The French are out of love with Europe and disenchanted with themselves. The elections to the European parliament held in the country on 7 June 2009 were surrounded by much
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.... For more than two centuries, since the revolution of 1789, this motto has been carved on the nation's coat of arms and on the façade
The economic crisis is bad news for economists, or at least for those in the west whose orthodox recipes offered an uncritical gloss on the deceptive boom years and failed
The deepening economic crisis is returning France to the politics it knows best: of anger, polarisation, and carnivals of protest. Nicolas Sarkozy's frenetic activity and bling-bling style was
The efforts of France's hyperactive president Nicolas Sarkozy to become an indispensable and omnipresent global actor continue to be aided by the disarray of his domestic political opposition.
France's president is a man who relishes crises. As he hops from one to another, from the Russian invasion of Georgia to the financial hurricane, Nicolas Sarkozy thrives
France is the latest western country to find itself bogged down in the Afghan quagmire. It has paid a heavy price for its engagement with the death of ten of
France, like every other country, is hoping for asmany medals as possible in the Beijing Olympics on 8-24 August 2008. And, likeany other country, it is also hoping that no
It is hard to imagine Nicolas Sarkozy as a diplomat - at least until his adoption of that role became unavoidable, when on 1 July 2008 France began its six-month
The bitter contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has finally come to an end. Will the Democratic Party avoid following the example of France's Parti Socialiste and
France is approaching a potent anniversary in a strange mood. The student riots of May 1968 radically shook an arch-conservative society and came near to toppling then-president Charles de Gaulle
The test of a successful politician is often his or her ability to recover from a setback. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president triumphantly elected only in May 2007, has just