Hollande, private life and the French exception
François Hollande and Valérie Trierweiler. AP When Bill Clinton was being impeached over the Monica Lewinsky affair, I remember wishing that the Americans could be a bit more like the French – and...
View ArticleHollande’s private life may obscure New Year economic resolution
When President Francois Hollande steps up to the podium in the splendid Elysee Palace at 16.30 Paris time, 15.30 GMT on Tuesday for the third formal press conference of his 20-month old presidency, the...
View ArticleSmart Reads January 15, 2014
François Hollande, under pressure about his private life, tried to steer the media towards his plans for the economy. See also Le Monde’s take on how he has shaken the left and disoriented the right....
View ArticleSmart Reads January 16, 2014
Forget the “Fragile Five”: the list of countries exposed as central banks tighten monetary policy is longer than the moniker suggests. A German man, estranged from his father, may still face a €9,000...
View ArticleGerman labour market reforms à la Française
(Getty) News that François Hollande had a meeting recently with Peter Hartz, architect of Germany’s labour market reforms of a decade ago, has caused a frisson in Paris where all the talk (apart from...
View ArticleMatteo Renzi should look to Mexico for inspiration
(OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) Whenever any centre-left leader comes to power in Europe, there are always questions over who he or she will be compared to. Take François Hollande: only days after his...
View ArticleSpringtime in Paris fails to dispel clouds over Hollande
François Hollande has had to get used to dismal opinion polls, but the latest one is about as bad as it gets for France’s struggling Socialist president. A survey by OpinionWay for Le Figaro published...
View ArticleRevealed: the wealth of France’s socialists and their secret love of Renaults
There’s nowhere left to hide! The champagne socialists have been outed, their secret extravagance and hypocritical lives of luxury exposed once and for all! At least, that’s what critics of François...
View ArticleFT column: France should shun talk of revolution
By Gideon Rachman Is France on the brink of revolution? Is President François Hollande in danger of being dragged to the guillotine? These sound like silly questions. In fact, they are silly questions....
View ArticleLivre Blanc: France has learned the lessons of the UK’s defence cuts
(CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images) President François Hollande this week published France’s long awaited strategic defence review, setting out what the French armed forces should be aiming to do in the...
View ArticleRestocking the Elysée’s wine cellar
(Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty) About ten years ago I visited Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux. Paul Pontallier, the chief winemaker there, told me that prices for the most sought-after red Bordeauxs had...
View ArticleSmart Reads May 3, 2013
♦ The FT argues today that Apple’s decision to borrow money in order to fund a dividend, despite being one of America’s most liquid companies, indicates a need for reform to the US tax system. ♦...
View ArticleFT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman
Can President Hollande turn things around? This week the French government announced a multi-billion euro programme of investment, designed to boost the economy and President Hollande’s flagging poll...
View ArticleDigital distraction: François Hollande’s faux pas
Hollande embraces Joachim Gauck (France 2) Two striking images of François Hollande , France’s president, were doing the rounds on Wednesday. Alas for him, the moving picture of him in a sombre embrace...
View ArticleFrançois Hollande’s cold shower
François Hollande (Getty) François Hollande’s Socialist government is desperate to get across a message, not least to foreign investors, that France’s economy is in recovery mode and that it is now set...
View ArticleRacist portrayal of French minister sparks outrage
France’s increasingly assertive extreme right has provoked new outrage with the publication on Wednesday of a magazine cover comparing Christiane Taubira, the (black) justice minister, to a monkey. The...
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