France

PARIS, April 30. /TASS/: French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky have focused on the prospects of the negotiations seeking to resolve the Ukraine conflict in the long term, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Saturday after the two president’s phone conversation.

The two presidents "touched upon the prospects for the talks meant to ensure a lasting settlement of the conflict and the restoration of security" in Europe, the statement says.

28 April 2022; MEMO: A French lawyer has expressed deep concern over the recent assault of two veiled young Muslim women by police officers at the Pont de Clichy in the north-western part of the capital, Paris, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Video footage showing police officers involved in the incident on 14 April went viral, triggering tensions.

PARIS, April 27. /TASS/: France’s Constitutional Council has declared Emmanuel Macron president-elect based on the results of a presidential runoff held on April 24, the council’s head Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday.

"Emmanuel Macron received an absolute majority of votes. The Constitutional Council declares Emmanuel Macron President-Elect of the Republic on April 27," he said, adding that Macron’s presidential term would begin on May 14.

According to the final data announced by Fabius, Macron gained 18.7 mln of votes and his rival Marine Le Pen got 13.2 mln.

PARIS (AP) — Soon after his victory was announced, French President Emmanuel Macron took the stage to the sound of the European Union’s anthem, the “Ode to Joy.” The symbolism was strong: The 44-year-old centrist’s election to a second term bolsters his standing as a senior player in Europe.

Macron is now expected to push for strengthening the 27-nation bloc and throw all his weight behind efforts to put an end to the war in Ukraine.

PARIS (AP) — When Vladimir Putin congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as France’s president and wished him “success in your activities,” the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere.

As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping France at the forefront of international efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russia’s new offensive in the east of the country.

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen gathered her party’s troops on Monday, not to mourn her loss a day earlier in the French presidential election but to plot out how to orchestrate a victory in June’s parliamentary vote and capture a majority of seats in the National Assembly.

PARIS, April 24. /TASS/: France’s incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron, has 52.59% in the presidential election runoff with 55% of the votes counted, as follows from the early returns the Interior Ministry has uploaded to its website on Sunday.

Marine Le Pen, of the National Rally party, has 47.41%. The turnout is estimated at 73.76%.

PARIS (AP) — France voters turned out Sunday for a presidential runoff election that has wide repercussions for Europe’s future, with President Emmanuel Macron considered the front-runner but fighting a tough challenge from far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

The centrist Macron is asking voters to trust him for a second five-year term despite a presidency that was troubled by protests, the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. A Macron victory in this vote would make him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.

PARIS (AP) — France’s presidential contenders Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen traded final blows on the last day of campaigning Friday to drive home why their particular political brand — and not the other’s — is the right choice for voters in one of the world’s wealthiest large democracies.

Macron, the center-right incumbent, laid into the nationalist rival he is set to face in a Sunday runoff, accusing the far-right leader of trying to divide France over Islam.

PARIS (AP) — As France elects a president, Paris-based artist Vincent Aïtzegagh is going to ground, escaping to a bucolic village to avoid what for him — and millions of other left-wing French voters — is a painful, even impossible, electoral choice. For the first time in his life, the 65-year-old has decided to not vote at all in the decisive ballot this Sunday.

“I am fleeing,” he says. “Because it stinks.”