Up To Date france

France is set to enforce a freeze in the spending of the central government for three years starting 2011 as it moves to strengthen the country’s fiscal integrity in the midst of the turmoil that affected the eurozone.

Prime Minister François Fillon earlier stated that the spending of the central government, leaving out pension on civil service and payments on debt interest, would be put to a freeze in cash terms starting 2011. The spending of the central government has risen in the last two years relative to the inflation.

Fillon also stated that the running costs of the government would be cut by 10% over the coming decade.

The nation has a public debit of 8% of gross domestic product (GDP), and the public debt is anticipated to reach 83.6% of the GDP the present year, the forecast of the European Commission states.

A so-called freeze in the spending of the central government will play a little role in lessening the debit because local authorities and the social security system account for a bigger share of public expenditure as opposed to the spending of the central government.

However, with Paris eager to fortify economic policy synchronisation in Europe, the timing of the announcement of Fillon was perfect.

“If everyone is running towards fiscal consolidation, you have to be part of the pack”, noted Gilles Möec, Deutsche Bank’s senior economist.

While President Nicolas Sarkozy had identified the restructuring of pension as the major concern in his last two years in office, it would take some time for the savings to materialise, added the economist.

France and China vowed Wednesday to relieve past tensions regarding Tibet and start a new relationship by acting together on matters that range from Iran to the global monetary policy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao commented following their meeting in Beijing indicating that they have moved past their dispute over Tibet, which peaked two years ago when Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, met.

“President Sarkozy’s visit to China has opened a new page in Sino-French relations”, said Hu in his media appearance with Sarkozy.

“We should hold close consultations and strengthen political coordination on the reform of the international monetary system”, and other main issues, said Hu as quoted by the state television.

Sarkozy, making second official visit to China, said to journalists that he and Hu held “in-depth discussions about the Iranian crisis and the G20″, adding that their nations would work together about the issues on global monetary reform.

The West sought support from China to make tough moves on Tehran on its nuclear programme, in which some are suspecting it to be a cover for developing nuclear weapons, and the issue was expected to be prioritised on Sarkozy’s agenda.

Beijing was hesitant to punish Iran but US Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stated the previous week that China would support new sanctions, which could be agreed upon by both sides within days.

Sarkozy promised France would back China for the new multipolar monetary system when France assumes G20’s rotating leadership this November.

“We are going to prepare the French presidency of the G20 well in advance by thinking about a new multipolar monetary order”, Sarkozy said to reporters in the Great Hall of the People.

A new car advert making fun of the 5feet 5inches stature of Nicolas Sarkozy has stirred a scandal in France.

The posters of car hire company, Sixt, urge clients to lease a Citroen C3 hatchback using the slogan, “Be like Madame Bruni, take a small French model”.

Sixt President in France Jean-Philippe Doyen said: “These advertisements are entitled to be funny and we need to inject a little fun into our business after such a difficult period experienced by many of our clients”.

The notable height difference between the French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy–standing at 5feet, 10inches tall-and the French President has long been the butt of widespread jokes.

The First Lady is often photographed wearing footwears with flat soles to look shorter beside him. Her husband on the other hand wears footwear to appear taller.

Jokes are also regularly poked at the French President for standing on a tuffet behind podiums foully called “Sarkozy step” when delivering speeches.

In the past, the couple has sued two separate firms for using their photos in advertisement campaigns without permission.

In 2009, Irish low cost airline Ryanair paid £50,000 for an ad showing the couple smiling together with a slogan near the former supermodel model saying: “With Ryanair, my whole family can come to my wedding.”

A legal suit was also filed against Pardon, a France-based clothes company for using a nude photo of the First Lady on a bag with a caption saying “My boyfriend should have bought me Pardon”.

The French government made an announcement Thursday that it would extend its proposed ban on the face-covering Muslim veils to tourists and local residents, despite the growing scepticism about the legality of the policy.

Junior family minister Nadine Morano stated that tourists would be required to abide the law and disclose their faces, sparking speculation from critics whether Saudi Arabian luxury shoppers would be compelled to unveil their faces on the prestigious Champs-Elysees.

“When you arrive in a country you have to respect the laws of that country”, said Morano in an interview with radio station France Info. “If I go to certain countries I’m also forced to respect the law”.

On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his support on a strict public prohibition of the veil, popularly known as the burqa in France, rejecting more moderate suggestions that limit the prohibition in state institutions including town halls and schools.

The draught of the bill is set to be presented to the members of the cabinet next month.

“Why should we accept (the veil) on the bus and not in the town hall?” said Morano. She echoed the French president’s line that the burqa impairs women’s dignity and impartiality between both sexes.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Wednesday said that he was willing to accept a legal risk to support the policy, which can be questioned in the European Court of Human Rights on the basis that it violates religious freedom.

The highest court in France earlier gave the government a warning that an absolute prohibition could be against the law.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has planned to pass a legislation that would restrict Muslim women from wearing veils in public places, said the government on Wednesday.

It is the first political action of Sarkozy towards a direct ban, though he has said the veils oppress women and such practice must be unacceptable for his country.

Luc Chatel, spokesman for the French government, announced after a meeting on Wednesday that Sarkozy decided that a bill should be passed in May for the ban of veils in public places.

This increases the stakes in the president’s push against wearing veils like chador, burqa, and niqab. Some from Sarkozy’s party have reacted to the ban, and the highest administrative body of France has questioned if it would be constitutional.

The French president insisted that “everything should be done so that no one feels stigmatised”, said Chatel. Sarkozy added that the veils “do not pose a problem in a religious sense, but threaten the dignity of women”.

No statement was given by the spokesman regarding how the law would affect a resolution already set for discussion on 11 May which would tackle ways to restrict full veils.

France, which mostly consists of Roman Catholics, is also home to the largest Muslim population in western Europe.

In 2004, France banned head scarves of Muslims and other religious symbols in schools.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to take serious measures on drugs, violence, and truancy in poor residential areas in France during his Tuesday visit at Trembray-en-France, the place where a violent bus attack happened last month.

According to Sarkozy, his government would increase security and take stricter measures to stop transaction of truancy and drugs in a visit to Seine-Saint-Denis district, wherein various crimes are widespread.

“No city, no neighbourhood, no building in Seine-Saint-Denis will escape the rule of law”, Sarkozy announced to the crowd thronged the local municipal building.

Sarkozy arrived in the district after a bus was attacked in the suburban area of Seine-Saint-Denis’ Tremblay-en-France, and a group of young people wearing hoods showered the bus with Molotov cocktails. The bus driver was able to protect the passengers from possible danger.

However, the incident caused drivers to temporarily avoid passing the streets in the suburb.

The brutal bus attack happened after police authorities seized large amounts of cannabis, heroin, and cocaine worth a million euros in Tremblay-en-France.

The French president visited a couple of bus stations in Seine-Saint-Denis on Tuesday. Sarkozy told the bus drivers that “the violence in public transport and in schools in Seine-Saint-Denis must end”.

The French leader also said that the halt of subsidies from the government to families that do not send kids to school would be made organised. He also announced the establishment of special schools exclusively for pupils who cannot attend classes during regular school hours.

Parents whose kids have repeatedly been skipping school are facing more serious sanctions, such as benefits cut under a newly signed law.

France President Nicolas Sarkozy declared plans to make a law in 2006 stricter in order to enforce it more effectively.

To date, the law allows a departmental council in calling parents of those children to sign a ’parental responsibility contract’.

But Luc Chatel, the Minister of Education, revealed this year that there were only a few contracts that had been signed by parents since the law was imposed, all of which were contracts in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Next week, the new law will be taken to the National Assembly. A student absent in school for over four and a half days within one month without giving any excuse will be given a notice.

The teacher in charge will pass details to the inspecteur d’académie of the school to schedule for a meeting.

The education authority of that school is entitled to propose a benefits cut to the Caisse d’Allocations Familiales should the parents be unable to show up.

SIA, a union of school inspectors, said the new law must not be implemented as it would only lead families to further poverty.

Union of teachers Unsa stated that the plan was discriminatory and ineffective. “A complicated problem will not be resolved by a simplistic measure like this”, the union added.

The top climate official of the European Union demanded an energy tax to improve climate protection efforts in the bloc.

On Monday, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said that “energy taxes are among the instruments we should use for climate protection in the EU, because that’s how energy consumption is reduced”.

Hedegaard, who headed the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009, said that rather than imposing high work-related taxes, which endangers European firms competing with foreign companies, “it would be much smarter to install a system that includes a top tax rate for areas threatening the common good, such as a excessive energy consumption”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy supported a carbon emissions tax as part of a programme to fight climate change, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and cut its reliance on fuel importation.

Outlined as a tax on household and transport fuels, the measure was scheduled to come into force this year but was called off by Sarkozy in March following the major headwind for his reform programmes.

Paris put off the tax so as not to hurt the competitiveness of French firms since other European countries are not planning the same tax, it said.

Last week, Italy and France pressed EU to study carbon tax on imports from nations that are not exerting enough effort to end climate change.

In a letter sent to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Sarkozy encourage Brussels to “specify without reservation the conditions in which such an adjustment mechanism could be set up”.

The letter highlighted that the commission is set to report in June regarding carbon pollution by major industries and formulate recommendations.

Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister and political mentor of President Nicolas Sarkozy, appeared before the country’s highest court on Monday to face charges associated with alleged kickbacks of €7m (£6.2m) which he allegedly used to fund his political campaign.

Prosecutors claimed the money passed through the offshore accounts of Pierre-Philippe, his only son, and some shadowy business “friends”.

Pasqua, 83, is the sixth former minister to be put on trial by the country’s Court of Justice of the Republic, a special court established in 1993 to try government ministers accused of wrongdoing while in office.

Long known as godfather of the French Right, Pasqua is accused of misuse of funds and passive corruption in three written accounts dating between 1993 and 1995.

However, the wartime resistance fighter argues that he is the victim of a plan devised in 2000 by then President Jacques Chirac. Pasqua claims Chirac had attempted to smear his former ally when the ex-president discovered that he planned to run for president in 2002.

One of the 60 witnesses due to appear in the trial include Claude Guéant, Sarkozy’s head of staff and Pasqua’s deputy chief of cabinet. Guéant’s appearance is likely to embarrass the president since Guéant was involved in the attempt to pursue the Annemasse casino contract.

Pasqua, set to be judged by six MPs, six senators and three magistrates, faces up to 10 years in prison. He has already been declared guilty in the casino dossier and has been convicted to a one-year imprisonment for receiving bribes in October’s Angolagate arms trafficking trial. He has appealed the court’s conviction.

Even if convicted, Pasqua as a sitting senator is protected from prosecution by parliamentary immunity. He can also appeal to a higher court.

Israeli President Shimon Peres had a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday during his visit in Paris.

The leaders discussed the matter involving Iran, the current diplomatic impasse, and initiatives to rescue the kidnapped IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, who is a French citizen.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two presidents mentioned that numerous historical happenings bring Israel close to France as well as with Europe. After they delivered their speeches, the French president gave the visiting official a warm hug.

The French president stressed out that his country was in support of Israel in line with its vow to build a nation for the Jews after suffering for generations.

Sarkozy also emphasised that the French government was in favour of the way towards peace, adding that the only solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine was negotiation. He said that the establishment of a nation for Palestinians was a condition for the security of Israel.

Diverting the focus of the discussion to Iran, Sarkozy stated that Tehran was leading itself in an unendurable manner. He added that his country was pushing for harsh sanctions to curtail the threat posed by Iran.

The Israeli president also spoke of the issue, urging his host to use vigour and leadership in order to achieve further regional peace. He noted Sarkozy’s pledge in providing help towards the goal to impose sanctions against Iran.