The headquarters of the European Union in Brussels is less often at the centre of world politics than the union's leaders would like. August 25, 2006 was one
The Lebanese war has allowed France's president to re-energise his own and the country's political profile, says Patrice de Beer in Paris.
The war in Lebanon
Anyone who has ever woken in the morning with a hangover will certainly understand how I feel this Monday. Bad, really bad, worse than bad. I remember too well what
The major problem of French elites is that they are old old in age and in spirits. The melancholy late stage of the presidency of Jacques Chirac a once-vigorous figure,
One year ago, France and the Netherlands rejected by a large majority (54% of the French on 29 May, 61% of the Dutch on 1 June 2005) the treaty establishing
In these times of gloom and doom in France, where pessimism called here "declinism" prevails left, right and centre, only two personalities still seem to appeal to voters:
French students have just returned to their universities after their protests forced the withdrawal of the government's now-discredited contrat première embauche ("first employment contract" / CPE). As
A lot has been written about the contrast in atmosphere, procedure and aftermath between two recent elections in former Soviet-bloc territories, namely the presidential vote in Belarus (19 March) and
As hundreds of thousands of students demonstrated all over France last week against a new labour contract for those under age 26, national legislators were debating the first reading of
The international standing of a country doesn't depend exclusively on its size and strength, nor merely on its major political, diplomatic or trade influence. It also depends on
Three months after the suburban riots in France between disenfranchised youth black and Arab mostly and the police, the public debate about what to do to better integrate the disaffected
Millions of children around the world probably got a new computer for Christmas, among other presents. Many will use them to play games dealing sometimes in a gory way with
