French Green party's "absurd and immature" decision not to take part in Manuel Valls' government

All right, raise your hand if you understand what the French Greens are playing at.

Speculation is...um...rife (yes it's a cliché but what the heck) as to the composition of the government to be announced by France's brand spanking new prime minister Manuel Valls.

But one thing seems certain. It won't contain any members of the Greens - or the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) to give the party its proper name.

When the French president, François Hollande, formally announced on Monday evening (wisely missing the April 1 dateline by a few hours) that he had asked Valls to form a new government, former Green ministers Cécile Duflot and Pascal Canfin (who?) quickly responded by saying they wouldn't accept any position offered.

Canfin even went as far as to say that Duflot had turned down the post of number two in the new government and an important portfolio for reasons of "political coherence" (never the Greens' strong point, as will soon become evident).

But there was still hope that others within the party might see sense. After all the Greens were the (very) junior party in former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's government and could still have had their say in forming policy.

On Tuesday four of the party's big wigs, Emmanuelle Cosse, Jean-Vincent Placé, Barbara Pompili and François de Rugy toddled off to meet Valls and have a good ol' chinwag about the party's possible participation in his new government.

Or not, as it turned out, because it all came to nowt.

After a natter among themselves in the evening, the party's executive office took a vote, deciding, as they announced on the official website, that despite the propositions made by Manuel Valls, the conditions for their participation in his government hadn't been met.

A decision which was both "absurd and immature," as far as Green parliamentarian François-Michel Lambert was concerned.

While for de Rugy, one of the party's co-presidents in the national assembly, it was "incomprehensible decision and a blow for the ecologists."

Jean-Vincent Placé (screenshot BFM TV

It's easy to understand their frustration especially as on Wednesday morning Placé appeared on Jean-Jacques Bourdin's show on BFM TV to confirm that "no member of the party would be included in the new government, not even in an independent capacity" even though during Tuesday's talks Valls had offered the post of...wait for it...minister of the ecology, environment and energy.

Oh well. That makes perfect sense...to a member of the French Green party.

Bye bye Delphine Batho and the end of government gender parity

Well wasn't that a brave decision by the French president François Hollande and his prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault?

Sacking the ecology and energy minister Delphine Batho, because she dared to criticise departmental cuts in next year's budget - seven per cent in a sector to which the governnment is supposedly politically committed.

Delphine Batho (screenshot from RTL interview)

Bravo M le President and M. le Prime Minister.

You've proven yourselves to be well in control of the situation

Just as you were when former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac lied to you, parliament and the media about his financial holdings abroad and tax fraud allegations.

How long did it take you get rid of of him?

Weeks.

You were the masters of inaction.

Just as you were when the ever-effective and "maverick" minister for industrial renewal Arnaud Montebourg was quoted as having criticised Ayrault and accusing him of running the government as though it were a municipal council with that infamous, "Tu fais chier la terre entière avec ton aéroport de Notre-Dame-des-Landes, tu gères la France comme le conseil municipal de Nantes."

What happened?

Ayrault confirmed what had been said and then did...diddly squat.

Your interior minister Manuel Valls - not exactly reticent about his ambitions to replace Ayrault at some point - decided it was time to say what he thought, namely that if he had been prime minister he would have sacked Montebourg.

What was your reaction?

Silence.

And when housing minister (and leading Green party member) Cécile Duflot criticised Valls' treatment of the Roma, how did you react?

By doing nothing, apart from letting Ayrault call a meeting to smooth over differences.

Ah yes, but Montebourg and Valls both have some standing in the party don't they.?

And they were, M Hollande, your opponents in the first round of primaries to choose the Socialist party candidate in the 2012 presidential elections which you finally won.

Both men and Duflot are heavyweight "untouchables". You need them apparently.

Not so Batho, plucked from almost nowhere and with very few allies - not even her former mentor Ségolène Royal who had openly criticised her in recent weeks.

An easy target and one providing you with the opportunity to flex your presidential and prime ministerial muscles to show just how in charge you both are...NOT.

Oh yes and just to reinforce how unwavering you are to your professed principles, who did you appoint to replace Batho?

Philippe Martin - a man, just in case you needed reminding. Thereby ensuring there was no longer gender parity within the government.

But of course, there aren't enough women around to fill the post are there?

Bravo

Such consistent and firm leadership.


Delphine Batho : "Le budget 2014 est mauvais" par rtl-fr

Cécile Duflot's cartographical fluff

Cécile Duflot is without doubt an educated, articulate and ambitious woman.

Cécile Duflot (screenshot BFM TV)

Her political career has been what the national daily Le Monde has described as "meteoric".

She joined Les Verts (the Greens) in 2001 and became the party's national secretary in 2006.

When it merged with Europe Écologie last year, she took over where she had left off by becoming the first national secretary of Europe Écologie - Les Verts.

The 35-year-old has become a regular guest on current affairs programmes, and right now of course, her media savvy approach and ability to express her thinking and ideas in a well-informed yet intelligible manner are more than welcomed and appreciated by many journalists.

You might not agree with what she says, but there's no denying she has something to say and as if to drive home that point she figured at position 32 in the list of the American magazine Foreign Policy's global thinkers in 2010.

But even the best and brightest are prone to mistakes.

And such was the case when Duflot, who holds a masters in geography (remember that) appeared as a guest on BFM TV's Wednesday edition of its early evening news and current affairs programme hosted by Ruth Elkrief.

Asked about the risks of radioactive materials from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan reaching French shores, Duflot said that nobody could say for certain at the moment.

"In theory the chances of it reaching mainland France are low," she said.

"The incident has happened in the southern hemisphere and in theory meteorological conditions should mean that the radioactivity will remain in the southern hemisphere. But we can never be certain."

Notice the slip-up?

Remember Duflot has a masters in geography.

Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier (screenshot BFM TV)

Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, the spokesman for the French energy giant Areva, certainly did when he was asked a couple of minutes later whether it was true that France's nuclear power facilities were as safe as the country's politicians maintained.

"Before answering that, and without being a geographical expert, I would just like to invite Cécile Duflot to take a look at a globe of the world," he began.

"Because as far as I know Japan is actually in the northern hemisphere."

Oops.


Cécile DUFLOT par BFMTV

Parisian bunnies on the move

All right so it might not be the news to end all news but hey, sometimes the lighter stories in life also need to be told.

And this one comes to you courtesy of the local authority in Paris, which has found a more compassionate solution (of sorts) to the overpopulation of rabbits in one of the city's famous parks, the Bois de Boulogne.

Now put away all thoughts of Watership Down or cute and cuddly creatures with big floppy ears and a loveable if cheeky character à la Beatrix Potter's Peter and his three sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail.

The rabbits in the Bois de Boulogne, even though they're part of the park's natural fauna, were becoming a "nuisance" as they had no natural predators and apparently the little critters had been breeding like...well rabbits, and the result?

Their number had reached a critical appoint according to the local authority, an estimated eight times more than the local vegetation could support which also left the total bunny population more fragile and predisposed to illness.

So the Powers that Be came up with a bright idea. Rather than culling, which might have been the easiest and more usual way of dealing with the problem, they called in the experts - l’Association de Lutte Contre les Espèces Invasives et Nuisibles (ALCEIN).

The plan was simple. Capture as many rabbits as possible - alive - and relocate them to another part of France, where there's supposedly a bunny shortage.

Association members, along with the help of the odd ferret or two, got down to business last week and successfully captured a grand total of 129.

Capture des lapins au bois de Boulogne
by mairiedeparis

Mission accomplished, the rabbits then spent a few days "behind bars" - oh all right then, in an enclosure of 50m2 - followed by a vaccination against myxomatosis before being moved into artificial burrows for a bit of R 'n R.

Next up is a trip to the Champagne region of France - about 200 kilometres away - not for a nip of the areas famous tipple, but instead to be released back into the wild.

So 129 happy bunnies who've escaped the threat of extermination in the nation's capital and instead they can hop away to their heart's content in the French countryside - until the hunting season starts presumably!