Politics
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…
French Deputy Is Appalled by U.K.’s Brexit Vote
The vote by British citizens in favor of the U.K. leaving the European Union has created a “ludicrous” situation, with the proponents of exiting the 28-nation group not seeming to have prepared a plan of action, the head of the Foreign Affairs Commission of France’s National Assembly told the AAPA. Speaking to over a dozen AAPA members in the commission’s meeting room on June 27, just a few days…
Israeli Envoy Reaffirms Need for Direct Talks With Palestine
Future discussions on breaking the deadlock between Israel and Palestine require a direct dialog without preconditions between the two states, and not a multilateral approach as favored by Palestinian leaders, Israeli Ambassador Aliza Bin-Noun told us on June 21. Speaking to 15 AAPA members over breakfast at the Israeli embassy, Ms. Bin-Noun reasserted Israel’s hostility to French-led attempts…
Hollande’s Diplomatic Advisor Meets the AAPA
A group of AAPA journalists were given a rare opportunity last October 6 to meet with Jacques Audibert, France’s top diplomatic advisor to President Francois Hollande. In the impressive setting of the Hotel Marigny, where heads of state are usually housed and entertained on official visits, Audibert discussed key foreign policy issues in a 90-minute “off-the-record” exchange, touching…