#french-political-developments

#french-political-developments

Christophe Barthes, the mayor of Carcassonne, stated, 'Out with the European flags at the town hall! Make way for the French flags,' as he shared footage of removing the EU flag.

He managed to get a bill on social security spending approved by year end, but lawmakers have failed to reach a compromise on state expenses. Lécornu's office said late on Thursday that it would be "impossible to adopt a budget by a vote" and that it would be looking at two alternative options. One is to use a constitutional power under Article 49.3 to push the legislation through parliament without a vote, as for previous budgets.

Dozens of protesters rallied in Paris on Wednesday against US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, voicing horror and fear after a second fatal shooting by immigration agents capped months of escalating violence. "F**k ICE, shut it down, in every city, every town," demonstrators chanted as they bundled up against the cold at a protest in central Paris organised by pro-democracy groups Indivisibles and La Digue.

In a Paris courtroom, the first act of the 2027 French presidential election is already under way. On Tuesday Marine Le Pen began to answer judges' questions in her appeal against a conviction relating to the embezzlement of European parliament funds. If she wins, the far-right leader will be free to run for the presidency for a fourth time. If the sentence is upheld, her 30-year-old protege, Jordan Bardella, is almost certain to take her place in the race.

Budget negotiations have consumed the French political class for nearly two years, after President Emmanuel Macron's 2024 snap election delivered a hung parliament just as a massive hole in public finances made belt-tightening more urgent. The budget talks have cost two prime ministers their jobs, unsettled debt markets and alarmed France's European partners. However, Lecornu whose chaotic two-stage nomination in October drew derision around the world managed to secure the support of Socialist lawmakers through costly but targeted concessions.

A French court on Friday handed a suspended sentence to a 74-year-old man who last year broke an egg on the head of the leader of France's main far-right party -- and possible presidential candidate -- Jordan Bardella. It also ordered the retired farmer, identified in court as Jean-Paul, to pay a €1,000 ($1,160) fine, as well as damages to Bardella of €500 for harming his image and €600 to contribute to his legal fees.

The demonstration gathered at the shelter in the northeast of the capital where the man, El Hacen Diarra, 35, had been living and in front of which he was violently arrested by police on the night of January 14th. Video filmed by neighbours, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.

El Hacen Diarra, 35, encountered police late on Wednesday as he was drinking a coffee outside the migrant dorms where he lived, his older brother Ibrahima said on Sunday. "He had come to France to earn a living, now he's gone forever," he told hundreds of supporters at a memorial, after his sibling died in custody in the night of Wednesday to Thursday.