France Tales

You are browsing the archives of 2008 July.

The phosphate mines of Gafsa in Tunisia were discovered in the French colonial era and have been run since for the benefit of a few, with much of their output sent to France. Since the start of this year, local people in Redeyef have protested, despite state persecution, at the way things have always been [...]

The Irish have overwhelmingly rejected the Lisbon Treaty. Why isn’t the EU popular with Europeans? And what can the EU do about it? Perhaps popular discontent tells us something more profound about the nature of the Union. The European Union held its breath on 13 June as the Irish voted on last year’s Treaty of [...]

On 13 June the Irish voted no to the Lisbon Treaty. After a lively campaign and heated debate, 53.4% voted against, 46.6% for. Ireland is the only country to have had a referendum on the treaty. This so-called “mini-treaty”, agreed upon by member states in late 2007, was what European Union leaders managed to salvage [...]

In the second in our series of podcasts, Christopher Bickerton talks to George Miller about the many different groups who all voted no in the Irish referendum, and what this means for Europe.

The latest figures from French estate agents suggest that market stability rather than a major drop in house prices seems to be the pattern for 2008 - though this hasn’t stopped the housing industry getting attacked by the media. Michael Streeter reports

A FrenchEntrée survey on buying habits shows that half of all overseas purchasers in France choose their property because of its location. A surprising number meanwhile take a long time before they find their dream place…