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Marine Tondelier, of Les Ecologistes party, talks to journalists next to colleagues as they leave a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Dec. 10. They had met with the French president as part of consultations aimed at appointing a new prime minister.

REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

Macron works to end France’s political deadlock

On Tuesday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron hosted a meeting with the leaders of center, center-right, and center-left political parties at the Elysee Palace in a bid to end France’s political crisis by building support for a new prime minister and a 2025 budget. Leaders of the far-right National Rally and hard-left France Unbowed were not invited, a decision that National Rally head Jordan Bardella says demonstrated “disrespect and a lack of elegance.” Those who did attend the meeting told reporters that Macron hopes to nominate a new prime minister “within 48 hours.”
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Jess Frampton

Opinion: The world prepares its go bags

The abundance of volatility in the global system since at least the start of the pandemic has meant that we should expect more geopolitical risk rather than less. Now, in addition to multiple ongoing conflicts, a year of electoral instability, and pandemic hangovers, the return of Donald Trump as the US president injects further unpredictability into this landscape.

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French Prime Minister Michel Barnier reacts during the result of the vote on the first motion of no-confidence against the French government, in Paris, France, on Dec. 4, 2024.

REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

Lawmakers vote to oust French government

For the first time since 1962, the National Assembly, France’s lower (and more powerful) house of parliament, has voted to oust a government. Prime Minister Michel Barnier is out.
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What France's government collapse means for Macron and Europe
- YouTube

What France's government collapse means for Macron and Europe

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Parma, Italy.

First question, obviously, is what's happening in France?

The Barnier government didn't last more than 57 days. It was brought down by the populists of the right and the populists of the left. And Barnier tried to do what needs to be done. Bring the French budget under control. They have a deficit of roughly 6% of GDP. That's double what is allowed under the European Union rules and they were headed to 7%. He had proposed a budget of tax cuts and expenditure cuts, take it down to 5%, which is too high anyhow, and brought down. So what will happen now? Well, Marine Le Pen would like to get rid of Macron. I think that's unlikely to happen in the short perspective anyhow. And Macron, the president, will have to find a new prime minister and a new government. That will take its time. And from the wider European perspective, of course, less than ideal. We have an extremely weak government in Germany heading for elections and likely to lose that particular election. We now have a situation where France doesn't have any functioning government either, and we have things happening on the other side of the Atlantic.

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French Prime Minister Michel Barnier leaves following the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Nov. 27, 2024.

REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

French government barrels toward a brick wall

In France, political push came to shove on Monday, as Prime Minister Michel Barnier moved to ram a controversial pensions finance reform bill through the Assemblée Nationale, France’s lower (but more powerful) house of parliament. To do this, he relied on Article 49.3, a constitutional provision that allows a prime minister to advance legislation without a vote in parliament.
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Participants make their way past the Notre-Dame Cathedral as they attend the 13th edition of the stand up Nautic Paddle race on the river Seine in Paris, France, December 1, 2024.

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

Hard Numbers: Notre Dame’s stones gleam after cleaning, Trump threatens yuge tariffs, Iceland gets new gov, Vaccine promises AIDS end

42,000: Workers restoring Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire that ravaged it five years ago had to clean 42,000 square meters of stone. They used special techniques to minimize damage to the original masonry in the process and the results are stunning: See it for yourself: The medieval cathedral reopens to the public on Dec. 8.

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Putin's strategy in Ukraine ahead of Trump's return
- YouTube

Putin's strategy in Ukraine ahead of Trump's return

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here, and a Quick Take to kick off your week. Want to talk about the Russia-Ukraine War. We are seeing further escalation over the course of the last week. The United States and the United Kingdom and France have all given permission after months of foot dragging for the Ukrainians to use their missiles, these missiles provided by the NATO allies, to target military targets inside the Russian Federation.
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Luisa Vieira

Graphic Truth: BRICS economies eclipse the G7

In 2001, a Goldman Sachs economist coined an acronym for the four largest and most promising “emerging market” economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China became known as the “BRIC” countries.

Five years later, reality imitated art when the countries decided to begin meeting regularly at “BRIC summits,” with the latest occurring in Kazan, Russia, this week. The subsequent inclusion of South Africa upgraded the “s” to a capital letter: the BRICS.

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