CNN (March 9)
“Its motto is “More than a club” and Spain’s Barcelona produced more than a result Wednesday routing France’s Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 to qualify for the Champions League quarterfinals.” Many had given up on the team, but Barca became “the first team to overturn a first-leg 4-0 deficit in the history of the Champions League.”
Time (July 15)
First there was the Charlie Hebdo attack that killed 17 people. “Then came the Paris attacks—a devastating blow, from which the country had only just begun to shake off the anxiety and grief.” And now the deadly tragedy in Nice. All within a year and a half. “For France, the attack on Thursday night is likely to be deeply distressing—and to raise the question about how the country can possible avoid further attacks, given the extraordinary security measures already in place.”
Tags: Anxiety, Attacks, Charlie Hebdo, Devastating, Distressing, France, Grief, Nice, Paris, Security, Tragedy
Reuters (December 14)
The world finally “learned its lesson and got a climate deal.” The victory in Paris “was an agreement born from a fear of failure, delivered by the smoothness of French diplomacy.” Remarkably, it took place just six years after “countries had bitterly walked away from global climate talks in Copenhagen without a deal.”
Tags: Agreement, Climate deal, Copenhagen, Diplomacy, France, Paris, Victory, World
New York Times (November 15)
“The coldblooded depravity with which the terrorists gunned down people seated at restaurant tables and picked off hostages in the Bataclan concert hall where more than 80 were killed was horrifying. But Parisians have remained defiant and united…. This attack will harden the resolve of the French against the savagery of the Islamic State, as it must the world’s.”
Tags: Bataclan, Coldblooded, Defiant, Depravity, France, Hostages, Islamic State, Parisians, Resolve, Savagery, Terrorism, Terrorists, United
Wall Street Journal (March 23)
“French voters still don’t have a convincing pro-growth option.” While “Sunday’s first round of voting in French municipal elections won’t much affect national policy… it does send a signal about where the electorate stands.” The majority voted “for manifestos that would consign France to more economic stagnation.”
Tags: Economic stagnation, Elections, France, Manifestos, Policy, Pro-growth, Voters
The Economist (March 7)
“Twenty-five years after the Soviet collapse, the world is entering a new nuclear age. Nuclear strategy has become a cockpit of rogue regimes and regional foes jostling with the five original nuclear-weapons powers (America, Britain, France, China and Russia), whose own dealings are infected by suspicion and rivalry.” The new nuclear age is far more unstable. “During much of the cold war the two superpowers, anxious to avoid Armageddon, were willing to tolerate the status quo. Today the ground is shifting under everyone’s feet.”
Tags: Armageddon, China, Cold war, France, Nuclear age, Regional foes, Rivalry, Rogue regimes, Russia, Strategy, Superpowers, Suspicion, U.S., UK
New York Times (February 23)
“The heavy parliamentary weapon France’s Socialist government deployed to ram an economic reform bill through opposition in its own ranks might seem excessive for a measure that basically lets some stores stay open on some Sundays.” This raises the question of how President François Hollande will proceed when the “far tougher package of tax breaks, easing of labor laws and other reforms is due later this year.”
Tags: Economic reform, France, Hollande, Labor laws, Parliament, Socialist government, Stores, Sundays, Tax breaks
Le Monde (January 8)
“The aim of the assassinations on Wednesday 7 January at the offices of Charlie Hebdo was to kill journalists and cartoonists for their opinions. They have plunged everyone who defends freedom of expression into mourning, and horrified the whole of France.” We will defend this freedom and ensure the “free, caring, joyful society that the journalists and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo were fighting for.”
Tags: Assassinations, Cartoonists, Charlie Hebdo, France, Freedom of expression, Journalists, Opinions
Financial Times (December 30)
During 2014, populists “enjoyed one of their most encouraging years since the second world war. Insurgent anti-establishment movements recorded electoral triumphs and opinion poll gains everywhere from France and Greece to Spain, Sweden and the UK.” Despite this resurgence, the populist movements are often at cross-purposes, differing widely in what they support.
Financial Times (December 13)
“France is in a similar situation to Italy. Both are attempting structural reform while fighting the threat of recession and asking the EU—which is to say Berlin—for more leeway on fiscal policy.” The reforms will help to remove “the bureaucratic sclerosis that chokes off innovation and growth.”
Tags: Berlin, Bureaucracy, EU, Fiscal policy, France, Growth, Innovation, Italy, Recession, Structural reform, Threat
