France

National Rally have branded Francois Bayrou a “dummy of Macronism” and will choose their moment to once again wield their guillotine.

Despite attempts to appease the far-right, Prime Minister Michel Barnier could not convince opposition parties to back his budget, designed to save €60 billion through tax rises and cuts to services. 

The French government looks likely to fall this week – after left-wing and far-right parties lodged no-confidence motions in the prime minister.

President Macron’s office took the unusual step of issuing a formal denial that he had told his confidents “the government is going to fall.”

Schengen Agreement: Many EU countries have recently reintroduced ‘temporary controls’ at their borders, leading to questions as to whether a core fundamental of the European Union is collapsing.

France finally has a government more than two months after a snap election triggered by President Macron. With calls for a vote of no confidence from day one, how long can it survive?

We spoke to conservative writer Helene de Lauzun and I started by asking about the failure of medical services to pick up on what was happening to Gisele Pelicot.

There have been demonstrations across France today in support of Gisele Pelicot, whose husband is on trial accused of drugging her and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her when she was sedated. 

Michel Barnier has been appointed as the new French Prime Minister, almost two months after France’s snap elections ended in political deadlock.

It’s nearly two months since elections were held in France, yet President Emmanuel Macron has rejected all candidates suggested so far for a replacement prime minister.

We spoke to Romain de Calbiac, a security expert based in Paris, and started by asking him to explain the complexity of the security assessment for an event as big as the Olympics.

France’s Interior Minister has suggested that he was more worried about tonight’s weather than the security situation.

We spoke to the French MP Éléonore Caroit, who’s from President Macron’s centrist Renaissance party.

Paris has been lit up with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. But not everyone who hoped to be there will make it, after the co-ordinated arson attacks which plunged the country’s rail network into disarray.

We spoke to Lord Peter Ricketts who was British Ambassador to France from 2012 to 2016 and also served as Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and the UK’s National Security Advisor.