This French Life

Author: Craig McGinty

  • Official population of France stands at 65,241,241

    Screenshot 2014-12-30 at 13.43.37
    THE official statistics body, Insee, has said that the number of people living in France and its overseas territories in 2012 was 65,241,241.

    This was an increase of just over 300,000 on the previous year, while if metropolitan France is taken alone then the number is 63,375,971.

    Regionally and the Paris area is the largest by a long way with a population of nearly 12 million, Rhône-Alpes comes in second with 6.3 million and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is third with just under five million.

    Insee has also made a simple online database available that allows you to type in your commune and it will then tell you the population figure.

  • David Cameron targets UK voters living overseas in time for election

    Tory-votes
    BRITISH prime minister, David Cameron, is targeting UK expats in an internet campaign by the Conservative party to get them to register to vote.

    In a message on Facebook he said that few people living overseas were registered to vote, and clearly with a general election in 2015 he is keen to get people signed up.

    Interestingly he points people towards a page overseen by his own party, with a message stressing that they need every Conservative supporter to back them ‘to secure a better future for Britain’, that asks for your name and email address.

    With this complete you are then pointed towards the official government website where people can find out more about registering to vote in the UK from overseas, and go through a short online process to register.

    It is estimated around one in five Britons overseas cannot vote in UK elections due to the ’15-year rule’ which bars long-term expats from having a vote.

    While earlier this year a Conservative manifesto pledge said that they would end the 15-year rule should they win next year’s general election.

  • France to outlaw single-use plastic bags by 2016

    France is set to become the latest nation to ban single-use plastic bags in shops following a vote in the National Assembly Friday on a wide-ranging Energy Transition bill.

    The ban will come into force in 2016 if the bill is approved by the Senate, although it will not apply to re-usable or biodegradable bags.

    The proposed law will also outlaw disposable plastic cutlery and crockery by 2020, a measure introduced by members of France’s EELV Green Party which wanted the rule enforced by 2017.

  • Tories pledge to give vote back to all expats

    “The last Labour government reduced the amount of time that British citizens living overseas were entitled to register to vote in UK general elections to just 15 years. That change has been the subject of concerted campaigning from expat groups and Conservatives Abroad, the network for Conservative supporters overseas.

    “If the Conservative Party wins the next general election, we will remove this cap and extend it to a full right as a British citizen to vote in British elections for life.”

    There have been several changes to the expat voting rules in the past 30 years. Prior to 1985, expats were not permitted to register to vote in UK national elections. The Representation of the People Act 1985 extended the franchise to expats and enabled them to register as overseas voters in the constituency for which they were last registered. This entitlement was initially only available for those expats who had lived abroad for no longer than five years.

  • Electoral Commission campaign to boost expat vote proves disappointing

    THE Electoral Commission campaign to get more British expats voting in the UK local and European elections proved a disappointment.

    In a report the Commission said that although the number of registration forms downloaded from its website by Britons overseas was higher than for the previous European elections, it ‘fell well short’ of its target.

    The commission ran an advertising campaign in the weeks before the elections on May 22 to encourage 25,000 more people to register. However, only 7,079 did so.

    “Although we were disappointed not to hit our target we recognise that expatriates at these elections may have chosen to register to vote in their EU countries of residence,” said the report.

    Related articles
    British expatriates – It’s your vote, don’t lose it

  • La Poste gets backing for price rises of more than 5% a year

    THE French postal service, La Poste, has been given the green light to increase the price of its services in the coming years.

    Regulatory body, l’Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des Postes (Arcep), has agreed to an average increase of the inflation rate plus 3.5% per year for the next four years – which at present would mean a 5.2% price hike.

    There is no detail on whether stamps, parcel deliveries or other products will be hit by the price rises, but La Poste has been hit by a dramatic slide in the use of its services.

    The volume of post fell by 4.3% a year between 2008 and 2012, while last year the amount fell by 5.5%.

    And with La Poste facing increased competition especially in the delivery of parcel, and the possible opening up of postal deliveries via the EU, postal chiefs are looking to increase revenue to pay for changes in the service.

  • Avoid the dangers of swimming this summer

    SafebathingIN France, where almost 500 people drown every year, what measures are in place to avoid getting into difficulty when in the water?

    During 2013 there were three million tourists to La Rochelle, a location amongst the top ten favourites for tourists.

    The same year La Rochelle hosted the Championnant du monde plongeon world diving championships, from a platform 27 m above the sea into water 5.5 m deep.

    Yet the French Atlantic west coast has the country’s most dangerous conditions for swimmers because of its tides and currents. Some indications of the level of risk come from coloured flags along the coast.

    Red means swimming is forbidden, orange means it is dangerous and green means supervised swimming out to 300m. In any open space, river, sea, lake, pond, if swimming out beyond 300m you do so at your own risk.
    Drapeau
    Four people die a day during the holidays by drowning, with most happening outside supervised areas.

    After a spate of tragedies in 2012, the Institut national de prévention et d’éducation pour la santé (INPES) National institute for prevention and health education produced guidelines as part of a campaign to make bathing safer, including encouraging children to learn to swim, the first point in their leaflet ‘Se baigner sans danger!‘

    This says adults and children alike should as well as learning to swim under direction from a fully trained instructor, obtain an assessment of ability before swimming, and then only take a dip in a supervised area.

    It continues with advise to take notice of the coloured flags and ensure that the green flag is flying, to introduce yourself to the lifeguard and ask about the conditions, the type of waves, the current to expect, the tides and natural dangers. Make sure that these conditions do not change during the day and keep updating yourself about the weather forecast.

    When I went to Lacanau océan, South of La Rochelle I thought the waves looked small and was surprised to see so many young men in wetsuits carrying surf boards into the welcoming sea. Yet only waist high in, the strength of the current beneath my feet almost knocked me over.

    See also emissions, France3 ‘La plage et ses Dangers‘ 20/07/13
    France2 Special emission 17/07/14 ‘Quelles sont les mesures prises pour éviter les noyades?’

  • Number of regions in France drops from 22 to 13

    Regions-franceYOU most probably didn’t feel it last night, but the number of regions in France dropped from 22 to a slimline 13 after an evening of debate in the National Assembly.

    As predicted the Poitou-Charentes, the Limousin and Aquitaine have been joined together, as well as Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy.

    Although local politicians in the north of France, including former Socialist party chief Martine Aubry, were not too pleased with the move.

    But ultimately the French government got its way, as it looks to cut costs and reduce the levels of bureaucracy many people face every day.

    MP Carlos Da Silva, who proposed the joining of the three regions in south west France, said that changes might still have to be made, but the new map will be put in place from 2016.

  • The many faces of British poverty in France

    A little-known charity has been helping out destitute British people in France for nearly 200 years. If the causes of poverty were once wars and revolutions, now it's more likely to be a house purchase gone wrong.

    Just a few years after the fall of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, the British community in Paris was growing fast.

    Encouraged by a fashion for things English under the restored French monarchy and by growing unemployment at home, thousands of workers – bricklayers, ostlers, servant-girls and governesses – were trying their luck across the channel.

  • Expat voting rights campaigner recognised by vice-president of European Commission

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    Discussion between Harry Shindler and Viviane Reding, from September 2013
    THE campaigning work of 92-year-old Harry Shindler that would see UK expats enjoy voting rights in Westminister elections, has been recognised by the vice-president of the European Commission.

    Speaking at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Viviane Reding, who is also the EU Justice Commissioner, said Harry Shindler was a ‘remarkable’ man who had ‘lost his voice in the nation for which he fought’.

    Now living in Italy, Harry Shindler has been calling for all UK expats to have the right to vote in UK elections, a right that is lost once someone lives overseas for more than 15 years.

    In her speech, Viviane Reding cited Mr Shindler as an example of a ‘remarkable campaigner for rights’ explaining: “A British veteran of World War Two, Mr Shindler fought for his country during the liberation of Rome. He returned to Italy, and this caused him big trouble: because he has now been living in Italy for more than 15 years, he has lost his right to vote in national elections in the United Kingdom.

    “He has lost his voice in the nation for which he fought. And he is not alone: there are many EU citizens who are disenfranchised simply because they used their right to move to another EU member state.”

    The UK is one of five countries that Viviane Reding has called on to end the practice of ending voting rights after a certain time if someone takes the option to live in another EU country – the others are Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland and Malta.

    The EU Justice Commissioner said it was ‘about making sure citizens do not lose one right because they exercise another’.

    Related: Harry Shindler’s votes for expats case blocked by European Court of Human Rights