French presidential candidates - a quick trivia quiz

Now that Nicolas Sarkozy, has declared himself a candidate in this year's French presidential elections, the real campaigning is officially underway.

Nicolas Sarkozy - candidate (screenshot from TTF1 news)

In honour of the most humble and definitely unexpected confirmations of his candidacy and the equally surprising (all right, enough with the irony already) withdrawal of former defence minister Hervé Morin from the race, perhaps it's time to lighten things up a little before the debate gets too serious.

So here's a simple quiz - not to be taken too seriously.

The questions are the kind that provide answers of seemingly useless bits of information which might - or might not - come in handy.

The format used is multiple choice, so the chances are you'll get at least one of them right.

And if you don't, it either means you've not been paying attention or you have had far better things to occupy your time and mind!

So here goes.

No cheating.

The answers are at the end, after the video of Sarkozy declaring his candidacy.


1. Marriage

An easy one to begin with.

Who, in his capacity as mayor, officiated at the wedding of his second wife to her first husband?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Nicolas Sarkozy


2. ENA

Which two candidates completed the French graduate school École Nationale d'Administration in the same year?

a) Marine Le Pen and François Bayrou
b) Nathalie Arthaud and Philippe Poutou
c) François Hollande and Dominique de Villepin


3. Miss

Now here's a tricky one - maybe. Who was a former beauty pageant contestant, finishing third in the national "Miss" competition?

a) Nathalie Arthaud
b) Eva Joly
c) Marine Le Pen


4. Government

Which of these candidates has never held a government ministerial position?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Jean-Luc Mélenchon


5. Candidate

Who has never run for elected political office before?

a) Marine Le Pen
b) Jean-Luc Mélenchon
c) Dominique de Villepin


6. Childhood stutter and Irish roots

Which candidate used to stutter as a child and is related to the Irish poet Theo Dorgan?

a) François Bayrou
b) François Hollande
c) Marine Le Pen


7. "Capitaine de pedalo"

Just to show how fickle French political loyalties can be, which candidate who used to be in the same party as another one compared his now rival to a "Captain of a pedal boat in a storm"?

a) François Bayrou about Nicolas Sarkozy
b) Jean-Luc Mélenchon about François Hollande
c) Dominique de Villepin about François Bayrou


8. Young

Which of these candidates is the youngest?

a) Nathalie Arthaud
b) Marine Le Pen
c) Philippe Poutou


9. Twins

Which candidate has three children including teenage twins?

a) François Bayrou
b) Marine Le Pen
c) Dominique de Villepin


10. Height

And finally just to introduce an "international" element into an otherwise domestic quiz, if the current president, Nicolas Sarkozy were in a room with the following leaders - past and present - who is the only one over whom he would...well not exactly tower, but at least not require high heels or shoe inserts to appear taller.

a) Silvio Berlusconi
b) Angela Merkel
c) Dmitry Medvedev



Answers

1. Marriage

The answer is c) of course, Nicolas Sarkozy. In 1996 he was mayor of the swanky Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sir-Seine and as such married (confusing verb that) his later-to-be second wife Cécilia to her first husband, radio and television presenter Jacques Martin in 1996.


2. ENA

Another easy one, c) François Hollande and Dominique de Villepin. It was the class of 1980 "Voltaire". Another alumnus is Hollande's former partner and the 2007 Socialist party presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal. But you knew that, didn't you?


3. Miss

The answer is - and it's not something you'll find on her official website - b) Eva Joly. As an 18-year-old Joly (under her maiden name of Gro Eva Farseth) who is of course Norwegian by birth, entered the Miss Norway competition "just for fun", finishing third.




4. Government

Answer b) François Hollande has never held a ministerial position in government although he was of course First Secretary of the Socialist party from 1997-2008.

François Bayrou has been a government minister twice; from 1993-1995 he was minister for education under prime minister Édouard Balladur and again under Alain Juppé from 1995-1997, the first year of which only, also included higher education and research in his portfolio.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon was the junior minister for vocational education from 2000-2002 under prime minister Lionel Jospin.


5. Candidate

The answer is c) Dominique de Villepin. Although he has been interior minister, foreign minister and prime minister, de Villepin has never run for political office.

Le Pen, currently a regional councillor, and Mélenchon, a former senator, are both members of the European parliament.


6. Childhood stutter and Irish roots

It's a) François Bayrou. No surprises here perhaps if you're familiar with Bayrou's past two bids to become president in 2002 and 2007 as the stuttering, which he "famously overcame as a child", and his being related to the Irish poet Theo Dorgan through his maternal grandmother, Amélie, both featured in profiles run in the British and Irish media.


7. "Capitaine de pedalo"

It was of course b) Mélenchon about Hollande in an interview last November for the Le Journal du dimanche. Mélenchon also accused Hollande of pandering too much to the centre and forgetting his Socialist principles when he said, "He uses witticisms and jokes like a stubborn little social-liberal."

If only there were televised first-round debates. These two should make excellent entertaining sparring partners.


8. Youth

They're all in their 40s but Arthaud at 41 (she'll turn 42 on February 23) is the youngest. Poutou is 44 (he'll turn 45 on March 14) while Le Pen is 43.


9. Twins

The answer is b) Marine Le Pen. Unlike her politics, Le Pen pretty much keeps her personal life out of the media limelight. She's the youngest of three girls and in turn has three children; her oldest daughter was born in 1998 and her twins, a boy and a girl, in 1999.

De Villepin also has three children, two daughters and a son. His eldest child, Marie, is a model actress and singer who has used the name "Marie Steiss" professionally, had a small role which never made it past the cutting room in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and also sings in the group Pinkmist.

Bayrou is a father of six.


10 Height

Yes height is apparently a sensitive issue for Sarkozy who is said to measure in at around 1.65 metres.

That's exactly the same as the German chancellor Angela Merkel (the two do quite literally see eye to eye) and the former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

So the answer is c) Dmitry Medvedev who is just 1.62 metres.

Hervé Morin's historic error - a trip back in time

Fancy a spot of time travel? Then French presidential candidate Hervé Morin seems more than willing to oblige.

Hervé Morin (screenshot from announcement of candidature video)

Morin isn't making life easy for himself.

His campaign launch squeaked into gear last November much to the annoyance of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) which has been urging the leader of the smaller centre-right Nouveau Centre (NC) to put aside any stately ambitions he might have and throw his weight his behind the current president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Morin, who served as Sarkozy's - sorry that should of course read prime minister François Fillon as he's supposed to be the head of the government - defence minister from May 2007 until November 2010, was having none of it though and has so far doggedly stuck to his proverbial guns (ooh a bit of a pun there).

Not that it seems to be doing him much good as his poll ratings rarely climb above one (that really need to be spellt out) percent, as impersonator Nicolas Canteloup is of so fond of reminding listeners to his radio slot in the mornings on Europe 1 and viewers to his TV sketch in the evenings.

Then there's the case of François Bayrou - who used to be a buddy of Morin when both were members of the (not quite, but to all intents and purposes now defunct or at least on paper) centre-right Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF).

Are you following? This is French politics where allegiances are built on the shiftiest of sands.

Morin supported Bayrou when the latter became the so-called Third Man in the 2007 presidential race, but the two men fell out shortly afterwards with Morin joining the government and Bayrou setting up a new centre party Mouvement démocrate or MoDem.

In stark contrast to Morin, Bayrou's announcement of his candidature in December was judged by most political pundits as a success in terms of pushing him up the polls and into double figures. Bayrou was on a roll and for some still is, faring better than he did at the same stage last time around.

Not content with being an also also-ran (will he last the course and is anyone really bothered?) Morin has now made a complete fool of himself and provided everyone with a classic bit of political nonsense.

It happened at a meeting last weekend in the southern French city of Nice with Morin coming over all emotional as he recalled the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in 1944.

Only during his speech the 50-year-old (important bit of information that) managed an HG Wells kind of moment as he literally travelled back in time to give the impression that he had been present when the Allies landed.

"You, some among you, with grey hair, witnessed the storming of the Provence beach," he said.

"I saw the landing of allied troops in Normandy," he continued without hesitating at the absurdity of his statement.

Morin was born in 1961.



Journalists, humorists and of course Internauts were quick to pick up on the mistake and Twitter was abuzz with moments from the past at which Morin could claim to have been impossibly present.

Cruel.

But at least Morin had the guts to face up to his mistake (did he have any other choice?) by Tweeting his own "Congratulations on your humour" and saying that "The French were full of creativity."

Jean-Louis Borloo announces split from UMP - Rama Yade follows

The former ecology minister and leader of the liberal-centrist Parti radical (Radical party), Jean-Louis Borloo has announced that his party is leaving the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP).

Jean-Louis Borloo (screenshot from France 2's À vous de juger

The declaration came during Thursday night's edition of the political magazine À vous de juger on France 2 television.



Stressing that he wanted to "create a social and humanitarian majority" Borloo said his party was leaving the UMP and would join a new Republican alliance along with former defence minister Hervé Morin's Nouveau Centre and other centrist parties.

"The formal proposal will be submitted to the Radical party's congress on May 14 or 15 but you can now consider that there will be a new formation, a Republican alliance," he said.

Borloo didn't say whether he would run as a candidate for the 2012 presidential elections but all the signs are there and he emphasised throughout the interview that the new party had an "obligation" to contest both next year's races for the Elysée palace and the National Assembly and would "represent and distinct alternative" to the UMP and Socialist Party.

His decision came perhaps as no surprise as rumours had been rife for several months that he would split with the UMP, ever since he left the government in November after being passed over for the post of prime minister in the long-awaited reshuffle.

Rama Yade (screenshot from BFM TV)

And he wasn't the only former minister to announce he was leaving the UMP.

On Friday morning Rama Yade, followed suit.

"It's a page in political history that is turning," Yade said on BFM TV in reference to Borloo's announcement the previous evening.

"The left wing of those within the UMP needs to be heard, respected and have its views considered," she said stressing that she had felt the need to be true to her own values and she could no longer accept some of the policy statements and comments being made by government ministers.

How many others from the UMP, unhappy with the party's seeming insistence to go after the potential voters for the far-right Front National, will follow?

And if Borloo decides to run for office, will he present a threat to the chances of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, making it through to the second round of next year's elections.

Watch this space.

For the moment though, keep your fingers crossed.

French support gay parents' adoption rights

According to a survey carried out by BVA for the television channel Canal +, 57 per cent of those questioned think gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt while 41 per cent are against.

In a similar poll carried out three years ago only 48 per cent of the French were in favour of gay couples having the right to adopt.

Coming just days after a court in the eastern French town of Besançon overruled a regional assembly's decision which had prevented a 48-year-old lesbian from adopting child, the issue on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt now seems to be a matter of public debate.

Reaction to the latest survey from the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party came swiftly as its leader, Xavier Bertrand, was the invited guest on the Canal + early morning news magazine, La Matinale.

And as far as Bertrand was concerned there would be no change in his party's opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

"There's a lot of talk today about the right to have a child, but for me the priority has to be the rights of the child," he said.

"In a society where there's constant upheaval and change a child needs to have a point of reference, and that means having a mother and a father," he added.

While Bertrand's views might reflect those of many in his party, there are others who at least want the issue debated.

Most notably the junior minister for family, Nadine Morano, who said on national radio earlier in the week that while there were no government plans to change the law, it was nonetheless something that warranted discussion.

"The debate needs to be opened," she said.

"Why not during the next presidential election in 2012?" she added.

"France needs to deal with its hypocrisy," she continued, perhaps a reference to the fact that adoption by single gay men or lesbians is allowed in France and there are currently 30,000 children living in single-parent gay families.

Another member of the government, Hervé Morin, who is leader of the centre-right Nouveau Centre (New Centre) and also the French defence minister went further saying that he was in favour of homosexual couples being allowed to adopt.

The French government wants Le Big Brother to be watching 13-year-olds

The controversy surrounding the issue of how much personal information the government is allowed to store on its citizens is gathering pace here in France.

And at the weekend a government minister stepped into the fray when he questioned in public the plans to introduce a new electronic security database - "Edvige" - which would contain records on individuals from all walks of life - including possibly those as young as 13.

The defence minister, Hervé Morin, has joined the growing ranks of those disputing just how much of a need there was to create such a database that could centralise information on those deemed a potential "threat" to national security.

And in so doing he put himself at loggerheads with the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, whose department would be responsible for running Edvige.

"Is it really useful to assure the security of the French to centralise information on those who have simply declared a political affiliation or joined a trade union, " he asked at a conference of the centre-right party, Nouveau Centre.

"Is there really any point in storing information about people's telephone details and lifestyle - without knowing exactly what that means - their wealth and property.' he added

Reacting to the statement, Alliot-Marie answered rather caustically, " I"m delighted that Mr Morin has asked these questions."

"The question I ask myself is how come he hasn't found the time since the beginning of July (when the project was launched) to put exactly these points to me."

The announcement of the creation of an electronic database, or Edvige (exploitation documentaire et valorisation de l'information générale) as it's commonly known here, appeared at the beginning of the summer.

That's the time of course in France when the country is traditionally winding down and perhaps the easiest moment to slip in controversial proposals that might escape the attention of the general public.

Basically Edvige is a centralised database that stores information on those who might be considered to pose a threat to national security or likely to "breach public order".

The government insists that Edvige is simply an "upgrading" of an existing system created in 1991 which allows the gathering of information on those "practising a political, economic or trades union function". The data it would contain is already held around the country by different branches of the intelligence service.

Centralising it, so the government's reasoning goes, would be more effective in identifying potential security threats and be less costly as it would cut out unnecessary repetition of information gathering since the country's separate security bodies have already been amalgamated - under the auspices of Alliot-Marie's interior ministry.

Furthermore, the argument goes, centralising such information would be more efficient in a technological age in which there is easy access to much of this information out there on the Web with people only having to know where to look for it.

To opponents - and their numbers are growing - the project smacks of the Big Brother syndrome, and represents an infringement of personal liberties with the state being able to keep tabs on the lives of a range of individuals it deems a potential threat to the security of the nation. In effect too much personal information on others would be just a "click" away for anyone working for the state.

But what has probably caused the most outcry here in France is that it doesn't only include those with high profile or significant roles in politics, business, religious or social organisations (including trades unions and journalists) and an "upgrading" which will include many more groups than already exists, but also files on children as young as 13. Youngsters who perhaps have no criminal record but whose activities and social milieu leaves them "susceptible" to becoming members of gangs, according to interior ministry officials.


So what about that list of information that the government would like to see held on individuals - what exactly does it consist of?

Well there's the address, age and physical description (read ethnic origin) to start with, as well as 'phone number and email address. The list continues with personal wealth, property and tax details, health records and those rather murky terms, which nobody has come out and defined openly, "sexual preferences" and intimate relations."

And it's exactly that list of information that the government would like to see stored in one place that has created such an outcry from so many different sectors, including civil liberty and human rights groups, trades unions, gay rights organisations, journalists, lawyers, the Socialists (who want the project withdrawn), the centre-right ModDem (whose leader François Bayrou has called the idea "objectionable"), and now a frontline government minister

And Morin wasn't the only unexpected voice to air disquiet over recent days.

On national radio on Monday morning, Laurence Parisot, the head of MEDEF (the employers' union) an organisation often sympathetic to much of the centre-right government's policy, said she was equally concerned about "what we're currently learning," and called for "explanations."

An online petition urging the government to scrap Edvige has been up-and-running since July 10 and already has more than 120,000 signatures.

The Conseil d'État - the country's equivalent of the Supreme Court - is due to rule at the end of December on the legality of Edvige.

Fallout in France following Taliban interview

There has been outrage from many quarters here in France following the publication on Thursday of an interview with the leader of a faction of the Taliban, who launched an ambush on French soldiers in Afghanistan in August, killing 10 and injuring 21.

But the outcry has not been so much at the content of the piece that appeared in the weekly magazine, Paris Match, as much as over the photographs published alongside it.

And it has left many with more than a bad taste in their mouths questioning how and where journalists draw the line in offending the sensibilities of others over a subject that is bound to stir controversy - and increase circulation figures.

The photographs in question accompany an exclusive interview conducted by the two journalists for the magazine, and they show some of the Taliban, their faces covered by scarves, dressed in the military uniform of the dead soldiers, as well as some personal effects taken from the victims.

"It's objectionable and hurts to see these killers parading around in the clothes of French troops," Joël Le Pahun, the father of one of those who was killed told Agence France Presse.

And he wasn't alone in his views. Similar sentiments were echoed by many, including Michel Stollsteiner, the French general who commands the region of Kabul.

Interviewed on a national radio station here on Thursday morning, Stollsteiner said that he had been "revolted" by the publication of the photographs and that in his view they had added nothing but pain to families back in France already trying to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

Speaking on another national radio station, the French defence minister, Hervé Morin, commented that the Taliban had clearly grasped how to do battle in the "communications war".

"They have understood that public opinion in the West is probably the Achille's heel of the international community present in Afghanistan," he said.

"Should we be actively helping promote the views of those who have completely understood the power of communication?"

Hervé Morin, French minister of defence

(from Wikipedia, credit US Department of Defense)

For an answer to that question of course, it's important to understand why Paris Match decided to publish the photographs.

And the magazine's management has defended its decision by saying it "understands" how upsetting the photographs might be to many in France, but insisting that it "has a duty to cover both sides of the war."

It also denied charges that the Taliban had been able to manipulate the circumstances and way in which the interview was conducted, maintaining that it was the responsibility of journalists to "show life as it is."

One of the journalists who made the report, Véronique de Viguerie, was also interviewed on French national radio on Thursday and tried to shed some light on her motivations.

"I absolutely do not want to appear as though I am without heart, or without feelings," she said.

"I thought I was just doing my job and I hope that wouldn't bring hurt to anyone."

De Viguerie also said that she knew of the existence of a video that had been taken during the ambush on the French soldiers, but Paris Match, has insisted that there was no way footage from that video would be shown in the magazine.