Finance Minister Spills the Beans on Growth Outlook
Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici created news when he revealed exclusively to the AAPA on Feb.18 that the government was moving away from its earlier pledge to bring its budget deficit down to 3% of gross domestic product this year, arguing that Europe's recession had created an "exceptional" situation requiring less austerity. The minister's comments were picked up widely…
Fabius Hosts Round-Table Meeting with the AAPA
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met February 6 with close to 40 AAPA members to discuss France’s priorities and concerns in the foreign policy domain. In an ornate setting at the Quai d’Orsay, Fabius went “off the record” to explain his government’s concerns about Europe, Syria, Lebanon, Mali, Iran, the Middle East Peace Process and many other topics. For about 90 minutes,…
New State Bank On The Prowl For Borrowers and Projects
Nicolas Dufourcq, the new head of the French government's Banque Publique d'Investissement, says that one of the greatest obstacles he faces is finding viable projects, not money. The state bank was created last year to help small and medium-sized companies overcome difficulties in obtaining financing from traditional sources of funding. At a lunch hosted by the bank for some twenty AAPA members…
Montebourg Hosts AAPA at Bercy
Fostering the "reshoring" of French companies that have chosen to relocate overseas and encouraging French people to prefer products "Made in France," are just two of the tasks set for Industrial Revival Minister Arnaud Montebourg by President Francois Hollande, Mr. Montebourg told some 30 Anglo-American Press Association members on Jan. 8. During a lunch kindly hosted by Mr.…
Dryanskys Serve up a Gastronomic Feast
Long-time AAPA member Gerry Dryansky has won the American prize in the Gourmand World Cookbook competition for 2012, for “Best Culinary Travel Guide” with his latest oeuvre, "Coquilles, Calva and Crème: A Love Affair with Real French Food," published by Pegasus Books. Co-written with his wife Joanne, the book brings to life some of the most fascinating, glamorous food years in France—evenings…
New Year's Message from the President
Dear AAPA members, A New Year is upon us and it looks set to be about as busy as the one we have just seen out. The French, European and international situations loom as being as news-generating and as demanding as they were in 2012. This will be a challenge for us all, but it also provides us with opportunities to enhance the activity of the Anglo-American Press Association and allows us to make…
Energy Will Never Be Cheap, CEO of French Oil Giant Total Tells AAPA
There is no danger of the world running out of oil and gas any time soon, but it will never be cheap, the head of France’s largest and most profitable company told more than 20 AAPA members at a breakfast meeting on Dec. 11. Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of French oil and gas giant Total SA, told us that new discoveries and technological advances have increased the oil industry's…
French Minister Confident UK’s Future Lies In EU
Amid widespread reports that Britain was gradually easing out of European Union obligations and might block the next proposed EU budget, European Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told some twenty five of us over breakfast Nov. 13 that intense efforts were underway to resolve critical issues with London in anticipation of the key EU summit meeting Nov. 22-23. He urged an agreement at the…
An American In Paris Probes The French Psyche
AAPA member Harriet Welty Rochefort, author of "French Toast" and "French Fried", continues her probing into the French way of life with her third book on the subject: "Joie de Vivre: Secrets of Wining, Dining, and Romancing Like the French" (St. Martin's Press, Oct. 2012). Analyzing the various forms that French expressions of joie de vivre take, she comes up with a few theories of her own. For…
UNESCO Leader Appeals For US To Resume Funding
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova highlighted her organization's financial plight when she met with a dozen AAPA members at a breakfast meeting at UNESCO headquarters on October 11. "UNESCO needs all our members," she said, calling it "unfair that UNESCO is caught in the Middle East conflict" over a US law requiring a halt to payments to international organizations that admit Palestine…