Inside France: Saucepans, immigration and a Paris horror story
From the French government's distinctly underwhelming 'relaunch' to Macron's problem with saucepans, via some public artwork and a scary book about Paris, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
100 days
The French government announced its '100 day relaunch programme' this week - which turned out to be a distinctly underwhelming list of things already announced and some extremely vague policy goals.
One thing of interest to foreigners in France and those hoping to move here one day was the delay to the Immigration bill which, among other things, would introduce French language tests for certain types of residency cards.
Strongly championed by the hardline interior minister Gérald Darmanin, the first debates on the bill have been delayed until at least the autumn, with the Prime Minister judging it too divisive.
Pans and football
Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, has embarked on a tour of the country with the stated aim of meeting the people and moving on from the pension crisis.
The headlines, however, have been dominated by casserolades - the name coined for groups of protesters banging saucepans (casseroles). In truth the number of these protesters seems to be pretty small, but bans on gatherings in areas that the president is visiting have been widely condemned as undemocratic and draconian.
🔴 CASSEROLADE AU HAVRE POUR LE MINISTRE DE L'INDUSTRIE
De nombreux syndicalistes de Total, Yara, Renault, Safran, Chevron et territoriaux réunis pour une casserolade organisée devant l'usine d'engrais Yara Le Havre où le ministre de l'industrie Roland Lescure est en visite. pic.twitter.com/duIXMFVeDg
— Révolution Permanente (@RevPermanente) April 28, 2023
Macron is due at Stade de France on Saturday evening for the final of the Coupe de France football tournament, traditionally attended by the president, and it seems likely that fans won't welcome him warmly. At least he won't have to watch his beloved Olympique Marseille lose - they were knocked out in the quarter final.
Horror story
I'm reading a very scary book at the moment. No, not a Stephen King novel - it's called Paris face au changement climatique by engineer Franck Lirzin and is about the problems the French capital faces as temperatures rise. The climate crisis of course affects the whole world, but Paris has some very particular problems and the distinctive architecture of the city such as those wide Haussmannian boulevards and the zinc-roofed apartments are pretty much the worst designs possible when temperatures hit the 40s and even 50C, as is predicted by 2050.
The book forms the basis of a cross-party report that will be debated by local authorities in Paris.
There are in fact lots of measures that can be put in place to mitigate the effects of heatwaves, the problem is that they will involve radically changing some of Paris' historic architecture, which means they are likely to face stiff opposition from traditionalists. But is there any point having a beautiful city if it's completely unlivable?
Birthday of the week
It's been an anniversary week for Francois Schuiten, the artist behind my favourite station on the Paris Metro, the beautifully decorated Arts et Métiers.
Happy birthday to François Schuiten, the Belgian artist behind the Paris metro's magnificent Arts et Métiers station pic.twitter.com/VgftSZILAe
— Benjamin Chadwick (@bchadwickfrance) April 26, 2023
Special mention also to Louvre-Rivoli which has replicas the famous artworks displayed upstairs, Assemblée nationale which has TVs showing live footage of the debates in the parliament on the surface and Concorde - where you can play word-searches on the tiled walls as you wait for your train.
Podcast
The Talking France podcast is taking a break this week, we'll be back on May 11th, but in the meantime you can catch up on our back catalogue here.
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
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Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
100 days
The French government announced its '100 day relaunch programme' this week - which turned out to be a distinctly underwhelming list of things already announced and some extremely vague policy goals.
One thing of interest to foreigners in France and those hoping to move here one day was the delay to the Immigration bill which, among other things, would introduce French language tests for certain types of residency cards.
Strongly championed by the hardline interior minister Gérald Darmanin, the first debates on the bill have been delayed until at least the autumn, with the Prime Minister judging it too divisive.
Pans and football
Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, has embarked on a tour of the country with the stated aim of meeting the people and moving on from the pension crisis.
The headlines, however, have been dominated by casserolades - the name coined for groups of protesters banging saucepans (casseroles). In truth the number of these protesters seems to be pretty small, but bans on gatherings in areas that the president is visiting have been widely condemned as undemocratic and draconian.
🔴 CASSEROLADE AU HAVRE POUR LE MINISTRE DE L'INDUSTRIE
— Révolution Permanente (@RevPermanente) April 28, 2023
De nombreux syndicalistes de Total, Yara, Renault, Safran, Chevron et territoriaux réunis pour une casserolade organisée devant l'usine d'engrais Yara Le Havre où le ministre de l'industrie Roland Lescure est en visite. pic.twitter.com/duIXMFVeDg
Macron is due at Stade de France on Saturday evening for the final of the Coupe de France football tournament, traditionally attended by the president, and it seems likely that fans won't welcome him warmly. At least he won't have to watch his beloved Olympique Marseille lose - they were knocked out in the quarter final.
Horror story
I'm reading a very scary book at the moment. No, not a Stephen King novel - it's called Paris face au changement climatique by engineer Franck Lirzin and is about the problems the French capital faces as temperatures rise. The climate crisis of course affects the whole world, but Paris has some very particular problems and the distinctive architecture of the city such as those wide Haussmannian boulevards and the zinc-roofed apartments are pretty much the worst designs possible when temperatures hit the 40s and even 50C, as is predicted by 2050.
The book forms the basis of a cross-party report that will be debated by local authorities in Paris.
There are in fact lots of measures that can be put in place to mitigate the effects of heatwaves, the problem is that they will involve radically changing some of Paris' historic architecture, which means they are likely to face stiff opposition from traditionalists. But is there any point having a beautiful city if it's completely unlivable?
Birthday of the week
It's been an anniversary week for Francois Schuiten, the artist behind my favourite station on the Paris Metro, the beautifully decorated Arts et Métiers.
Happy birthday to François Schuiten, the Belgian artist behind the Paris metro's magnificent Arts et Métiers station pic.twitter.com/VgftSZILAe
— Benjamin Chadwick (@bchadwickfrance) April 26, 2023
Special mention also to Louvre-Rivoli which has replicas the famous artworks displayed upstairs, Assemblée nationale which has TVs showing live footage of the debates in the parliament on the surface and Concorde - where you can play word-searches on the tiled walls as you wait for your train.
Podcast
The Talking France podcast is taking a break this week, we'll be back on May 11th, but in the meantime you can catch up on our back catalogue here.
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
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