THE FRENCH-AMERICAN FOUNDATION WEEKLY BRIEF

France

The AFP reported that Florence Woerth was resigning from the firm managing L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt’s fortune amid allegations that Bettencourt hid 80 million Euros in Swiss tax shelters. Woerth is married to French Labor Minister Eric Woerth, who has faced calls for his resignation from Socialist opposition party leaders in light of the scandal. Woerth denied he or his wife had any involvement in the scandal, and claimed he had been made a “target” because of his role in proposed pension reforms. Bettencourt is currently the wealthiest woman in France, with a 31% stake in L’Oreal, and an estimated worth of 10 billion Euros, according to La Croix.

French union leaders estimated that approximately two million people came out on Thursday, June 24, to protest proposed pension reforms that would raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. According to Les Echos, the protests disrupted public transportation services, with the SNCF national rail service announcing that nearly 40% of its employees had joined the strike. The RATP predicted that three out of four metro lines would be affected as well.

The French national soccer team returned to France following a disastrous performance in the World Cup that resulted in player Nicolas Anelka’s expulsion from the team, a players’ strike, and the resignation of team director Jean-Louis Valentin. President Sarkozy drew criticism for meeting with star soccer player Thierry Henry to discuss the fiasco after canceling a meeting with a group of 130 French NGOs in advance of the the upcoming G8 and G20 international summits. When Sarkozy announced that Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would take his place, the NGOs decided to boycott the meeting, accusing Sarkozy of giving priority to a soccer star over “3 billion poor people.” 

Following a four-day-trial, on Thursday, June 24, 20minutes.fr reported that French inmate Nicolas Cocaign was condemned to an additional 30 years in prison for murdering his Rouen cellmate and then eating part of his lung. Cocaign and his lawyer had sought a declaration of criminal insanity, blaming the prison management for not listening to Cocaign’s appeals for psychiatric help, and for placing Cocaign, Baudry and one other prisoner together in a cell measuring only 11 square meters. Australian newspaper Perth Now reported that a week earlier a French tribunal ruled that conditions at the Rouen prison were degrading. French prisons have one of the highest suicide rates in Europe and have faced scrutiny from the European court of human rights for “failing to provide basic needs.”

Les Echos reported that Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced he was breaking away from the UMP to form the “République solidaire,” a new center-right political party. He called it an “alternative” to President Sarkozy’s policies, sparking speculation that he was planning a 2012 presidential bid against Sarkozy.