Tag: Hollande

Meeting on the 50th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty sealing their post-war reconciliation, the leaders of Germany and France vowed yesterday (22 January) to bridge differences on the shape of Europe's currency union and unveil joint proposals on deeper integration within months.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through Paris yesterday (30 September) against a European fiscal pact, the first major display of public anger to face President François Hollande since his May election.

It is doubtful that all 27 EU members can agree to start treaty negotiations within the next few years. But a smaller vanguard of member states could agree on treaty changes which could be adopted by the other partners later on, Thomas Fischer from the Bertelsmann Stiftung told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

French President François Hollande will face judicial problems over the ban on the cultivation of genetically modified plants, and this has widespread implications for science-based risk assessment in the EU, argue Marcel Kuntz, John Davison and Agnès E. Ricroch.

François Hollande's choice of Laurent Fabius as foreign minister and Bernard Cazeneuve as European affairs minister suggests that he has little appetite for further enlargement of the EU, argue Can Selçuki and Eldar Mamedov.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has said he will propose a roadmap and "calendar" for more European integration at the next summit of EU leaders on 28-29 June, without discarding the possibility of a treaty change aimed at injecting more federalism into the Union.

European leaders have to understand that the greatest source of energy in the future will be learning how to use it more efficiently, say Sam Hägglund and Ulrich Paetzold.

On Sunday (6 May), the French will elect a new president, the Greeks will hold general elections, and EU hopeful Serbia will designate their new president, Parliament and local authorities. The stakes appear high not only for the individual countries concerned but also for Europe as a whole.

Hundreds of thousands of workers across southern Europe protested against spending cuts at May Day rallies yesterday (1 May), before weekend elections in Greece and France where voters are expected to punish leaders for austerity. 

Far-right candidate Marline Le Pen scored the biggest surprise in the first round of France's presidential election, winning 18% of votes yesterday (22 April) in a showing that could tip the runoff between Socialist favourite François Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.