actually boasted her 3 years in Martinique as a reason she should get it.

Yeah, but we both know that's just the official reason. Right?

That said, she dared claiming it for the reason you quoted!

(Luckily it has not a big media noise, otherwise, I wonder how people in French Antilles would appreciate it, those who are in genuine problems).

She wants a job. Poitou-Charentes must be too boring.

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BTW, GREAT NEWS!

The MoI gnomes have decided to keep the departmental number on the new license plates!

The owner will be free to choose the departmental number he wishes, though. The freedom haters wanted to remove the numbers from license plates.

35!

Great news!

Though it seems that the departmental number won't be a part of the license plate number; it will be shown separately on the right with the regional flag/logo (like the F and the EU logo on the left).

Final map of the regional logos:



Apparently there was some resistance to putting the gwenn ha du on the Breton licence plates.

Which Breton-haters were opposed to the Gwenn ha du on our license plates?

Anyways.

It's good to see that Bretagne is, along with Corse, the only region not to use the awful regional logos (however, they're better than the older ones, which were truly awful). It is also excellent news that Breton license plates will not only be free of the logo, but will also be bilingual French-Breton. I'm surprised that went through.

Here are the schemas for the new license plates by region.

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The Balladur Commission on institutional reforms has published its report today.

Firstly, it calls for 15 regions in metro France instead of the current 22. Unite the Normandies (good, very good); merge Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne; Franche-Comté and Bourgogne; divide Poitou-Charentes and Picardie between various regions, and "redistrict" Ile-de-France. As if French regions weren't awful already.

However, no department-region mergers, but they want the creation of a "territorial councillor". They also want to create mass confusion for cantonal voting, to imitate the municipal system, by keeping the current two-round system in rural cantons, but list PR in urban areas, which probably means destroying inner city cantons.

Metropolitan areas would have even greater powers, taking some departmental powers.

Controversially, the creation of a Grand Paris, or Greater Paris, similar to the GLA in London. Greater Paris would merge the 75, 92, 93, and 94 departments into one department/commune. It would be administered by a 135 member council, whose members would be elected in the same way that the current Council of Paris is elected (arrondissements).

If adopted, it would enter into force by 2014, so after the 2010 regional elections. The terms of the regional legislatures elected in 2010 could potentially be shortened to 4 years instead of 6 years.