There was not much talk about the euro crisis during the Christmas holidays. For a few days we almost pretended everything was well and we could relax. But now just when many have realized that January is going to be a hard month, never mind that we tried to be careful with the expenses, we have been hit with the euro sliding to below $1.27, the lowest since September 2010 Read the rest of this entry »

With national elections looming in just over half a year, France held indirect elections last Sunday to choose the senators. The results were not very good for Sarkozy’s party: the left wrested the Senate from the right. Read the rest of this entry »

It has not ended yet though it is a foregone conclusion: in Libya the rebels have won. Obviously with a great help from NATO which has bombarded the country to the point of destroying much of it. Read the rest of this entry »

If many French were proud of having Christine Lagarde chosen as head of the IMF, today they are feeling specially happy and relieved after Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier, the two French television journalists held hostage in Afghanistan since December 2009, were freed unhurt. Read the rest of this entry »

Not everybody is going to be happy with the appointment of the current French Finance and Economics Minister Christine Lagarde as the next leader of the International Monetary Fund. An appointment that it is perceived by some as a loss to the developing world where it was expected the top position at the IMF would not go again to an European as up to now it has always been. Read the rest of this entry »

In this world of tragedies, wars and disasters, the French government, ubiquitous in its involvement abroad, is also keeping busy at home in a different way. One could say that Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to save women that live in France from being abused. In some cases without taken into account if the women agree with some of the measures or not. Read the rest of this entry »

Sarkozy might be quite involved in the Libyan war, but at home he had a beating this past Sunday in the second round of the local elections which took place to elect around half of the town councils in France. The conservative party of Sarkozy lost in part due to the unpopularity of the president and his cost-cutting measures, including in national education. Sarkozy is largely perceived as being too cozy with corporate interests. Read the rest of this entry »