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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
We have heard that there is a recent decree on car insurance
which demands that the person in whose name the policy is held
must sign the green insurance card and the back of the
windscreen sticker (vignette). If you are stopped by the
gendarmes and they are not signed, there is a fine of €180.
According to the gendarmes it isn’t an offence if the green card
or the vignette are not signed. As a matter of interest, they also
said that they wouldn’t impose a fine as big as €180 – their
maximum is €135, payable for example for parking in a
handicapped parking place if you’re not entitled. However, the
surcharges if you don’t pay a fine in time can increase it beyond
the €135. A €180 fine could be served by a court.
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
Supermarket giant Carrefour has added three chairs to its
boardroom table. Two new members, representing French
billionaire Bernard Arnault and the US venture capital firm
Colony, are viewed by some as cuckoos in the nest. In a surprise
raid, Arnault and Colony bought 9.8% of the company, something
the Halley family, who have the controlling vote, viewed with less
than joy and have added a third family member to the board.
The family already pressured the last chief executive to resign,
after he pushed for a plan for the company to be sold to US venture
capitalists. They wanted to sell and lease back the company’s
buildings, saying this would leave the company to concentrate on
its supermarkets and not on managing its property assets. But
many in France see such tactics as a way of making a quick profit,
while leaving Carrefour no better off than before.
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
Jacques Chirac attended the summit (Europe’s 50th Birthday) for
the last time. For the last time, he vamped the very auntie like
person of Angela Merkel with his usual hand kissing. It is amazing
to think that he has been attending meetings in Brussels since he
was Minister of Agriculture under Général de Gaulle in the 1960s.
More down to earth, the German Chancellor presented him with
an antique beer mug.
On a more serious note, he emphasised the importance of the
Franco-German axis in generating progress in the EU. Cherie
Blair made a farewell speech to Bernadette Chirac.
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
For the security of all road users, it is compulsory since
March 2, 2007 for all motorcyclists registered after July 1,
2004, regardless of size and power, to run with their headlamps
on. Bikes from before this date whose engines are built to cope
with constantly lit lamps should light up too.
After March 2, any motorcyclist not running with their lights
on is liable to be fined €35.
(Decree n° 2007-271 of 27th February 2007, published in
the ‘Journal official’ of 01/03/2007).
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
Actualité oblige, no word of the month this month. La
campagne bat son plein (the campaign is in full swing).
Although many readers are probably not allowed to vote in the
presidential elections (reserved for French nationals), EU
nationals (ressortissants de l’UE) nonetheless have the right to
vote (le droit de vote) in municipal and European elections,
provided of course they are on the electoral roll (listes
électorales).
But even if we won’t be going to the polls (se
rendre aux urnes) this time, that shouldn’t prevent us from taking
a keen interest (un vif intérêt) in the ongoing campaign, which in
many ways (à bien des égards) is unprecedented (inédite) in
recent history, and will no doubt influence France’s future place
in Europe, which has to be of political import (importance
politique) to us as non-French EU nationals.
Despite all the spin (propagande), political cant (langue de
bois) and the fact that all four front-runners (favoris) are
seasoned politicians (politiciens chevronnés), “le langage de la
campagne 2007 a un goût de populisme qu’on n’avait pas
ressenti, à droite ou à gauche, depuis très longtemps” (source:
Catherine Guibourg’s blog, lemonade.fr).
Power to the people?
Are they going to listen to us once and for all? Unlike their
predecessors, the (relatively young) front-runners (apart from
Jean-Marie Le Pen) do indeed seem to be “speaking straight to
our hearts” (droit au coeur) rather than “down to” us. After the
broad (populist?) consensus (large consensus) triggered by
Nicolas Hulot’s well-timed wake-up call regarding global
warming (réchauffement de la planète) and climate change, they
all seem, in their own inimitable ways (à leur manière à eux), to
be addressing (aborder), or at least voicing (exprimer), the
chronic problems that have crippled (paralyser) France for nigh
on a quarter of a century (high unemployment – chômage,
national debt – dette publique etc), problems that many feel have
been all too conveniently swept under the carpet (escamotés,
enterrés…).
One way or another (d’une manière ou d’une autre), many
hope that there will now be real change.
But what’s in store for us? (à quelle sauce va-t-on être mangé ?)
Will it be Sarko’s “rupture tranquille”, Ségo’s “démocratie
participative” or Bayrou’s “la France de toutes nos forces”?
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