Politics
Interpol Chief Warns of New Terrorist Threat
Europe is facing a new “Isis 2.0” wave of terrorism from radicalised individuals returning from conflict zones in the Middle East to their home countries and jailed jihadists who will be completing relatively short prison terms in the next few years, Interpol’s Secretary General Jürgen Stock told the AAPA. Speaking to some 30 members on Dec. 19, Mr. Stock remarked that prisons act as incubators…
Macron's advisors talk diplomacy with the AAPA
Three of Emmanuel Macron's foreign policy advisors - Philippe Étienne, Aurélien Lechevallier, and Clément Beaune - met with members of the Anglo-American Press Association in an off-the-record event at the Elysée during which they spoke at length of the president's objectives for France on the European and world stage. Photo: AAPA
Benjamin Griveaux provides insider’s view of the Macron administration
Brexit, Germany, European parliamentary elections, the economy, Islam in France, and Corsican nationalism were among the many topics government spokesman and cabinet member Benjamin Griveaux discussed with the AAPA at a meeting on February 12. Griveaux was spokesman for Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign and over lunch with 28 members of the Association, he recounted the foundation of Macron’s…
Diplomat Briefs AAPA on Franco-American Relations
One year after the election of Donald Trump to the White House, relations between France and the United States remain “extremely good”, and are underpinned by military cooperation between the two countries, a senior French diplomat told the AAPA on Nov. 17. “The relationship between France and the U.S. has never been so intense in military terms,” the official told the group of nearly 40 AAPA…
Macron’s Big Challenges Are Still to Come: Pollsters
In the midst of an extraordinary French political season, pollsters Edouard Lecerf of Kantar Public, Bruno Jeanbart of OpinionWay, and Jérôme Fourquet of Ifop spoke to members of the Anglo-American Press Association for a second time this year to make sense of a shake-up that continues to reverberate around us. The three polling experts met with some 20 AAPA members on June 6, just a few days…
Political Scientist Sees Bumpy Road Ahead for Macron
Dominique Reynié, CEO of the think tank Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol--liberal, progressive and European) and professor at Sciences Po, spent nearly two hours on June 2 sharing his thoughts with the AAPA on topics ranging from Emmanuel Macron’s election as president to the miscasting of Gérard Collomb as interior minister. Democracy has been plunged into a historic crisis by three…
French presidential elections unprecedented, researcher says
The run-up to France’s 2017 presidential elections is unlike any in the past, with an electorate confused by waning confidence in politicians, worried about security and distressed by chronic unemployment, a respected political researcher told the AAPA on March 28. It’s the first presidential election to be held under a state of emergency, Sciences Po professor Pascal Perrineau told a…
French Elections Could Spring Some Surprises, Pollsters Say
France’s presidential election could spring some surprises even if the lineup for the second round currently seems fairly clear-cut today, a panel of polling experts told the AAPA on April 7. Once they got into the voting booths, many voters confounded polling agencies in recent crucial votes in the U.S. and the U.K. by making choices that they hadn’t previously shared with canvassers, and…
The EU Couldn’t Survive Le Pen Presidency - INSEAD professor
“It would be almost impossible for the EU to survive if Marine Le Pen should win the up-coming French Presidential elections and withdraw France from it,” INSEAD Political Science Professor Douglas Webber told 17 AAPA members on March 21. “Europe can survive without the UK, but not without France. It would be a political earthquake,” he continued, referring to Le Pen’s vow to negotiate new EU…
Marine Le Pen Asserts Controversial Positions on EU, Russia
The AAPA kicked off 2017 with a news-making event on Jan. 6 when nearly 60 members met with one of France's top political personalities - National Front party leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. The timing was ideal, with the French presidential elections just four months away and Ms. Le Pen increasingly tipped to secure a place in the runoff round of voting on May 7. After Brexit…