James Tidmarsh is an international lawyer based in Paris. His law firm specialises in complex international commercial litigation and arbitration.
Every summer in small French towns from Créon in the Gironde to Salency in the Oise, a young woman dressed in white walks through the square, crowned with a wreath of roses. She’s the rosière, the rose queen, chosen by her town for her modesty, kindness and civic spirit. The crowning is part of the
The most glamorous department store in Paris, the BHV Marais, a vast art deco landmark stretching along Rue de Rivoli facing the Hôtel de Ville, is leasing space to Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant. Once a symbol of Parisian refinement, BHV now finds itself hosting a brand that epitomises disposability. This has sparked demonstrations outside
Europe has seen this nightmare before. On 21 August 2015, a gunman armed with an AK-47-style assault rifle, a pistol and a knife opened fire on a Thalys train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris, wounding three passengers before being overpowered near Arras. The attacker, Ayoub El Khazzani, a 25-year-old Moroccan who had trained with Islamist
Emmanuel Macron says Europeans should stop relying on social media for their news and turn back to traditional public media. Speaking in Paris on Wednesday, he said people were ‘completely wrong’ to use social networks for information and should instead depend on journalists and established outlets. Social platforms, he argued, are driven by a ‘process
Ten people have gone on trial in Paris accused of harassing France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, online. The defendants, eight men and two women aged between 41 and 60, are charged with ‘moral harassment by electronic means’ and mocking a false claim that she was born a man by the name of Jean-Michel Trogneux. Prosecutors say
Thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris shortly after it opened on Sunday morning and stole nine invaluable relics from France’s crown jewels. While the exact valuation of the loot is still being established, it could be worth hundreds of millions of euros. The thieves used a cherry-picker to reach a window on the Seine side of
Sébastien Lecornu’s government has survived a no-confidence vote – but only because Emmanuel Macron shelved the pension reform that once defined his presidency. Today’s motion of censure fell short of the 289 votes needed to bring down the government, sparing Macron for now but leaving his authority weakened. What began as a crusade for fiscal
Emmanuel Macron’s presidency is imploding, squeezed between enemies he can no longer outmanoeuvre. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise, joined by the Socialists, have united to force yet another no-confidence vote, this time set for Thursday. Once the master of France’s centre, Macron’s political survival hinges on a humiliating surrender of
Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister, a loyalist whose government collapsed in mere weeks, and whose resignation Macron accepted just days ago. The announcement by the Elysée was made at 10pm on Friday night following two days of tense talks with party leaders. This is a last-ditch attempt by Macron to retain control, to
Emmanuel Macron is cornered, his presidency unravelling under relentless pressure. From left and right, there are demands to dissolve the National Assembly or for Macron himself to resign. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s resignation after just 27 days has shattered Macrons fragile coalition. The man who once straddled France’s political divide now faces its united wrath.
A Paris court has sentenced France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy to five years, three of which must be served behind bars, for criminal conspiracy tied to alleged Libyan funding of his successful 2007 presidential campaign. He’ll be imprisoned within weeks, irrespective of any appeal. The image of a former French president heading to prison is
As Emmanuel Macron took to the global stage to recognise Palestine at the UN, over 80 defiant left-wing mayors back home turned their town halls into protest zones, draping them with Palestinian flags in open rebellion against a government ban. They call it solidarity. In truth, it’s brazen political theatre. Outgoing interior minister Bruno Retailleau
At the Eurostar terminal at London St Pancras, on my way back to Paris, I stopped at the Station Pantry. It’s a counter at the back of the terminal, and it does a roaring trade because it’s the only coffee place between immigration, security and the trains. There’s little else to do while you wait
Emmanuel Macron has named Sébastien Lecornu, a loyal confidant, as France’s new prime minister after François Bayrou’s resignation. At 39, Lecornu is Macron’s last stand, a bid to reset a deadlocked presidency. Lecornu is one of Macron’s most trusted allies. His appointment is a deeply personal choice, signalling that Macron is circling the wagons and
Emmanuel Macron projects authority, but he’s trapped. After the collapse of François Bayrou’s government yesterday evening, Macron faces a divided parliament, hostile blocs on both sides, and no obvious way forward. After the crushing no-confidence vote, Macron insists that he will appoint a new prime minister ‘in the coming days’. But appointing a successor without
Prime Minister François Bayrou’s government has collapsed after a bruising no-confidence vote in the French National Assembly. MPs rejected his budget by a margin of 364 votes to 194, with 25 abstentions, forcing his resignation and plunging Emmanuel Macron’s second term into chaos. On Monday evening, the Élysée released a statement saying that Macron has
The French intelligence services are warning that next week’s Bloquons Tout mobilisation, set to start on 10 September, could dwarf the chaos of the gilets jaunes protests of 2018 to 2020. Up to 100,000 people are expected to join the ‘Block Everything’ campaign against a €44 billion austerity plan, undeterred by the near-certain collapse of
Ministers are packing up their offices. Emmanuel Macron’s government, desperate to shift the narrative and rally support ahead of its confidence vote on 8 September, is now blaming baby boomers for the financial crisis. Prime minister Bayrou is reframing the crisis as the result of decades of policies favouring older voters: generous pensions, protected benefits,
A stolen scooter, a police chase, and a fatal crash left a 17-year-old of migrant background dead. Within hours, Lausanne erupted in the worst rioting Switzerland has seen in decades. Two nights of violence tore apart Switzerland’s image as a stable and quiet country. Masked youths, overwhelmingly black, took to the streets, setting bins alight,
Every August Bank Holiday my neighbours in Notting Hill Gate pull down the shutters and disappear. Cornwall, Tuscany, anywhere but here. ‘You’re mad to come back for it’, they tell me. It is, of course, the Notting Hill Carnival. Does two million people celebrating together lose its value because a few hundred are arrested? I
