SNCF’s catchy little renaming of Paris-Bercy railway station

There's a lot to be said for getting the name right, isn't there? Especially when you’re promoting a product or a service.

The simpler, catchier and more relevant the better.

Bearing that in mind and with a magic wave of its wand, SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français - France’s state-owned railway company) - and of course not succumbing to the implicit political pressure “state-owned” might suggest - has renamed one of its main Paris stations.

On Tuesday, Paris-Bercy - based in the area of the Paris of the same name - officially became…wait for it…”Paris- Bercy- Bourgogne - Pays d’Auvergne”.

Paris- Bercy- Bourgogne - Pays d’Auvergne (screenshot from France3 report)

Snappy, isn’t it?

Precise and to the point and not at all an unnecessary mouthful.

Apparently it took several (well-used) (wo)man hours of meetings to come up with a compromise that would satisfy elected politicians of both Bourgogne (or Burgundy in English)  a  former administrative region of east-central France which is now part of the new Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region and Auvergne, another former administrative region which is now part of the larger Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (the number of metropolitan regions in France was reduced to 13 as part of a cost-cutting and efficiency exercise aimed at making local government and administration  simpler, yadda yadda yadda)

On hand at the inauguration ceremony to soak up some of the political glory (????) was the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, He was only too keen to emphasise how the name change a) would reflect the area of France the railway station actually serves and b) would be a window to the world for tourists (honestly, even if there’s some truth in the declaration, only a politician would have the gall to say so).

Laurent Wauquiez (screenshot from France3 report)

“At last there’s a railway station in Paris that carries the name Auvergne,” he said in a television interview. “It’s really going to be a super way to promote our region.”

Similarly over the moon  was Marie-Guite Dufay, president of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

“It could increase travellers’ knowledge of our regions as a tourist destination,” she said enthusiastically.

“There could be demonstrations (at the station) of our regional products by people from the area,” she added, perhaps forgetting that…well…”Paris- Bercy- Bourgogne - Pays d’Auvergne” (what a mouthful) is just a railway station and nothing more; a point of departure and arrival et basta.

Marie-Guite Dufay (screenshot from France3 report)

Still, politicians love “over-egging pudding” whenever they get the chance.

Surely all that passengers passing through the railway station (and adjoining bus terminus) really care about is that the trains are on time and that SNCF can provide a reasonable service that isn’t too costly.

"Confessions" of a former French minister Laurent Wauquiez - well hardly

It's all well and good trying to project an image of "normality" (whatever that might be) but do we really want or need to know the sexual appetites and/or preferences of our elected representatives?

Well former minister and (perhaps) a potentially wannabe - along with many other members of his party, the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) - presidential candidate Laurent Wauquiez, would seem to think so.

Laurent Wauquiez (screenshot "On n'est pas couché" France 2, November 16, 2013)

The 38-year-old member of the National Assembly and (clearly he's not a politician who has a problem with the French habit of holding more than one elected office at a time) mayor of Le Puy-en-Velay has revealed...wait for it...that SHOCK he "likes sex" and HORROR "just like everybody else" has watched YouPorn from time to time.


The "disclosure" - if that's what it can be called - came during his appearance on Thierry Ardisson's "Salut Les Terriens" on Canal + on Saturday evening.

It has to be admitted that Ardisson's question was rather a leading one and came during the far-from-serious segment "Psy" following Wauquiez's party political broadcast on behalf of himself and others belonging to his centre-right "club" La Droite Sociale" whose goal is to "defend the interests of the middle classes."

SALUT LES TERRIENS du 07/12/13 - Part. 2 Avec Jean-Luc Reichmann et Laurent Wauquiez

It was without doubt meant to be a moment of television light entertainment, and we all know how some politicians, especially those with populist ambitions, strive to appear just like Monsieur et Madame Tout le Monde.

Reactions (on Twitter of course) to Wauquiez's "admission" (apologies for all these inverted commas) were mixed with some praising him for his openness while others pompously accused him of "seeking to push the limits of demagogy so far as to ridicule politics" - as if those who practise the métier needed any help.

Still at least Wauquiez answered a question without trying to beat about the proverbial.

Florian Philippot (screenshot FranceTV info)

Look how slithery and almost begrudging another party vice president (Wauquiez is one of several at the UMP) over at the far-right Front National, the very, very bright Florian Philippot was, when asked to comment on  Flora Coquerel's - the newly-crowned Miss France, comments that with a mother who was from Benin, she was "proud to represent a cosmopolitan France".

Another week in French politics with la rentrée, crystal balls and, of course, Manuel Valls

Government ministers returned to work this week refreshed from their short break and intent on cracking on with the business of running the country...in 2025.

They all sat down and decided to cope with the problems currently facing France by gazing into their collective crystal ball to predict the rosiest of futures with "full employment, plenty of cheap housing, a new Industrial Revolution and Police 3.0."

Do what?

Yes apparently "anyone who wants a job will be able to get one," according to the finance minister Pierre Moscovici. And the country will have "regained its fiscal sovereignty."

Oh yes. And France will be officially renamed "Cloud Cuckoo Land".

Eat your heart out, Émile Coué!

Back to reality though and the week started off with a wannabe prime minister, Claude Bartolone, and a wannabe president Arnaud Montebourg (presumably one of the architects of that 2025 Industrial Revolution) holding hands (metaphorically speaking, you understand) unified for la Fête de la Rose de Frangy-en-Bresse.

It was all very casual. A no-tie, open-collar, friendly (well, as close as it gets in politics) sort of affair to show how 'unified" they both were; the president of the National Assembly and
the minister of industrial renewal.

Smile for the camera guys!

Over at the centre-right UMP (renamed until further notice Union pour un mouvement pauvre), another wannabe leader was staking his claim.

Laurent Wauquiez followed...er...in his own footsteps (or the tradition of the former Socialist president François Mitterrand who used to make an annual ascent of the roche de Solutré) by taking his once-a-year hike up mont Mézenc.

What is it with politicians and hills?

Surrounded by his personal fan club from the like-minded "droite sociale",  Wauquiez was apparently showing what a free-thinking, independent kind of politician he was...well at least until it becomes necessary to foster alliances with the forces of darkness from another part of the UMP.

Meanwhile yet another wannabe - prime minister, president and master of the universe - and darling of the right, the interior minister Manuel Valls, "shocked" some in his own (Socialist - and you might need to be reminded of that now and then) party with statements that seemed...well, a little off message.

France faces two major challenges in ensuring how people here can all live together happily, according to the interior minister.

Number One - the birth rate among those of African origin in France would "force a rethink of our immigration policy and the issue of family reunification would have to be reviewed."

And Number Two - to show that "Islam was compatible with democracy."

Nabilla!

"Non, mais allô quoi?" to quote one of the great French thinkers of our time.

Weren't those exactly the sort of remarks Jean-Luc Mélenchon had been talking about during his interview with le Journal du Dimanche when he said, "Valls had been contaminated by the (thinking of the far-right) Front National"?

All right, so as the self-appointed leader (or at least one of them) of one of France's far-left parties, Mélenchon might get a heck of a kick out of putting the proverbial boot into his former Socialist party colleagues, but he has a point, hasn't he?

While on the subject of Valls - after all there was, and is, no getting away from him - the interior minister was quick to react to the latest deaths in Marseille, a city that has "long grappled with high crime rates that have increasingly become more violent over the years."

It was during Valls' appearance on BFM TV on Tuesday morning to explain what approach the government would be taking in Marseille, that the...er..."real" prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, got wind that the "wannabe" one (Valls) would be heading off to the southern French city to "sort things out" (paraphrasing).

Manuel Valls (screenshot BFMTV August 20, 2013)

Ayrault, always a man of action, reacted promptly, putting Valls firmly in his place and swooping on Marseille himself surrounded by five - yes count them - ministers: Valls (that'll learn yer sonny), Christine Taubira (justice), Marisol Touraine (social affairs), Cécile Duflot (housing) and Marie-Arlette Carlotti (junior minister for the disabled and from Marseille herself).

And just to show how much in charge he was, Ayrault annouced exactly what Valls had been planning to say - measures to beef up of the police presence in the city.

Way to go, M Ayrault!



Finally - skipping over the first cabinet meeting and the proposed reform of the status of the auto-entrepreneur, the handling of which seems to epitomise the government's clarity and coherence on the subject, no political rentrée would be complete without yet another failed attempt at a comeback by the country's first lady of politics.

In her capacity as president of the region Poitou-Charentes, Ségolène Royal had planned a get-together lunch and a press conference for other Socialist party regional presidents as a "prelude" to the traditional annual meeting of party activists the last weekend of August in the town of La Rochelle.

Only it has been cancelled  because of lack of interest or, as Royal tweeted, "postponed by several days to prepare for the September 11 meeting at the Matignon (the prime minister's official residence)."

La Rochelle, you might remember, was the scene of Royal's ignominious defeat to fellow party member Olivier Falorni in last year's parliamentary elections.

And that, dear reader, is a round up of some of this week's political stories making the news here in France.

Bon week-end.

French opposition UMP party as united as ever in perfect disharmony

Exciting news from France's opposition centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP).

Jean-François Copé and François Fillon have agreed to let members decide on whether to hold another vote for the post of party leader.

Breathe deeply before you read on. Some of what follows will be more than confusing.

The UMP is in a bit of a mess at the moment. Actually it has been for quite a while now.

For example, take its reaction (sorry to have to mention this again) to the anti same-sex marriage "Manif pour tous" march in Paris last weekend.

Among those taking part in the demonstration were the party's president, Jean-François Copé, Henri Guaino - a former speechwriter to Nicolas Sarkozy when he was in office and now a member of parliament in his own right - and Laurent Wauquiez, a former minister and a supporter of Copé's "defeated" challenger for the leadership of the party - François Fillon.

Notable by their absence though were Fillon himself, Alain Juppé - a former minister of just about anything you can think of and the current mayor of Bordeaux, and the party's likely candidate for next year's race to be mayor of Paris, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (NKM).

Copé - ever the slick opportunist - was plainly using the demonstration as a means by which to protest against the current government and drum up support for the party in next year's local elections.

While for Guaino, it was clearly a matter of sticking to his principals - even if he had mistakenly voted in favour of the bill to allow same-sex marriage when it passed its final reading in parliament - and he was "proud" to have taken part.

Juppé, who unlike Guiano had managed to hit the right button and say "non" in the final vote - had previously stated he would be a no-show as the law had been passed and it had to be respected.

And NKM, who had abstained in the parliamentary vote, obviously had other more important issues on her mind namely that of the far-right Front National's call  to vote against her when polls open in the UMP's primary to choose its candidate for mayor of Paris.

Phew!

On the subject of "voting" that brings us back neatly to an issue that remains unresolved and illustrates the state of health of the party...the struggle for the leadership.

You thought it was over?

Wrong.

Jean-François Cope and François Fillon (screenshot from i>Télé report)

Remember Copé's glorious "victory" over Fillon in last year's battle when both men declared themselves to have won and how the party split in two for a while after claims of vote-rigging and fraud?

The debacle dragged on for weeks until the two men and their supporters managed to bury the proverbial hatchet (somewhere) and reach some sort of working agreement.

They created an internal structure stuffed to bursting point with vice presidents to represent the two very different directions the party was trying to take at the same time.

Even though Copé perhaps has had the upper hand - after all he's the one who holds the post of party leader - his legitimacy has been questioned, and the issue of whether to hold another vote has never really gone away...until now.

Because on Monday the two men announced a solution which will put an end to divisions within the party and steer it on a true red, white and blue course for the future.

They've agreed to let party members decide whether there should be another vote to choose the party president.

Yes in other words (and sorry, there's no way to make this clear without constant repetition) their recommendation is that party members vote in June on whether they should vote again in December.

Now doesn't that make complete and utter political (non)sense?

Pass the gin.

Cécile Duflot has a 1999 Renault Twingo - so what! The "moralisation" of French politics

It's all the rage at the moment

Or perhaps that should be everyone in political circles is raging about it - which isn't necessarily the same thing.

The decision by the French president, François Hollande, for politicians to come clean to the public by declaring how much they're worth.

Government ministers will set the ball rolling in a campaign which has been dubbed the "moralisation of politics".

They have until April 15 to tell us all exactly how much they're worth and whether they pay wealth tax.

And of course this being France, Hollande is also proposing to introduce a new law which would force all elected officials to disclose publicly their individual wealth and family assets, while coming down harder on those who lie or fail to tell the complete truth.

It's all something of a typical knee-jerk reaction to the tax evasion scandal surrounding former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac.

The junior minister in charge of disabled people, Marie-Arlette Carlotti, was the first to list her assets, when she published them on her blog. Apartments, house, life insurance policies, bank accounts and vehicles - fascinating stuff.

Likewise for housing minister, Cécile Duflot, where we learn that among other things, she has a 1999 Renault Twingo!

Carlotti and Duflot have also been joined by some members of the opposition centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP) eager perhaps to show us all that...while not exactly poor, at least how "normal" (and like the rest of us) they really are.

Former prime minister François Fillon, although not wholeheartedly in favour of a need for a law, appeared on prime time television news on Monday to reveal that he wasn't rich enough to pay wealth tax.

"I own a house in the Sarthe (his former constituency) which I bought with a mortgage 20 years ago for €440,000. Today it's worth around €650,000," he told France 2's anchor David Pujadas.



There's less than €100,000 on my savings account and I have two cars, both of which are older than 10 years," he added, (conveniently) forgetting to make any mention of the shares he has in a private consultancy.

Another former minister Laurent Wauquiez also "went public", insisting that the Cahuzac affair proved there was a real need for transparency to show the French that they could trust their elected representatives.

"We're elected to defend the public interest," he said in an interview with Le Journal du dimanche.

"And we shouldn't be in politics to 'make money'."

The UMP party president, Jean-François Copé, is among those who say they won't be disclosing their wealth publicly - unless it's made law.

For him, the idea is pure "voyeurism" and "hypocrisy" as well as "an attempt by François Hollande to create a smoke screen around the fact that one of his ministers committed fraud and then lied about it."

http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/article-302930-jean-francois-cope-refuse-de-publier-son-patrimoine-sauf-si-la-loi-le-demande.html

Of course Copé has a point. Cahuzac's behaviour in the run-up to his admission - when he looked journalists and fellow politicians "straight in the eye" and swore that he had no secret bank accounts abroad - is evidence that if someone is going to lie in order to cover up, then creating a law will probably not stop them.

Plus there's already a wealth (ouch) of laws on the books to deal with those who are caught.

Is yet another one really necessary?

And where is the line to be drawn.

If members of government and perhaps all politicians are required to disclose their assets, then why not all elected officials and those who influence policy and public opinion at every level: union leaders, journalists, the judiciary?

Finally of course there's the implication that if you're unwilling to disclose your personal wealth, you must have something to hide, and honestly...is anybody out there really interested in the fact that Cécile Duflot drives a 1999 Renault Twingo?

Time for a spot of music maybe.

What would you like? "If I were a rich man" from "Fiddler on the roof" perhaps.

Or Abba's "Money, money, money"?

Oh all right then - both.

Mass demo in Paris against same-sex marriage

Millions of people descended on Paris on Sunday for the first weekend of the winter sales...sorry, that should read to march against the government's proposals that people of the same sex be allowed to married and adopt children.

All right then, perhaps the figure is a bit of an exaggeration, but why not. After all the difference between the official figure - 350,000 according to the police - and that provided by the organisers - 800,000 - was quite hefty.

Whatever. There were a lot of disgruntled people in Paris expressing their non-homophobic views.

It wasn't homophobia because nobody actually had anything against gay men and lesbians.

Oh no. It was just the idea - shock, horror - that gay and lesbian couples could have exactly the same rights as those of heterosexuals with lawmakers thinking of "catching up" with what has been popular opinion for some time now (opponents to "Mariage pour tous" would probably point out that even though there's majority support among the population for same-sex marriage, the French are not quite as overwhelmingly in favour as they once were ).

No, no. Not homophobia or any form of discrimination at all. Just "don't extend any rights to a minority group because...well, it's just not proper."

According to the banners held aloft by many on Sunday's demonstration, marriage can only be between two people of the opposite sex. That's what counts as "normal" isn't it?.

What's more marriage is the very foundation of a traditional family values.

Forget about statistics (which as we all know can never be trusted) showing that 55 per cent of first children are born (say this very quietly) out of wedlock.

That's obviously just your pro-gay lobby massaging the figures to fit their own purposes.

Oh, and did you know that the French need a referendum on the subject. It's vital.

The current government is trying to force through unwanted legislation apparently....er...legislation that was part of François Hollande's manifesto when he successfully ran for president and once again part of the Socialist party's platform when it won a working majority in the parliamentary elections last June.

"We need to hear what people think," said former minister and opposition parliamentarian Laurent Wauquiez, quite rightly not believing anything opinion polls have had to say about the matter for several years now.

Absolutely M. Wauquiez. Um side issue - Hhow come you were marching along side your party's de facto president Jean-François "always good for a photo' op'" Copé but the geezer you supported in the UMP leadership battle, François Fillon, was absent.

Ah yes, there's also the need for a debate - a proper debate. Not the one that has been rumbling on and on and on in the media over the past couple of months.

Of course France is only a representative democracy with a parliament stuffed to the gills with those wanting to discuss and debate proposed legislation before voting on it.

The justice minister Christiane Taubira reminded all those who've been complaining about the so-called lack of discussion of that fact during an interview on TF1 shortly after all the demonstrators had contentedly packed up and gone home.

"Parliamentarians - no matter what their political beliefs - will have ample to chance to express their opinions when the proposals are debated in parliament," she said.

"Over the past five months, no single subject has been discussed as much as this one - both within the government at all levels and by the media...so the debate has taken place and continues to do so."



The organisers of Sunday's march had the good sense to keep the ever-so-slightly intolerant Civitas - who had turned a similar march in November into a less-than glorious display of democracy at work  - out of the picture.

They had their own separate demo.

But that didn't prevent Xavier Bongibault the president of the group "Plus gay sans mariage" and one of the rally's most prominent figures (along with actress Frigide Barjot) from shooting himself in the foot when he "didn't compare Hollande with Adolf Hitler"



Yes. Quite.

Fingers crossed on this one. There's no going back and let's just hope the government manages to pass the reform and bring France into the 21st century.

France's European minister Laurent Wauquiez's "17-member" Schengen howler

Once again it appears as though a French minister hasn't quite got a grasp of the essentials of the job.

This time around it's the minister for European affairs, Laurent Wauquiez - who clearly needs to brush up his knowledge on the portfolio for which he is responsible...Europe.

Laurent Wauquiez (screenshot from BFM TV interview)

When asked during a television interview how many countries belonged to Schengen, the 36-year-old managed to make a complete mess of his answer - and look a fool in the process.

Schengen is the treaty which "abolishes internal borders, enabling passport-free movement between a large number of European countries" and it has been in the news a lot recently

On Tuesday the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, jointly requested that it be revised to deal with what they see as an overwhelming number of North Africans (Tunisians) arriving in Europe.

Appearing on BFM TV's early morning show Bourdin Direct on Wednesday, Wauquiez was slipped a question by the journalist Christophe Jakubyszyn which was seemed almost aimed at tripping him up.

And Wauquiez duly obliged.

Laurent Wauquiez and Christophe Jakubyszyn (screenshot from BFM TV interview)

"You're the minister for European affairs," Jakubyszyn said to Wauquiez in that style French journalists seem to love so much, almost assuming their guest have forgotten what daytime job they held.

"How many countries are there in Schengen?"

"17," replied Wauquiez without a moment's hesitation

"22," was Jakubyszyn's immediate response.

"There are four that aren't members of the European Union but are part of Schengen; Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein."

All right so Wauquiez's mistake is perhaps understandable as it's easy to confuse the 27-strong EU with Schengen.

But not all members of the EU have signed up to Schengen.

And just to complicate matters a little more, as Jakubyszyn pointed out, not all Schengen signatories are EU members.

So perhaps Wauquiez could be forgiven - except that he IS minister for European affairs, and really should know these things.

There again perhaps Jakubyszyn's reply wasn't exactly clear either.

22 refers to the number of EU countries that are part of Schengen, with three other non-EU countries - Iceland, Norway and Switzerland - also fully fledged and Liechtenstein "sort-of-fully-fledged" to the area (this is Europe where NOTHING is ever as clear as it could be).

Take a look at the European Commission Home Affairs site and you'll discover just how many countries officially belong to Schengen.

Then go away and have a very stiff drink.



Wauquiez had the good manners to thank Jakubyszyn for correcting him once the interview had finished.

French diplomacy - "amateur, impulsive and lacking coherence "

Those were the words used to describe France's foreign policy and in particular its diplomacy, under its president Nicolas Sarkozy.

They came in an open letter published on Wednesday in the national daily, Le Monde from the Marly group, a collection of French diplomats, retired and serving, of all political persuasions, who were anonymously but collectively airing their concerns.

French foreign affairs and its diplomacy, certainly seem to have come in for a fair bit of scrutiny recently - and this week's events have perhaps only highlighted how much.

Take for example the first visit of a French government minister to Tunisia since that country's Jasmine revolution.

French foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie

In fact there wasn't just one minister but two; Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, and Laurent Wauquiez, the minister for European affairs.

Notice anything odd...apart from the fact that France saw in necessary to send a minister responsible for Europe to a country in North Africa?

Yep, the absence of the foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie (MAM) who had been dispatched to Brazil out of harm's way.

She, MAM, justified her visit to South America as being more "pragmatic".

"The visit was planned over a month ago and Brazil is a country with which we have a very important relationship," she is reported to have said in an informal conversation in the capital Brasilia.

Of course foreign ministers cannot change plans at the last minute to react to changing situations, and her absence in Tunisia had nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing controversy there has been over her holidays there earlier this year.

So it was left to Lagarde and Wauquiez to build bridges with the finance minister telling journalists that she was confident the relationship between the two countries had not been harmed and Wauquiez mooting the idea of economic aid in the form of a "Marshall plan for Tunisia"

"We've come, not to lecture but to listen to their needs," he said, clearly aware of the fact that there are over 1,200 subsidiaries of French companies in Tunisia and there are interests to be protected.

Strangely silent and hovering in the background was the recently appointed ambassador, Boris Boillon.

He seemed almost, as some commentators back home in France observed, to be paying penance for the insulting remarks he had made to a journalist last week and which resulted in protests calling for his resignation and a subsequent very public apology on national television.

"Sarko boy" was on his best behaviour. Perhaps he had wind of an old can of worms that had been reopened in the form of an appearance he had made on the early evening news magazine Le Grand Journal on Canal + television last November.


Boillon défend Kadhafi (C+)
envoyé par LePostfr. - L'info video en direct.

During the interview Boillon had defended Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, saying he had been a terrorist but wasn't any longer.

"We all make mistakes in life," he said. "And we all have the right to another chance," he said after admitting that Gaddafi had referred to him as "his son".

Boris Boillon (screenshot from Le Grand Journal)

Yes old news - well not so old - but certainly words that seem misplaced with hindsight.

To top it all off was the publication on Wednesday in Le Monde of that open letter from the Marly grop.

"Amateur, impulsive, obsessed with the media and a lack of coherence" were the main criticisms aimed at the current state of affairs.

"Our foreign policy is one of improvisation often undertaken with respect to domestic political considerations," they wrote.

A bold move as far as the weekly news magazine L'Express was concerned and one "which coming from a group of people known for their discretion, indicated how worrying the situation was."