Far-Right leader Marine Le Pen could become French president in May, riding the same wave of anti-establishment resentment which led to Donald Trump’s victory, according to several former prime ministers. Former conservative prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said: ‘Madame Le Pen could be elected.’ Another former premier, the Socialist Manuel Valls, has also warned of the ‘danger’ … Read more
France has warned Russia against meddling in its elections after American intelligence accused Moscow hackers of helping Donald Trump win the US presidency. Foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault threatened ‘retaliatory measures’ in the event of interference in upcoming presidential elections in April. His remarks come as aides to one of the leading French candidates this week … Read more
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen will visit Lebanon next week for talks with leaders of Paris’s former mandate territory, a Lebanese government source said Wednesday. “Madame Le Pen will be in Beirut on the 19th and 20th, and will meet (President Michel) Aoun and (Prime Minister Saad) Hariri on Monday,” the source told AFP, … Read more
French independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is forecast to win the race to the Elysee Palace, beating with a large lead his rival Marine Le Pen, a survey showed on Wednesday. An opinionway poll for Les Echos newspaper and Radio Classique showed that in the first round of voting scheduled for April 23, the former … Read more
The increasingly unpredictable French presidential election race unnerved European financial markets on Tuesday, tipping the euro towards its biggest fall this year and driving investors away from French government bonds. The premium investors demand for buying French 10-year government bonds FR10YT=TWEB over German 10-year bonds DE10YT=TWEB rose to 78 basis points, the highest level since … Read more
A French judge has ordered ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial in an illegal campaign finance case. Mr Sarkozy faces accusations that his party falsified accounts in order to hide 18m euros (£15m; $20m) of campaign spending in 2012. Mr Sarkozy has repeatedly denied that he was aware of the overspending. He lost the 2012 … Read more
French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon will launch a fightback on Monday against the fake-job scandal that threatens his campaign, a source close to him said. “Counter-attack,” the source said in a text message. Fillon “plans to tell the truth to the French people”, when he speaks at his campaign headquarters at 4 pm (1500 … Read more
Donald Trump’s first two weeks in office have left some European politicians leaders aghast but are drawing cheers from France’s far-right National Front (FN) as its leader Marine Le Pen launches her own bid for power. Buoyed by Trump’s election and Britain’s shock ‘Brexit’ vote to quit the European Union, the anti-immigration, anti-EU FN hopes … Read more
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has launched her presidential election manifesto with a twin attack on globalisation and radical Islam. The candidate of the National Front (FN) told supporters in the eastern city of Lyon that globalisation was slowly choking communities to death. Her party is promising to offer France a referendum on EU … Read more
A European Parliament deadline for France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen to return more than €300,000(£257,000; $321,000) it says she has misspent, has passed. The presidential candidate had until midnight to repay the money, but said she had no intention of doing so. The parliament says she wrongly used the funds to pay an aide … Read more
France says it was the subject of 24,000 cyber-attacks against defence targets last year. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said such attacks were doubling every year and this year’s presidential elections could be targeted. He said it would “naive” to think that France was immune to the type of cyber-campaign that targeted the US election, … Read more
The political tumult that rocked the world in 2016 might be an appetizer for 2017. Crucial elections loom this year in France and Germany, where the same anti-establishment backlash that produced Donald Trump and Brexit could offer an opening to nationalist leaders who oppose Muslim immigration and further erode the European unity that has been … Read more
Paris is the hot favorite to win the right to host the 2024 Olympics Games but, having fallen at the final hurdle before, knows the hardest part is yet to come – convincing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) its bid is the strongest. In July 2005 in Singapore, London pipped an over-confident Paris, which had … Read more
It is particularly difficult to foretell what the foreign policy of a US president-elect will be. We have plenty of examples of US presidents who – after coming into office – did not follow through on their electoral campaign pledges. Even though Obama did actually conclude the agreement with Iran – as promised during his … Read more
Francois Fillon is to be the conservative candidate in next year’s French presidential election after his rival Alain Juppe admitted defeat. With virtually all the results counted, Mr Fillon won Sunday’s run-off with nearly 67% of the vote. Mr Fillon promised to build a fairer society, saying France wants “truth and it wants action”. He … Read more
Francois Fillon is to be the conservative candidate in next year’s French presidential election after his rival Alain Juppe admitted defeat. With virtually all the results counted, Mr Fillon won Sunday’s run-off with nearly 67% of the vote. Mr Fillon promised to build a fairer society, saying France wants “truth and it wants action”. He … Read more
Voters in France are choosing between Francois Fillon and Alain Juppe to be their centre-right presidential candidate in next year’s election. Mr Fillon is now seen as the favourite to win Sunday’s run-off, after securing 44.1% of votes in the first round a week ago. Mr Juppe had 28.5%. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy was knocked … Read more
Former French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has announced he is running for president, vowing a “democratic revolution” if elected. The political system was paralysed, he said. “I want to free the energy of the able while protecting the weakest.” After serving under Socialist President Francois Hollande, he is now running as an independent. His move … Read more
France’s former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron looks set to unveil his bid for the presidency. He is not expected to join the race to be the Socialist candidate, but as head of the centrist En Marche movement he created in April. The move has unsettled Republican rivals vying to be selected in new US-style primaries … Read more
How the West changed its mind on Libya’s Gaddafi In the 42 years that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya, Western views went from considering him a cartoon villain to believing him a model of international conduct – and back to villain again, when the West backed an armed rebellion against him. The Libyan Army officer … Read more