Politics
Russia invades Ukraine: now what?
On Feb 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, we held an on-the-record discussion, Russia-Ukraine-Europe: What Now?, via Zoom with two experts: Prof Marie Mendras, Russian specialist from Sciences Po, Paris and Prof Emeritus Douglas Webber, Political scientist & Europe specialist from INSEAD. Prof Mendras opined that Russian President Vladimir Putin's shocking and unanticipated move into Ukraine…
US Congressmen discuss Ukraine and US-France relations
More than a dozen AAPA members got to sit down with the two leaders of a US Congressional delegation to France on April 19th at the US ambassador’s residence. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), who is on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Representative David Cicilline (D-RI-01), who is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told us their eight-member delegation had a busy two days in…
Russian Sanctions: Economic Weapons
The unprecedented barrage of coordinated economic sanctions on Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine is already having an impact on Russian quality of life and could ultimately undermine President Vladimir Putin politically, according to Sciences Po economics professor Sergei Guriev. He spoke to the AAPA via Zoom on March 24, 2022. A former financial "insider" in Moscow, Guriev was…
Presidential candidate Michel Barnier meets with AAPA
The Anglo-American press club met with former minister, EU Brexit negotiator and presidential candidate Michel Barnier on December 8. Fresh from the campaign trail, Barnier spoke of his enthusiasm for nominee Pécresse, and her ability to win the race. He says he hopes to be a part of her campaign and government. We also discussed the fallout from Brexit, Franco-British relations and France’s…
Macron's road to reelection runs through Africa
How will Africa play out in a French presidential election year? On 21 June 2021, the AAPA was pleased to welcome Pascal Airault, staff writer and columnist for L'Opinion and co-author with Antoine Glaser of Le Piège Africain de Macron: Du Continent à l'Hexagone. The same Emmanuel Macron, drawn in by his nation’s role as a former colonial power in places like Chad and Mali, wants to display that…
Britain Post-Brexit
The AAPA welcomed back an old friend on April 7 when veteran diplomat Lord Peter Ricketts, a life peer in the UK House of Lords (and Ambassador in Paris from 2012 to 2016) joined us on Zoom to discuss Britain Post-Brexit in a discussion moderated by AAPA VP Shellie Karabell. He admitted he was "surprised by how ill-prepared the government was" for Brexit and wondered how the country would…
'Nationalist' Marine Le Pen denounces 'globalist' Macron in meeting with AAPA
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right Rassemblement National party, was hosted by the AAPA in a well-attended video-conference on March 30. Le Pen has been in the news since opinion polls started showing her within a whisker of beating President Emmanuel Macron in a putative second round of the presidential election in 2022. Le Pen maintained her drive to "detoxify" (dédiaboliser) the brand…
European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton says: “don’t send me your lobbies”
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is very clear about the direction that European Union (EU) regulation on internet companies should take. Strategy is based on 4 pillars: a Data Governance Act, a Digital Services Act, to be unveiled in early December and update the 2000 e-Commerce directive, a Digital Markets Act and the 2019…
Green candidate aiming to become Paris' next mayor pledges major environmental and social programs
Despite other pressing news, just under a dozen members met with the candidate, David Belliard, who in a Hotel de Ville annex today came across as determined to transform the city by blocking sprawling urban-commercial complexes, backed by Mayor Anne Hildago seeking re-election in the nation's March 15-22 municipal elections. His broader goal, he said repeatedly, is to transform such projects…
Dissident Paris Mayor candidate Villani claims loyalty to Macron
Cédric Villani, mathematician and independent candidate for Paris Mayor in the March elections, began his day on February 11 by meeting with about 25 AAPA members at Bloomberg’s offices next to Opéra. Villani outlined his programme to “open up politics” to the outside world with more direct democracy, to free Paris of pollution and incivility, and to resolve the city's housing shortage. He…