Le Parlement irlandais approuve le plan d’aide financière international

Le plan de sauvetage de l’Union européenne et du FMI, d’un montant de 85 milliards d’euros, a été adopté malgré les critiques de l’opposition sur les conditions drastiques fixées par les bailleurs internationaux. Read More

FRANCE: Students called to protest as pensions bill reaches final stage

Amid signs of faltering opposition, students take to the streets on Tuesday as France’s two houses of parliament prepare to sign President Nicolas Sarkozy’s controversial pension reform bill into law. Read More

FRANCE: Fresh blockades as a quarter of France’s petrol stations still dry

Strikers restored a blockade at a major fuel depot in the south of France on Monday, in fresh opposition to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular pension reform. A quarter of France’s petrol stations continue to run dry. Read More

France: Sarkozy vows to push on with pension reforms despite strike

The ongoing strikes in France continued to disrupt transportation Thursday. Despite the opposition, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to push through the pension reforms, which will see the retirement age in France rise from 60 to 62-years-old. Read More

Turquie : après le référendum, l’opposition kémaliste accuse le coup

Le “non” à la réforme constitutionnelle n’a recueilli que 42% des suffrages. Insuffisant pour déstabiliser le parti au pouvoir. Read More

FRANCE: Parliament to debate bill to ban the full Islamic veil

France’s parliament debates a bill to ban the full Islamic veil Tuesday, with little opposition expected from the opposition despite concerns that the text could prove unconstitutional and further marginalise the country’s Muslim minority. Read More

FRANCE: L’Oreal tax scandal intensifies for French minister Woerth

For the French press and opposition, French Labour Minister Eric Woerth and his wife got too close to the super-rich L’Oreal heiress, accused of plotting to evade taxes. Bad timing when Woerth is trying to institute unpopular pensions reforms. Read More

Devant les militants UMP, Sarkozy critique autant Chirac que Mitterrand

Lors d’un meeting, le chef de l’Etat s’est livré à un autosatisfecit de son action tout en fustigeant l’opposition. Read More

DIPLOMACY: Turkey’s Erdogan to meet Sarkozy in Paris despite EU divide

Turkish Prime Minister is meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the second day of his visit to Paris, in the hopes of boosting relations between the two countries, despite France’s strong opposition to Turkey’s EU membership bid. Read More

Sarkozy reels from poll pounding

We expected Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party to take a pasting in the regional government elections. Few expected the punishment to be as bad as it was in yesterday’s first of the two voting rounds. The Socialist opposition rose from the… Read More