French-American Foundation Weekly Brief highlights political, economic and cultural news stories related to France and French-American relations as well as trans-Atlantic and European issues.
France
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After a week- long spree killing three paratroopers in a drive-by shooting in southwestern France and then three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school, 23-year-old Mohamed Merah, who claimed to be responsible for the killings, was shot dead on Thursday, March 22, after a standoff that lasted more than 30 hours, the New York Times, le Point and the Washington Post. Once feared to be the act of an al-Qaeda network in France, Merah’s killing spree was called an isolated act by President Nicolas Sarkozy, though French authorities filed charges against Abdelkader Merah, Mohamed’s older brother, on Sunday, March 25, for complicity in the murders, as well as plotting to commit terrorist acts and group theft, according to the Christian Science Monitor, CNN and Ouest-France. The Paris office of Qatari news organization Al Jazeera said on Tuesday, March 27, that it had received a USB key with video footage of the killings. Sarkozy requested that the news organization not share the footage, traced back to Mohamed Merah, a request which Al Jazeera announced it would respect that day, as covered by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and le Monde.
After the series of shootings in and near Toulouse, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Monday, March 26, that France would bar entry to certain Muslim clerics generally considered to be on the radical side of Islam, such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was rejected a visa to enter France for a conference in April, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, Global Post and the New York Times. On Tuesday, March 27, Sarkozy announced a new series of measures to ward off the development of extremist and terrorist movements in France, as covered by le Point and 20 Minutes.
Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand confirmed on Monday, March 26, that the French economy, particularly the labor market, had slowed considerably since the end of 2011, as unemployment had risen 0.2 percent since the end of last year, when it was at 9.4 percent, NASDAQ and le Point reported. As the last labor statistics to be released before the first round of elections on April 22, le Parisien and Reuters explored how ten consecutive months of rising unemployment, and a failure to bring the unemployment level down to 9 percent by the end of 2011, as it is now expected to reach 9.7 percent by mid-year, could be detrimental to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reelection hopes.
Microsoft France won a court case against the Ministry of Economy in which the American enterprise’s French branch argued that the company had unjustly been charged €20 million in back taxes covering the period from 1999 to 2001, le Figaro and l’Express reported. Unless the decision is appealed, the French government will have to pay back to the €20 million and an additional €4 million in interest.
The city of Paris recommended that drivers reduce their maximum speed from 80 to 60 kilometers per hour over the weekend, as the city surpassed its maximum level of particulate matter, making the third time in the month of March, and the 23rd time in 2012, that Paris was placed on alert due to its high levels of pollution, le Monde and le Parisien reported.
United States
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The U.S. Supreme Court opened three days of arguments in the case to determine whether President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obama Care,” was constitutional, le Point, le Nouvel Observateur and the LA Times reported. Amid arguments heard on the first day, questions ranged from what qualifies as a tax to whether it was premature to determine the constitutionality of a bill that had yet to go into effect, as covered by the New York Times. CNN looked at the implications of the Supreme Court case, which could extend far beyond national health care and change how the government is able to create regulations pertaining to a number of social issues.
After Mitt Romney took the Illinois primaries on Tuesday, March 20, by 47 to runner-up Rick Santorum’s 35 percent, Santorum returned on Saturday, March 24, winning the Republican primaries in Lousiana with 49 percent of votes, Romney coming in second with a distant 26 percent, le Point and le Nouvel Observateur reported. The 11th state to give its delegates to Santorum, Louisana’s primaries prolonged the ongoing hindrance to the campaign of Mitt Romney, once considered a shoo-in, as the primary season has continued to be the longest in decades without a frontrunner. NPR and the Guardian looked at the ongoing challenge to Romney’s campaign posed by Santorum and explored whether Romney, if he does get the nomination, can rally the support of the Republican party in November’s elections.
A new CBS / New York Times poll released on Monday, March 26, showed that the number of Americans disapproving of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan had risen sharply following a series of incidents that have raised tension between the two nations, notably the killing of at least 16 Afghan civilians by Sergeant Robert Bales, who was officially charged with 17 counts of murder on Friday, March 23, as well as an incident in which American burning of Korans led to mass protests and violence in Afghanistan earlier this year, le Monde, CBS and the San Francisco Chronicle reported. At its highest level since the news outlets started polling the public about its support for the war in Afghanistan, disapproval was shown at 69 percent, up from the 53 percent shown in the same poll in November 2011, according to the New York Times.
The United States suspended an estimated $60-70 million in aid to the nation of Mali on Monday, March 26, after the situation continued to deteriorate in the days following a military coup that ousted president Amadou Toumani Touré on Thursday, March 22, la Libération and Reuters reported. The American announcement, stressing that cuts would not affect food or humanitarian aid, followed suspensions of aid from the European Union, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank on Friday, March 23, as well as a suspension from the African Union, according to the Guardian and le Nouvel OBservateur.
Business & Economy
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Ben Bernanke, president of the U.S. Federal Reserve, said in a press conference on Monday, March 26, at he remained wary about optimism shown toward the United States’ drop in unemployment, which reached 8.3 percent in February after reaching 9.1 percent last June, le Monde and la Croix reported. As Bernanke hinted that the Federal Reserve would keep short-term interest rates low through 2014 amid fears of slowing growth, the stock and commodity markets climbed upward by close, according to TF1 and the Washington Post. After ending last week down, the Dow Jones closed at his third highest point so far this year on Monday, March 26, while the S&P 500 reached its highest close since May 2008, as covered by AP and EasyBourse.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week that she was open to raising European bailout funds from current projected levels of €500 billion to €700 billion on a temporary basis to ensure stability as worries about Spain and Italy have added to worries about the Greek debt crisis. Merkel stated in an interview on Monday, March 26, that a Greek departure from the EuroZone would be “catastrophic,” l’Express and the Economic Times reported. Such a plan would involve the addition of the €192 billion from Europe’s previous rescue fund to the €500 billion determined for the new European Stability Mechanism, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer and les Echos.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Monday, March 26, that he saw no reason to fear inflation after the European central bank injected more than €1 trillion in emergency loans into European banks in December and February. He warned, however, that it was too early to endorse optimism that Europe’s economy was back on track, the San Francisco Chronicle and les Echos reported. Since the considerable infusion of funds, the ECB has continued to hold off on purchasing government bonds. It purchased no government bonds last week, Draghi confirmed on Monday, March 26, as covered by the Wall Street Journal and ZoneBourse.
As Air France-KLM, Europe’s largest airline, looks to cut losses, an executive said this week that the company was looking into possible low-cost operations to boost profits, le Monde reported. The company was said to be looking into two options, one being the development of Transavia, a Dutch subsidiary focusing on low-cost and charter services, and the other being a separate operation that would focus on flights shorter than two hours, according to Bloomberg and les Echos
International
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The leaders of 53 nations and international organizations met in Seoul, South Korea, for a two-day summit on international cooperation in nuclear security beginning on Monday, March 26. The focus quickly became North Korea, ten days after the leaders of the secluded nation announced plans to blast a satellite into space using long-range missile technology, according to TIME, Radio Chine Internationale and le Nouvel Observateur. While Chinese leaders warned that the attention being paid to their announcement, particularly by U.S. President Barack Obama, was playing into North Korea’s plans to steal attention, Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed on Monday, March 26, a serious concern about the “hermit nation’s” proclamations, stepping up pressure on its neighboring ally, as covered by le Figaro and the Washington Post.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced on Monday, March 26, that the nation was cutting ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council, claiming that the council had demonstrated a bias against the nation by pursuing a “disproportionate focus” on its Israeli policy toward Palestinians, APand la Croix reported. The Israeli government also announced that it was barring the Council from investigating Jewish settlements in the West Bank, considered land reserved for any future Palestinian state, according to the LA Times and le Point.
After months of tensions, in which at least six died, Senegal elected Macky Sall on Sunday, March 25, over incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, who conceded defeat shortly thereafter and relieved fears that Senegal would become yet another African state to be plagued by post-electoral conflict, 20 Minutes and BBCreported. Sall, who had served as prime minister under Wade, won victory after the president, elected in 2000 and 2007, overrode a constitutional ban on presidents serving more than two terms, according to the Christian Science Monitor and Europe 1.
Pope Benedict XIV arrived for a three-day trip to the communist island of Cuba on Monday, March 26, marking the first papal visit to the island in 14 years, as Benedict called on Cuban leaders to allow the Church greater freedoms to help the nation in a time of transition, the Miami Herald and la Croix reported. While the Pope said he had not come to Cuba to start a revolution, he noted on Friday, March 22, while en route to Mexico, that communism was no longer working for Cuba and that the nation was in need of transition, according to Reutersand la Libération.