In late February 2014, it was discovered that Nicolas Sarkozy’s close aide during his presidency, Patrick Buisson, had secretly recorded hundreds of hours of conversations with the then-president and others…
François Hollande joins a long tradition of French Fifth republic Presidents who have had affairs. Widespread attachment to France’s privacy laws, and a press corps that generally agrees with them, combined…
Rumours of an affair have raised Hollande’s dander.
AP Photo/Francois Mori
Liberté, égalité, infidélité. The three stout pillars of the French constitution. Mitterrand, Chirac, Sarkozy, and now François Hollande: it’s a grand tradition – and if you tot their conquests up they…
Political commentators are beginning to tire of saying that things can’t get any worse for French Socialist president François Hollande and his government. And yet, catastrophe after catastrophe, things…
‘Why don’t you borrow my cell, Angela, it’s secure…’
Cyrus Farivar
Revelations about the extent of the American National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) global communications surveillance have raised considerable media and political attention. The fact that the NSA not only…
While Barack Obama was getting the cold shoulder from Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg late last week, the mood was a great deal more cordial at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris as US secretary of state, John…
Following the EU summit in Brussels this week, it seems eurobonds are back on the agenda. But will it be what it needed to save the Eurozone?
AAP
The special EU summit held in Brussels on Wednesday revamped the discussion on Eurobonds (i.e. the issuance of common government bonds to pool the Eurozone debt liability) as a possible option to address…
Austerity’s political cheer squad: but is the game over? G8 countries have committed to growth by setting sights on employment.
The lingering commitment to austerity of leading Western politicians in the face of impending economic tragedy is beyond belief. The dismal science is a sobriquet often wrongly applied to economics, but…
German chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s new President Francois Hollande meet to discuss Europe’s economic woes.
EPA/Rainer Jensen
Europe is in economic dire straits and the two most powerful economies on the continent are, at least on paper, led by individuals with considerable differences. The previous French President Nicolas Sarkozy…
With Greek leaders still unable to form government more than five days after the election, the prospect of Greeks returning to the polls is strengthening.
The democratic executions of Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Lucas Papademos in Greece means the body count of European leaders guillotined by angry electorates has risen to 12. Sarkozy and Papademos join…
This presidency has not even an hour for a honeymoon period.
EPA Guillaume Horcajuelo
So what of the winner of the recent presidential elections on 6 May in France? Francois Hollande celebrated his victory in his adopted local region, Tulle, not in flashy Paris. Hollande claims to want…
Francois Hollande has a tough challenge ahead, having won the French presidency.
EPA/Guillaume Horcajuelo
Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has won the French presidential election with 52% of the vote, ousting sitting president Nicolas Sarkozy. In hindsight, there have been few surprises in this campaign…
Marine Le Pen’s ideology cannot be defined simply as “right wing”.
EPA/Ian Langsdon
Marine Le Pen’s ability to attract nearly a fifth of the vote in the first round of the French presidential election was a resounding victory for her party. While Le Pen’s Front National (FN) did not secure…
Francois Hollande will struggle to consolidate his left-wing base and tackle Europe’s economic woes.
AAP/Ian Langsdon
France went to sleep last weekend knowing that almost a fifth of those who felt compelled to vote in the first round of the presidential election chose a party formed on an openly neo-fascist platform…