France

Salah Abdeslam, the leading suspect in November’s Paris attacks, wants to be transferred to France as soon as possible to face charges there, his lawyer has said. Abdeslam has been been held in a high security jail since his arrest at a Brussels flat on Friday, four days before suicide bombers struck a Brussels airport and metro in the most devastating attacks in Belgian history. The 26-year-old, who before his capture was Europe’s most wanted man, had been on the run for four months after the November Paris attacks, which killed 130 people. He is believed to be the last survivor from the cell of 10 men who carried out the massacre. The ongoing investigation suggests Abdeslam and a wider circle of suspected logistics operatives in the Paris attacks could have had links to the suspects in the Brussels attacks. Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, when asked if his client had prior knowledge about the Brussels suicide bombings, told journalists outside a Brussels court: … [Read more...] about Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam ‘wants transfer to France ASAP’

Britain has shown the way for other countries to leave the European Union, precipitating the institution’s eventual fall, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right, has said. In an interview with the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, the Front National leader, who leads opinion polls in the French presidential election campaign, said the UK had found the “keys to the jail” represented by the EU. “We had been told that it was not possible to leave the EU, and the UK has just demonstrated that, when the people want it, we can set up the conditions to exit the EU. So thank you for showing us the way out of this huge prison,” she told Farage. During the hour-long interview broadcast on Farage’s LBC radio show on Wednesday night, during which Le Pen faced few tough questions, the Front National leader said she felt a “sense of relief” after the Brexit vote. She also insisted that no British immigrants living in France would face … [Read more...] about Marine Le Pen: Britain has shown France how to leave the EU

Finance ministers from Germany and France committed on Saturday to deliver a eurozone reform road map in time for an EU summit planned for June. Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, said, "We are optimistic that we will be successful."  Saturday's joint announcement is seen as a breakthrough following German resistance to French President Emmanuel Macron's earlier wide-reaching ideas for strengthening economic and financial cooperation in the single currency bloc.  French President Emmanuel Macron at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Macron wanted to:  create the position of eurozone finance minister introduce joint borrowing by member states but those ideas have been dropped in favor of deepening the EU's banking union German resistance: Saturday's promise of reforming the 19-member eurozone was announced despite earlier resistance from Berlin to Macron's proposal of pooling financial resources. Many in Germany's parliament … [Read more...] about Germany and France to deliver eurozone reform plan by June

Storms knocked down trees and disrupted the power supply in southwestern France, with floodwaters reportedly rising by 30 centimeters (1 foot) every hour in some areas on Saturday. A 70-year-old man died after driving into a tree knocked down by the wind. Five other people were injured when trees fell on their vehicles on Friday. Another elderly man was swept away by rising waters in southwest region Lot-et-Garonne while he was fetching his mail. He remains missing. Read more: French rescuers killed in helicopter crash Authorities preemptively evacuated some 600 people from the area of Landes where Gaves de Pau and Oloron meet. "We are getting used to this now," a local pensioner who gave his name as Christian told the AFP news agency. "We put everything on the upper levels, and we clear out everything from the garage." Storm closed down beaches in southwest France Utility company Enedis said that 25,000 homes were still without power on Saturday evening, adding that 2,000 … [Read more...] about France: Winds, flooding leave thousands of homes without power

France and Italy have thrown down the gauntlet over Europe's system of passport-free travel, saying a crisis of immigration sparked by the Arab spring was calling into question the borderless regime enjoyed by more than 400 million people in 25 countries. Challenging one of the biggest achievements of European integration of recent decades, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi also launched a joint effort to stem immigration and demanded European deportation pacts with the countries of revolutionary north Africa to send new arrivals packing. The French president and the Italian prime minister, at a summit in Rome, opted to pile the pressure on Brussels and the governments of the other 25 EU states, demanding an "in-depth revision" of European law regulating the passport-free travel that takes in almost all of the EU with the exception of Britain and Ireland. Prompted by the influx to Italy of almost 30,000 immigrants, mainly from Tunisia, in recent months, the two leaders warned that … [Read more...] about France and Italy in call to close EU borders in wake of Arab protests