Inside France: Government reshuffle, a strike deal and pétanque news
From the latest political shenanigans to torturous French puns and exciting news from the world of pétanque, our weekly newsletter Inside France brings you all the news and talking points from France that you might have missed.
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.
Reshuffling the reshuffled
We'd barely learned the names of some of France's new government ministers before a second reshuffle of the government was held this week.
President Emmanuel Macron appointed a new Prime Minister - Elisabeth Borne - shortly after he won re-election in April and the pair named a new government. But after a disastrous parliamentary election result that saw Macron lose his overall majority in parliament, a second reshuffle was required.
Some of this was out of necessity, since three ministers lost their bid for election or re-election - French ministers do not have to be elected MPs, but Macron said before the election that any minister who stood and lost would be expected to relinquish their seats. But the reshuffle went wider than that, with several new faces while other Macron loyalists were rewarded.
The new cabinet, with a 50/50 gender balance as with previous cabinets, also provides an interesting French pronunciation challenge for foreigners.
You are crucially missing the 🇫🇷 prime minister (even if she is not directly involved in diplomacy)! The full list, if you really want to test foreign pronunciation of French names is:
Laurence BOONE
Clément BEAUNE
Emmanuel BONNE
Elisabeth BORNE https://t.co/4CR9pwQAqe
— Sophie Pedder (@PedderSophie) July 4, 2022
Summer strikes
Striking staff at Paris airports on Friday voted to accept a day deal, and cancelled planned strike days for later in July. Their move comes just a day after airport-based firefighters also accepted a pay deal and cancelled their own strike action.
So better prospects for anyone with flights booked out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, but there are still other strikes planned by Ryanair staff and on the railways.
CALENDAR: The French transport strikes planned for summer 2022
Frenchman of the decade
France's new hero is obviously 34-year-old Raphaël Paesa, an electronics technician from Toulouse who has invented a luminous cochonnet (jack) which allows pétanque games to continue into the night.
One year since its initial launch, the product is sold out and a new edition will be released in time for this summer season.
Often seen as an 'old man's game', pétanque is actually hugely popular throughout France, from old men in villages to groups of young people in the cities - in my neighbourhood of Paris there were even illicit 'pétanque sauvage' sessions during lockdown as enthusiasts couldn't bear to miss out on their games.
INVENTION LUMINEUSE
🇫🇷 À Toulouse, l’électrotechnicien Raphaël Paesa vient d'inventer un cochonnet lumineux pour jouer à la pétanque même la nuit ! 💡https://t.co/f9PL2Eg8vW
— Agus (@garciaaugustin) June 29, 2022
British bye-bye
Events across the Channel also caught the attention in France, where the fall of the notorious 'French-basher' Boris Johnson was not much mourned.
Most political observers agree that British-French relations fell to their worst level since World War II during Johnson's term as Prime Minister - despite his father Stanley taking French citizenship - and many are now hoping for a re-set in the relationship under Johnson's eventual successor.
The leftwing French daily Libération splashed on Johnson's departure under the headline Big Beigne, a slightly torturous Big Ben pun, as in French a beigne means a hit or a blow.
A la une de @libe ce vendredi :
🇬🇧 Boris Johnson : Big Beignehttps://t.co/nj2k4mQp7h pic.twitter.com/b5x7cWB7LA
— Libération (@libe) July 7, 2022
The same newspaper simply wished the UK 'good luck' at the beginning of Johnson's premiership.
Talking France
The Talking France podcast is now taking a break for the summer, you can catch the last episode of this series - where we discuss the all-important French subject of holidays - here and you can find the whole of series 1 and series 2 HERE.
Here's the final episode of this season and it's a summer special!
👙Why les grandes vacances have such a big place in French culture
🏝️ How French tourism is adapting to 21st century
🚆Top tips for road and rail travel in France this summerhttps://t.co/q5JjEcjLwr
— Talking France (@Talking_France) June 30, 2022
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.
Comments
See Also
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.
Reshuffling the reshuffled
We'd barely learned the names of some of France's new government ministers before a second reshuffle of the government was held this week.
President Emmanuel Macron appointed a new Prime Minister - Elisabeth Borne - shortly after he won re-election in April and the pair named a new government. But after a disastrous parliamentary election result that saw Macron lose his overall majority in parliament, a second reshuffle was required.
Some of this was out of necessity, since three ministers lost their bid for election or re-election - French ministers do not have to be elected MPs, but Macron said before the election that any minister who stood and lost would be expected to relinquish their seats. But the reshuffle went wider than that, with several new faces while other Macron loyalists were rewarded.
The new cabinet, with a 50/50 gender balance as with previous cabinets, also provides an interesting French pronunciation challenge for foreigners.
You are crucially missing the 🇫🇷 prime minister (even if she is not directly involved in diplomacy)! The full list, if you really want to test foreign pronunciation of French names is:
— Sophie Pedder (@PedderSophie) July 4, 2022
Laurence BOONE
Clément BEAUNE
Emmanuel BONNE
Elisabeth BORNE https://t.co/4CR9pwQAqe
Summer strikes
Striking staff at Paris airports on Friday voted to accept a day deal, and cancelled planned strike days for later in July. Their move comes just a day after airport-based firefighters also accepted a pay deal and cancelled their own strike action.
So better prospects for anyone with flights booked out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, but there are still other strikes planned by Ryanair staff and on the railways.
CALENDAR: The French transport strikes planned for summer 2022
Frenchman of the decade
France's new hero is obviously 34-year-old Raphaël Paesa, an electronics technician from Toulouse who has invented a luminous cochonnet (jack) which allows pétanque games to continue into the night.
One year since its initial launch, the product is sold out and a new edition will be released in time for this summer season.
Often seen as an 'old man's game', pétanque is actually hugely popular throughout France, from old men in villages to groups of young people in the cities - in my neighbourhood of Paris there were even illicit 'pétanque sauvage' sessions during lockdown as enthusiasts couldn't bear to miss out on their games.
INVENTION LUMINEUSE
— Agus (@garciaaugustin) June 29, 2022
🇫🇷 À Toulouse, l’électrotechnicien Raphaël Paesa vient d'inventer un cochonnet lumineux pour jouer à la pétanque même la nuit ! 💡https://t.co/f9PL2Eg8vW
British bye-bye
Events across the Channel also caught the attention in France, where the fall of the notorious 'French-basher' Boris Johnson was not much mourned.
Most political observers agree that British-French relations fell to their worst level since World War II during Johnson's term as Prime Minister - despite his father Stanley taking French citizenship - and many are now hoping for a re-set in the relationship under Johnson's eventual successor.
The leftwing French daily Libération splashed on Johnson's departure under the headline Big Beigne, a slightly torturous Big Ben pun, as in French a beigne means a hit or a blow.
A la une de @libe ce vendredi :
— Libération (@libe) July 7, 2022
🇬🇧 Boris Johnson : Big Beignehttps://t.co/nj2k4mQp7h pic.twitter.com/b5x7cWB7LA
The same newspaper simply wished the UK 'good luck' at the beginning of Johnson's premiership.
Talking France
The Talking France podcast is now taking a break for the summer, you can catch the last episode of this series - where we discuss the all-important French subject of holidays - here and you can find the whole of series 1 and series 2 HERE.
Here's the final episode of this season and it's a summer special!
— Talking France (@Talking_France) June 30, 2022
👙Why les grandes vacances have such a big place in French culture
🏝️ How French tourism is adapting to 21st century
🚆Top tips for road and rail travel in France this summerhttps://t.co/q5JjEcjLwr
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.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.