Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Paris Olympics can help unify a fractured city
News, Lionel Laurent, Published on 26/07/2024
» Paris faces the test this week of launching the Olympic Games safely and affordably at a time of war, political polarisation and social unrest. It's not a done deal. Heavy-handed security barriers and Covid-style QR codes are already infuriating residents and tourists trying to navigate a River Seine that's been cleaned at great expense.
Conscription panic isn't the debate Europe needs
News, Lionel Laurent, Published on 06/04/2024
» 'The French are all soldiers and must defend their homeland." So decreed the 18th-century law that made military service mandatory in France, until the end of the Cold War banished it to the history books and replaced it with a kind of glorified recruitment day -- which I dutifully attended as a teenager and promptly forgot about. Nobody under the age of 45 in France has forcibly worn army fatigues or picked up a weapon, including Emmanuel Macron.
Riots' deja vu raises the stakes
News, Lionel Laurent, Published on 04/07/2023
» A teenager killed by police in a Paris suburb. A wave of anger that morphs into widespread rioting and opportunistic looting. A tough law-and-order response followed by an appeal for unity and calm -- and a political call for action that fades over time.
Want to escape a lockdown? Give Sweden a try
News, Lionel Laurent, Published on 28/03/2020
» Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is known for showing no mercy to world leaders on carbon emissions.
One man holds Europe together as Brexit tears it apart
Lionel Laurent, Bloomberg Opinion columnist, Published on 30/12/2019
» BRUSSELS: Michel Barnier, the European Union’s top Brexit negotiator, is the Brussels equivalent of a rock star. For three years, the unflappable 68-year-old Frenchman has been hashing out the terms of the UK’s departure while making sure the remaining 27 members stick together.
Macron's star has fallen to Earth
News, Lionel Laurent, Published on 27/11/2018
» The French presidential cycle goes something like this: euphoria, then disappointment -- and then disillusionment, as the pace of reform slows down and popular unrest builds up. The violent clashes at this weekend's protests show just how accelerated the decline can be once opposition takes root.