Clé France

François Hollande has let it known that he intends to become a bachelor president without a first lady, for the time being at least.

But Valérie Trierweiler, who was France’s de facto first lady until Mr Hollande ended their relationship this weekend, believes he is making a mistake.

In a conversation with French journalists, she said the head of state needed a women at his side – although she refrained from saying which one.

She also denounced the sexism and the treachery which she says reign in French politics – comments likely to anger Mr Hollande’s ruling Socialist Party, which claims be egalitarian and honest.

“How will we manage if there is no longer a first lady?” she said, according to iTélé, the rolling news channel. “Who will look after the Chinese first lady?”

Peng Liyuan, the superstar folk singer whose husband, Xi Jinping, is China’s President, is expected in Paris in April when she will accompany him on a keenly anticipated state visit.

French presidential aides now face the unenviable task of concocting a programme for Ms Peng in the absence of a first lady to show her around Paris, as usually happens on state visits.

The protocol conundrum is the latest consequence of the revelation by Closer, the glossy magazine, that Mr Hollande, 59, was having an affair with Julie Gayet, 41, the actress and film producer.

Ms Gayet, who has avoided public appearances since the disclosure, has reportedly told friends that she has no more desire to become first lady than Mr Hollande has to give her the role.

The assumption in Paris is that Mr Hollande will travel to Washington next month to meet Barack Obama without her and will continue to see her away from the Elysée Palace.

Ms Trierweiler, for her part, insisted that she remained good terms with the Socialist leader.

“We are not at war and we are continuing to telephone each other,” she said.

This was taken in Paris as a sign that he was likely to accept her demand for compensation for ending their decade-long relationship following Closer’s revelations.

However, her decision to meet journalists at the end of a long-planned charity trip to Mumbai will have appalled presidential advisers, who hope that she will disappear from the public eye.

Ms Trierweiler, 48, was described as relaxed by RTL radio, but tired and weak by Europe 1 radio. Alexandre Kara, its political correspondent, said her hands trembled as she spoke.

The former first lady, who was admitted to hospital for a week after discovering Mr Hollande’s affair said she was better but added: “I will perhaps suffer the repercussions in a month’s time.”

Ms Trierweiler said she had underestimated the sexism and bad faith prevalent in politics when arriving at the Elysée after Mr Hollande’s victory in the 2012 presidential election.

She said male politicians had little consideration for their female counterparts and even less for political wives.

“People don’t realise how much treachery and hypocrisy there is. You get hit without doing anything. That is not my way. In politics, a traitor is sometimes worth more than a friend.”

She said that her relationship with Mr Hollande might have survived if he had never been elected president, and added that some staff at the Elysée were in tears when she left on Saturday.

Ms Trierweiler, a journalist at Paris Match magazine, said she had no intention of going back to her previous post as political correspondent, but would carry on writing book reviews.

Her main aim, however, was to undertake charity work, she added in a comment that will fuel speculation that she hopes to become the French Diana, Princess of Wales.

She also rebutted claims that she was behind the unforeseen ascension which took Mr Hollande to the presidency. “I didn’t push him to become president and I never dreamt of entering the Elysée.”

In a final shot across her former partner’s bows, she rejected a claim by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the centre-right candidate to become Mayor of Paris, that Mr Hollande’s announcement that he was leaving her read “like a redundancy letter”.

“My separation is a break-up not a redundancy,” she said. “There was no notice.”

Article originally appeared in The Times newspaper.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

Councils in France are the last in line for cashing in on household waste.

Unofficial scrap dealers get richest pickings from items left out for collection, forcing city councils to change strategy

Furniture in good condition is often scavenged before French waste collectors can get to it. Photograph: Alamy.

Every year Paris city council collects 90,000 tonnes in bulky household waste, including some 43,000 sofas, 930 stoves and 4,600 dishwashers. But the return on this service is very poor as unofficial scrap dealing becomes more common. Growing numbers of bounty hunters and semi-professionals are scouring the streets in search of valuable goods, before the council trucks have time to collect them. In France there is no law against picking up waste on the public highway. Anywhere else it counts as theft.

Some categories of inorganic waste, which cannot be picked up by the usual vehicles due to size or weight, have almost completely disappeared, upsetting the business model underpinning waste disposal systems. "Items of furniture in good condition no longer get as far as our trucks," an official at Paris city council explains. "Most of what we collect cannot be used. It's just rubbish."

According to the most recent available figures, 86% of bulky items collected in the city is "mixed waste", which is hard to process. The rest is timber (5%), metal (3%), electrical or electronic waste (2%), rubble (2%) and paper (1%).

In Rennes, Brittany, the council trucks pick up mainly old mattresses, beds and scraps of plywood furniture. In 2012 they collected almost 600 tonnes of large waste, either by appointment, through special neighbourhood schemes or from illegal tips.

"Wooden pallets soon vanish from the roadside, much as metal and cartons," says Fabien Robin, head of waste collection at Rennes metropolitan council. "Timber sells well or can be used for heating. Metal is recovered for resale to scrap dealers."

The council, which set up a system for collecting cardboard once a week at an appointed time, soon realised that this material was popular too. "A large share of the potential tonnage disappeared. Semi-professional scavengers were helping themselves before the contractor got there," Robin explains. As the firm was paid according to the weight it collected, this posed a problem.

At first sight this sudden interest in bulky waste might seem providential. With the drop in the volume of waste collected, local councils should be able to cut the cost of the service. But in practice things are not that simple. In the Rennes metropolitan area a third of all the appointments made to recover large items are fruitless, the relevant goods having already vanished when the vehicle turns up. This obviously entails unwanted expense.

Another problem is that the remaining bulky waste is more difficult to recover or recycle. Lille metropolitan council takes care of waste disposal for the 85 municipalities it comprises. Large items amount to 62,000 tonnes a year. The council has recently introduced a new system to cut costs. "We're gradually replacing monthly door-to-door collections, which have been in force for years, with an appointment-based approach," says Denis Castelain, the metropolitan council's senior vice-president in charge of urban ecology.

The new system, which has been adopted by almost half the municipalities, is producing much better results, particularly in terms of recovery. Up to 40% of bulky waste is either reused or recycled, compared with only 10% before. "Residents who call us must be present when we collect their large items," Castelain adds. "That way, our operators don't go out for nothing. It's also an opportunity for a bit of education, explaining what sort of objects qualify and telling them about existing waste collection centres."

A further advantage to the new approach is that it involves less cleaning up afterwards. With the old system, "there was a steady stream of scavengers who would pick up anything of value", Castelain asserts. "Not only were we left with waste of little value, but above all it was scattered all over the place and we had to tidy up."

Household waste disposal is a complex issue and urban authorities are increasingly looking for new ways of coping with bulky items. Many are keen to encourage the use of waste collection centres, with residents bringing in unwanted goods themselves as and when necessary. This costs half as much as door-to-door collection, even if it does deprive scavengers of their main source of supply.

This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

THE president of France, François Hollande, announced his separation last night from Valérie Trierweiler, the temperamental first lady, after revelations that he has been having an affair with an actress.

The confirmation of a split from Trierweiler opened the latest act in a bedroom farce that has riveted France since a magazine published photographs two weeks ago of the president visiting Julie Gayet, a 41-year-old actress.

"I am making it known that I have put an end to the life in common that I was sharing with Valérie Trierweiler," the president said in his statement to the official French news agency, adding that he was expressing himself as a "private citizen" rather than a head of state because it was a matter relating to his private life.

Hollande was apparently never enthusiastic about having a first lady: voters elect a presidential candidate, not a couple, he argued. A poll last week showed that a majority of the public (54%) felt the same way. This may have sealed the fate of la première dame. She appears to be heading to the guillotine.

Article originally appeared in "The Sunday Times" on 26.01.2014 - Read the full article here.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

I thought the French government had introduced a law requiring motorists to have a breathalyser with them at all times, but my French friends tell me this is not the case. When I consulted the AA at Eurotunnel, however, I was told it is still a requirement. Who is right? WL, Tunbridge Wells.

The truth lies between the two. The law states that all drivers in France — including visitors — have to carry at least one fully functioning and in-date breathalyser, known in French as an "éthylotest".

In practice this means at least two testers on board, because they are single-use devices, so when one has been used, another must be on board to allow the journey to be continued lawfully. At present, however, there is no penalty for those who break the law.

The fine was going to be a mere €11 (£9) but there was stiff opposition to the law, not least because several independent magazine tests suggested that many breathalysers were inaccurate. The French government has indefinitely postponed enforcement but to save face has left the law in place. The outcome is that while drivers are required to have a working breathalyser on board, there is no consequence if they don’t.

In France breathalysers are commonly available for the price of €2 for two, so it’s not a bad idea to pick up a pack next time you are there — should you be stopped by the gendarmes you will at least be seen to be complying with road rules.

Note that the maximum permitted concentration of alcohol in the blood of drivers on French roads is 0.5mg/ml, as opposed to the UK’s considerably more tolerant 0.8mg/ml. 

Article originally appeared in "The Sunday Times" Driving supplement.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

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thank you, Leanne.

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