If you were in Puteaux, next to Paris late last week and wanted to buy le Canard enchaîné chances are you couldn’t find one. The mayor Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud didn’t like a recent article so she had a town worker buy all local Canard enchaînés. According to Figaro.fr the total cost was 700 euros. The town worker paid in cash.
Puteaux town councilor Christophe Grébert first broke the story through his blog and on Twitter – @grebert.
What Ceccaldi-Raynaud did want locals to know was that she was called before a judge to answer questions about possible favoritism related to some contracts. Well I sure did know about that but now I do!
There’s a teachers strike today (Sept 27) in France. What’s makes this somewhat unique is that private schools are following along. Just how many teachers will strike today is unknown. The government Friday put the number at about 20% unions at over 50%.
The strike centers on the fact that the government is planning to cut 12,000 public education jobs next year. This follows on the 50,000 already cut over the last few years. Even private schools have lost 5,000 jobs since 2007. In France most private school teachers are paid by the state.
I’ve noticed that over the last few years my son’s classes have gotten bigger and bigger. This year he’s in a class of 27 students. He’s in the last year of primary school.
For the first time in the history of the fifth republic the French senate has a leftwing majority. Voting yesterday, September 25 confirmed what was expected as the left pickup the needed seats to have majority. October 1 is the next big date as that’s when the senate elects its president. Who by the way is first in line to the French presidency. The French senate has less power than the national assembly who has final say on all legislation.
Most newspapers in France see this as a big defeat for President Nicolas Sarkozy. And that’s true. But what’s also true is that this victory of the left was largely built on losing the last two presidential elections.
French Senate elections are by indirect voting done by ‘grand electors.’ These grand electors are mostly municipal, regional and departmental councilors, elected in local and regional elections that since 2004 the left has done very, very well in. Why has the left done so well? Because municipal and regional elections tend to be when French voters express their dissatisfaction with the president and his governing party. That’s really helped the left over the last 7 years. Where it has been able to build a large base of grand electors who voted on September 25 and voted as expected.
Today some one tried to contact an agent about a property for sale on my site. The person did not type their email address correctly so the agent couldn’t contact them. If you’re that person and would still like to be contacted please either contact me or resubmit your property request. Thanks
The French Socialists have a web site for their upcoming presidential primary, called ‘Les primaires citoyennes’ – the Citizens Primary. What some refer to as an ‘American primary’ (who said the French left is anti-American), as it is open to all French voters. Normally it’s only the militants who select the party’s presidential candidate. There are six candidates and the vote takes place on October 9. If no one gets more than 50% on this date there will be a second round on October 16.
There are two conditions to vote in this primary, voters mush sign a pledge that they have leftwing values and pay 1€ to help pay for the primary. According to a recent poll about 60% of the French have little or no interest in this primary with about 39% showing some or a lot of interest.
The Socialists hope to have about one million voters in their primary.
Here are two rites of spring in France.
French voting card for the 2011 Cantonal Elections.
Spring wild flowers in the French Alps.
It’s been awhile so it was a treat to wake up to a few inches of snow this morning. I’m in the French Alps so the ski stations have to be liking this as are those on vacation!
Google has another doodle for February 8. It’s for Jules Verne who was born on February 8, 1828. This follows other French related doodles for Paul Cézanne and Edith Piaf.
This doodle is based on Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and is the portholes of a submarine. There is a control on the right that lets you steer, yes steer the submarine. Did you find the treasure?
Some of the filming of Sherlock Holmes 2 takes place in Strasbourg. Lots of photos and a few videos at Cinewebradio.
Saw this on France3 yesterday. Seems the French government is now giving tax breaks to those who film in France. The number of films made per year in France has gone from 30 to 50 in the few years according to France3.
Thanks to the Google Art Project it is now possible to take a virtual visit of the Palace of Versailles.
What’s being billed as Google Street View for museums lets you do more than just see art online it puts you (virtually) in 17 museums including the Tate in London, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid and The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The Palace of Versailles is the only museum in France – so far.
You can ‘walk’ around, I even went ‘outside’ of the Palace of Versailles and zoom in on selected art works. This doesn’t replace an actual visit but it does give you an idea of what you can see.
