Inside France: Political drama, dodgy French accents and salads
Always a country keen on drama, there has been plenty going on in France this week , as well as some talking points that you might have missed. Here are the highlights in our new weekend newsletter Inside France.
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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France has a new government.
This is actually a lot less dramatic than it sounds, it's what in English we would call a government reshuffle - the newly re-elected Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne, France's second ever female PM) she has has announced the new cabinet responsibilities.
READ ALSO Who's who in France's new government
We've seen quite a few familiar faces - Macron loyalists like Sebastian Lécournu promoted to defence minister and Stanislas Guerini becoming Public functions minister - while the Finance, Europe and Interior ministers kept their jobs.
There were also some new additions, with the big surprise being the appointment of historian and minorities specialist Pap Ndiaye as the Education minister, a big change in direction after the famously 'anti-woke' Jean-Michel Blanquer.
The Environment ministry is also an interesting one - instead of having a single Environment minister there are now two ministers, in charge of energy policy and the environmental transformation while PM Elisabeth Borne also has environment added to her title. That puts three women each with a reputation for formidable competence - Borne plus Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Amélie de Montchalin - in charge of France's environmental policy. Only thing is, none of them have any background in environment . . .
But definitely the highlight of the whole process has been discovering the existence of the non-profit organisation Clowns without Borders, the former employers of new Culture minister Rima Adbul Malak. The jokes pretty much write themselves . . .
Lesser-known citizenship path
The cause of more than one raised eyebrow - certainly among the British community in France - was the news that the British Brexit PM's dad Stanley Johnson has become a French citizen.
In the interests of fairness, we should probably point out that Johnson père formerly lived in Brussels, worked at the European Commission and Brexit wasn't his idea (although he does now support it).
While most people wanting French citizenship need either five years of residency or a French spouse, Stanley has used the lesser-known route of ancestry - his mother was French.
But the French rules state that if your parent has been out of France for more than 50 years before you make your claim you need to be able to demonstrate a "clear link" to France, which is apparently what Stanley has done.
The news left a slightly sour taste among people who live, work and pay tax in France who have not been able to secure citizenship for various reasons, particularly children who grew up in France with British parents but then left to go to university abroad, who by a strict reading of the rules are not eligible for citizenship.
He's described as being a fluent French speaker - here's him being interviewed about his new status on the French TV channel BFM, so you can judge for yourselves.
Le père de Boris Johnson, obtient la nationalité française !
Il est l'invité de @BFMTV ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pf9xkDHqq6
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 20, 2022
Scorched earth
The unusually early heatwave that hit France this week has now broken, but it seems to be a sign of things to come as Europe braces itself for an exceptionally hot summer.
Climate change, long dismissed by many as an academic exercise, is really being felt by many in their daily lives in France, with large areas of the country already on drought alert, much earlier than usual.
It's something that must be top of the to-do list for the newly expanded Environment ministry, but there are already plenty of policies and advice in place to help people cope with heat and drought on a daily-basis from the legal water restrictions in place to the government advice to shut the shutters and eat regular meals (sadly a nice cooling rosé is not officially recommended).
Several of our readers around France have posted photos this week of dry, parched fields and nearly empty rivers. And it's only May.
That’s the river Allier, at Mornay sur Allier which is on the border of the Cher and Nièvre departments in central France 🇫🇷. Already looks low and we’re only in May. pic.twitter.com/q9MdcVdCcY
— Terry, English steering wheel attendant in France. (@TerrySparrow4) May 17, 2022
French carnivores
I have vivid memories of sitting down for dinner in south west France with a local girl who informed me "I'm a vegetarian so I'll have the chicken".
It's a cliché but perhaps not an unfair one that France is a pretty carnivorous society, and although things are changing quite rapidly in the big cities it can still be hard for vegans or vegetarians to get appropriate food in restaurants and cafés in rural or small town France.
Our veggie readers had great fun sharing their horror stories of ordering a 'vegetarian' salad that arrived draped in bacon, before sharing their practical tips for vegetarian or vegan dining in France.
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.
-----------
France has a new government.
This is actually a lot less dramatic than it sounds, it's what in English we would call a government reshuffle - the newly re-elected Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne, France's second ever female PM) she has has announced the new cabinet responsibilities.
READ ALSO Who's who in France's new government
We've seen quite a few familiar faces - Macron loyalists like Sebastian Lécournu promoted to defence minister and Stanislas Guerini becoming Public functions minister - while the Finance, Europe and Interior ministers kept their jobs.
There were also some new additions, with the big surprise being the appointment of historian and minorities specialist Pap Ndiaye as the Education minister, a big change in direction after the famously 'anti-woke' Jean-Michel Blanquer.
The Environment ministry is also an interesting one - instead of having a single Environment minister there are now two ministers, in charge of energy policy and the environmental transformation while PM Elisabeth Borne also has environment added to her title. That puts three women each with a reputation for formidable competence - Borne plus Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Amélie de Montchalin - in charge of France's environmental policy. Only thing is, none of them have any background in environment . . .
But definitely the highlight of the whole process has been discovering the existence of the non-profit organisation Clowns without Borders, the former employers of new Culture minister Rima Adbul Malak. The jokes pretty much write themselves . . .
Lesser-known citizenship path
The cause of more than one raised eyebrow - certainly among the British community in France - was the news that the British Brexit PM's dad Stanley Johnson has become a French citizen.
In the interests of fairness, we should probably point out that Johnson père formerly lived in Brussels, worked at the European Commission and Brexit wasn't his idea (although he does now support it).
While most people wanting French citizenship need either five years of residency or a French spouse, Stanley has used the lesser-known route of ancestry - his mother was French.
But the French rules state that if your parent has been out of France for more than 50 years before you make your claim you need to be able to demonstrate a "clear link" to France, which is apparently what Stanley has done.
The news left a slightly sour taste among people who live, work and pay tax in France who have not been able to secure citizenship for various reasons, particularly children who grew up in France with British parents but then left to go to university abroad, who by a strict reading of the rules are not eligible for citizenship.
He's described as being a fluent French speaker - here's him being interviewed about his new status on the French TV channel BFM, so you can judge for yourselves.
Le père de Boris Johnson, obtient la nationalité française !
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 20, 2022
Il est l'invité de @BFMTV ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pf9xkDHqq6
Scorched earth
The unusually early heatwave that hit France this week has now broken, but it seems to be a sign of things to come as Europe braces itself for an exceptionally hot summer.
Climate change, long dismissed by many as an academic exercise, is really being felt by many in their daily lives in France, with large areas of the country already on drought alert, much earlier than usual.
It's something that must be top of the to-do list for the newly expanded Environment ministry, but there are already plenty of policies and advice in place to help people cope with heat and drought on a daily-basis from the legal water restrictions in place to the government advice to shut the shutters and eat regular meals (sadly a nice cooling rosé is not officially recommended).
Several of our readers around France have posted photos this week of dry, parched fields and nearly empty rivers. And it's only May.
That’s the river Allier, at Mornay sur Allier which is on the border of the Cher and Nièvre departments in central France 🇫🇷. Already looks low and we’re only in May. pic.twitter.com/q9MdcVdCcY
— Terry, English steering wheel attendant in France. (@TerrySparrow4) May 17, 2022
French carnivores
I have vivid memories of sitting down for dinner in south west France with a local girl who informed me "I'm a vegetarian so I'll have the chicken".
It's a cliché but perhaps not an unfair one that France is a pretty carnivorous society, and although things are changing quite rapidly in the big cities it can still be hard for vegans or vegetarians to get appropriate food in restaurants and cafés in rural or small town France.
Our veggie readers had great fun sharing their horror stories of ordering a 'vegetarian' salad that arrived draped in bacon, before sharing their practical tips for vegetarian or vegan dining in France.
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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