France shifts to the left with Socialist win
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Francois Hollande comfortably defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday 6 May to become France’s new president, with 52 percent of the vote. The Socialist’s lead has been growing in the past week, following a first round of voting that eliminated candidates further to the left and right. They included Marine Le Pen, who outdid her far-right father’s ability to garner votes, before losing to Hollande and Sarkozy in the runoff.
The official result was announced at 20:00 in France, and although polls had been forecasting the result, French media were blocked from posting these. The French interior ministry earlier in the evening gave preliminary results which were not far off the final results.
Swiss media, not bound by French law, reporting polling results during the afternoon and evening.
La Bastille in Paris, long home to left-wing victories, was awash with crowds of cheering Hollande supporters Sunday night.
Both of the final cadidates have promised to balance the budget within five years, but the French appear to have joined the growing ranks of Europeans rebelling against austerity measures.
Greek voters move away from the centre over austerity programmes
Greek voters, who have been the hardest hit by European Union austerity programmes, moved away from the centre in their own voting Sunday, electing far-right and far-left candidates to parliament.
The Socialists in France have not had a president in office since Mitterrand left in 1995 and markets are waiting to hear whether Hollande plans to increase spending; he has promised to tax the wealthy more heavily and to bring back retirement at age 60, but only for those who have worked for 40 years.
The rest of the European community will also be watching closely, as France’s changing face could have an enormous impact on EU policies.
What French and world media are saying: Le Figaro, Le Monde, TF1 television, France and BBC, The Globe & Mail, Irish Times, NY Times, Reuters
Estimates show Hollande with 28-28.8 %, Sarkozy with 26.2-27%
Le Pen’s strength a surprise, outdoing her father with 18.5-20%
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – France was neatly divided Sunday night 22 April by its voters’ leanings, with Socialist Francois Hollande giving the left a tidy lead, taking 28.8 percent in a first round of voting for president according to some exit polls, but centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy getting 26.2 percent. And Marine Le Pen carried the right strongly with 18.5 percent. Figures vary depending on the polls.
Hollande’s score with a near-record 80+ percent of voters turning out, was the highest of any Socialist candidate in a first round since Francois Mitterrand in 1988, according to Le Monde.
The real surprise of the evening was Le Pen’s strength, with 20 percent of the vote, according to exit polls. Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, pulled a surprise for the far right when he came in second in the 2002 presidential race.
France forbids its media to publish any exit or other types of polls between midnight Friday 20 April and this evening at 20:00, when polling stopped, and Swiss media spent much of last week speculating on the role they might play as advance announcers in the Internet age.
Ain’s exit polls show 30 percent voting for Sarkozy, but no figures in at 23:20 for Savoie or Haute-Savoie.
Links to French and Swiss (Fr) sites: Figaro, Le Monde, TF1, RTS
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Candidates in the French presidential election suspended their campaigns following the killing Monday of four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse, as authorities began their search for the assassin.
The country was put on the highest level of alert as authorities began looking for what was probably a single gunman, also suspected in earlier fatal shootings of three soldiers of North African origin last week in nearby Montauban. Authorities are considering various main lines of investigation, including the involvement of a far-right extremist or an Islamist motive.
Bloomberg reports that three soldiers who had been dismissed for neo-Nazi activities from their base in Montauban in 2008 had been considered as potential suspects.
The attacks come at a time of increasingly xenophobic rhetoric in France’s centre and rightist political camps ahead of the first round of elections in April. President Nicolas Sarkozy recently said, “We have too many foreigners on our territory and we can no longer manage to find them accommodation, a job, a school.” Sarkozy is facing a serious challenge from extreme-right leader Martine La Pen, who has a support level of 17 percent in polls.
Campaigning will resume on Wednesday following the funeral of Monday’s victims.
Links to other sites: The Globe and Mail, BBC, TF1
Francois Hollande (photo, Margaux L'Hermite on flickr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - François Hollande is the candidate for president in France, following his strong win Sunday 16 October in the second round of the Socialist Party primaries. His 56.3 percent victory gave him a clear sign of party support, compared to party leader Martine Aubry’s 43.6 percent. She carried only four departments in the north of France, with Hollande having the lead in the rest of the country and building the number of voters he had in the first round of the primaries.
Aubry threw her support firmly behind Hollande after the vote, with estimates for the number of voters at 2.2 to 2.5 million.
Hollande, who represents Correze, in the centre of France, put the accent on youth and education in his acceptance speech, promising to reverse President Nicolas Sarkozy’s school funding cuts while noting that the road ahead to bump Sarkozy promises to be a difficult one. Leftist Liberation notes that if he wins the presidential election he will be only the second Socialist to do so under the Fifth Republic, with another François, Mitterand, as the first.
The low-key new candidate, called Monsieur Normal by French media, is the father of four; his former partner and mother of his children, Ségolène Royal, was the Socialist candidate in 2007.
Links to other sites: Canadian Business, Le Monde (Fre), Liberation (Fre), Guardian
PARIS, FRANCE – France will hold its first presidential election without a Communist candidate since 1974, when Nicholas Sarkozy stands for re-election in November 2012. The Communist Party Saturday appeared to vote overwhelmingly, some 60 percent in unofficial results, for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who will represent the Left Front, which also includes the Parti de Gauche and the Gauche unitaire.
The result was announced before the vote tally was complete, with Le Monde noting that the Communists appear to prefer to line up behind a candidate who has a better chance than their own Marie-Georges Buffet, who won only 1.93 percent of the vote in the previous presidential race.
Francois Mitterand in 1974 was the only candidate for the Left.
Leftist Liberation reports that the Ecologists and the Socialists appear to be warming up to each other, following initial talks at the end of last week to explore 2012 election possibilities for power-sharing.
Fillon’s new cabinet pulls the government to the right
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday dissolved his government when Prime Minister François Fillon handed in his resignation, and Sarkozy then formed a new one, with Fillon remaining as prime minister. The unusual move, since government changes are not normally announced on weekends, came four days after France’s new pension law went into effect, raising the retirement age from 60 to 62, despite weeks of turmoil caused by strikes against the pension plan.
The president promised in June that he would form a new government once the pension law changed.
Fillon has led the government as long as Sarkozy has been in office, since May 2007. His popularity ratings remain well above those of Sarkozy.
Students in France are on a ten-day mid-term break but have vowed to continue opposition to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s controversial pension reform plans, which are set to be approved by the Senate on 27 October. The strikes and demonstrations have paralyzed parts of France, leaving others relatively unscathed.
France’s finance minister, Christine Lagarde, has said that the strikes are costing the French economy up to €400 mn a day and threaten a feeble recovery. Seven out of 12 fuel refineries are still closed, all the country’s fuel depots are open, and the energy minister Jean-Louis Borloo says four out of five petrol stations will be operating normally on Tuesday 26 October.
Links to other sites: Al-Jazeera, BBC, Washington Post
The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has denied that Chancellor Angela Merkel told French President Nicolas Sarkozy she would order the closing of Roma camps in Germany within a few weeks. Sarkozy told a press conference 16 September that Merkel had told him German authorities were to clear Roma camps in the coming weeks and added: “We’ll see how calm German politics will become then.”
The embroglio comes after an EU summit in Brussels was dominated by France’s policy this summer to clear hundreds of illegal Roma camps and deport the people in them to Romania. Merkel and Sarkozy are said not to get along well personally and communicate in poor English.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday was facing the results of weekend regional elections in France, which show a serious erosion of his support from the right. Paris newspaper Le Monde points out that while the elections have no immediate impact on his role or his government, they show that the right has reservations about the president’s actions, his personality and his ability to pull together a majority for 2012 election.
Sarkozy and his celebrity wife, Carla Bruni, were in the news in the election run-up, with tabloids running stories daily about a gossip-based marital affairs rumour. Despite, or perhaps because of the gossip, the turnout for the vote was considerably lower than usual, less than half of voters.
Which way in Davos for the world economy. © 2010 World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Michael Wuertenberg
Davos, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Economic Forum (WEF) runs from 27-31 January in the snowy Swiss resort of Davos, and, ostensibly, the leaders will be discussing the state of the world and ways to improve it. Behind the scenes, they will be networking.
It isn’t every day that so many movers and shakers come together in one place.
The WEF is dedicated to bringing together the “world’s business and political leaders. . . to discuss the issues facing the world today.” It aims to bridge cultures and countries, and bring the best minds and experts to “allow leaders to make decisions that can bring about change for the better,” the Geneva-based non-profit group says on its web site.
World Economic Forum facts and figures
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Former Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin has been acquitted by a Paris court of plotting to discredit the current president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in a case that saw three other defendants judged guilty.
Sarkozy’s name was found on a list of clients of a bank in Luxembourg, clients allegedly linked to illegal arms sales. It was later established that the list was forged in order to slander Sarkozy during his bitter contest with de Villepin to succeed former President Jacques Chirac.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has left the Paris hospital where he spent the night. Sarkozy was under observation after reports of feeling faint while jogging. However, the Elysée Palace denied the claims, saying that Sarkozy suffered a ”minor” nerve complaint in the park of the Palace of Versailles. BBC, Le Monde
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was kept overnight at a French military hospital for observation after feeling faint during a 45-minute jog in Paris Sunday morning. An initial checkup showed no problems, but normal procedure in such cases is to monitor the heart for 24 hours. French media are questioning his “perpetual hyperactivity” and suggesting this could be the cause. CNN, Le Monde, Fre
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, won his sixth sprint finish in the 2009 Tour de France. It was the most prestigious but in some ways also the easiest as his Columbia teammates, especially Australian Mark Renshaw, gave him a big lead into the final 100 metres.
The final day was a traditional affair, at a leisurely pace for much of the stage before a break by seven riders in search of glory.
Le Grand Bornand, France (GenevaLunch) – Younger men are getting ahead of 37-year-old Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, who slipped into fourth place overall Wednesday 22 July as riders took on the challenge of five mountain passes. The two Schleck brothers from Luxembourg, Andy and Frank, who ride for the Saxo bank team are now behind leader Alberto Contador in the overall rankings. Armstrong could not maintain the pace but came back strongly later as he stormed up the final mountain.
Bradley Wiggins, British three time Olympic champion, started the day in third place but slipped back to sixth, although this was not clear to television spectators who were forced to watch an interview with President Sarkozy on the Tour while the riders came in.
Armstrong’s fight to win can be viewed another way, reports Minnpost:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy dived into a festering debate on the use of the burka in France when he addressed the French congress Monday 22 June at Versailles. He said “the problem of the burka is not a religious problem, it’s a problem of liberty, of dignity of women.” Last week a group of parliamentarians led by Communist André Gerin called for an investigation into the use of the burka in France. The issue is fraught because France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, widely estimated to be five million people. The burka is a head-to toe covering worn by women in central Asia, notably in Afghanistan. BBC, Libération (Fre)
[Ed. note: the number of Muslims in France has been disputed, with some statisticians saying it is smaller: l"Express, 2003]
President Nicolas Sarkozy was jeered as he arrived 16 June at the presidential palace in Libreville, Gabon to attend the funeral of former president Omar Bongo, who died last week in a Spanish clinic after 40 years as president of his country. Sarkozy and former French president Jacques Chirac joined 40 other heads of state to lay a wreath on Bongo’s coffin. France, the former colonial power, maintained close relations with Gabon. But in May 2009 a judge in Paris decided to open an investigation of Bongo for corruption. BBC, Le Monde (Fre)
Da Silva, Sarkozy address jobs crisis summit in Geneva
Nicolas Sarkozy (©2009 ILO)
Lula da Silva (©2009 ILO)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Brazil’s President Lula da Silva Monday spoke out against international tax shelters and the deficiencies of a capitalist system that provoked the world economic crisis. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for an increased role for the ILO at the international level, on a par with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank.
The two are among the heads of state participating in a three-day jobs crisis summit in Geneva that opened Monday 15 June.
The summit is part of the International Labour Organization‘s (ILO) annual labour conference, from 3-19 June, and looks to examine ways in which government policies address the labour situation in the economic downturn.
Swiss news weekly L’Hebdo magazine’s 2 June edition features on its cover the murder trial of Cécile Brossard, accused of killing her lover, wealthy French banker Edouard Stern, in 2007. GenevaLunch, a partner of l’Hebdo, brings you the English version in two parts, with an introduction by GL editor Ellen Wallace.
French version © 2009 l’Hebdo
English version © 2009 GenevaLunch (may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission). Translation: Sean Ecker
Background: The trial of Cécile Brossard for murdering Edouard Stern opens in Geneva 10 June, and is expected to run to 19 June. With 30 journalists accredited, it will likely remain in the headlines for the length of the trial. She has admitted to murdering her lover, divorced banker Edouard Stern, one of France’s wealthiest men, who was 50 at the time of his death in February 2005. The killing – four gunshots at his luxurious apartment in central Geneva – sparked enormous media interest at the time. The story was a hot mix: money, world travel, an on-again off-again affair he had with a woman 16 years his junior who came from a middle-class small-town French background while he came from generations of banking wealth, and then there was the death scene, with the victim found dressed in a head to toe latex suit that was part of their sadomasochistic sexual games. And then tales of his manipulative behaviour began to eke out, while other observers questioned his killer’s words.
The trial adds to this two well-known lawyers and public curiosity about the woman who committed the crime. Swiss media have already warmed up for the trial: the Tribune de Genève writes of obscure plots, disinformation being spread and swissinfo (in French) relates a tale of passion, power and sex. Suisse Illustré asks, diabolical Mata Hari or fragile woman? TSR, which is putting three journalists on the story, has a video blog to follow the trial.
The story according to L’Hebdo:
