Alsace’s wines defy its turbulent history
The French region has overcome a legacy of religious and political conflict to compete with its highly regarded neighbours.
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Read the New Statesman’s latest comment, long-read features and analysis on France.
The conviction of Marine Le Pen
Barred from public office for five years, France’s presidential front-runner is committed to fighting her prosecutor.
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Jean-Marie Le Pen, grandfather of the French far right
The extremist founder and former president of the National Front has died at 96.
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A new government won’t fix France’s political crisis
The country’s malaise is grinding, long-term and has few exit routes.
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France’s centre has collapsed, is the UK’s next?
The team answer listener questions.
Donald Trump’s continental system
For all their faults, Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni are the few EU politicians prepared for the US president’s return.
By Emmanuel Macron’s Fifth Republic is crumbling
Following the no-confidence vote in Michel Barnier’s government, can the president survive this political crisis?
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France’s budget turmoil reveals an EU damaged by Brexit
During its membership, the UK exerted a disproportionately strong influence on EU legislation, often in subtle ways.
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Will the crisis in France be the end of Macron?
A row over the budget could see total governmental collapse
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Is the French government about to collapse?
These are the last days of the Macron project.
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France’s hollow Islamist reckoning
Emmanuel Carrère found a story of liberal renewal in the country’s 2015 terrorism attacks. But is it true?
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The atrocity exhibition
Over a single night in 2015, terrorists killed 130 people in Paris. In Emmanuel Carrère’s account of the ensuing trial,…
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Why Gisèle Pelicot is a hero
The horror of the mass rape trial in France has shaken the world.
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The unspeakable horror of the Pelicot rape case
When monstrosities like the Dominique Pelicot case are revealed, the general love I feel for men seems suddenly starkly absurd.
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Ursula von der Leyen is damaging EU unity
The European Commission president has let a personal rivalry sour the relationship between Germany and France.
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Can Michel Barnier save Emmanuel Macron?
The French president’s calculation may appease Marine Le Pen but it risks mutiny on the left.
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Has the French civil war crossed the Channel?
French rioters have ballot-box representation; English rioters have no leader.
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Marc Bloch: a warning from Europe’s past
According to Emmanuel Macron, the best analysis of the dangers facing the continent today comes from a French historian who…
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The crisis of the two presidents
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron have come to personify the chaos of the countries they seek to rule.
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France’s Liz Truss moment is yet to come – and it may be worse
Fights over the budget and a growing debt problem promise a difficult autumn.
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