The Weekly Dispatch - 24 July 2022
The Weekly Dispatch - 24 July 2022
The TFD community has a chat, an interview on the Draghi crisis in Italy, job numbers are up, France plans to buy EDF for €9.7 billion, and there are new bosses at the Paris police prefecture and IGPN
The Weekly Dispatch is your weekly summary of the major events taking place in French and and European politics, published on Sundays in order to give you the perfect way to catch up with current affairs.
Open Thread: Get to know the community
This week I opened up a thread to give all of you The French Dispatch fans to get to know one another, ask any questions you may have, and in general just to give you all a nice little area to chat with the people across Europe who are also reading this newsletter.
Check it out, say hi, and engage with your fellow readers!
What does the loss of Draghi mean for Italy and Europe?
This week we witnessed an Italian political earthquake that will send shockwaves across Europe, but why did it happen? And what does it mean for the future?
I sat down with Dr. Luciano Pollichieni to hear what he had to say about the ongoing crisis, and you can read this interview below!
Job numbers are up!
Good news is always welcomed, even in a place that is supposedly as grumpy as France according to the international community, and the Urssaf report for Q2 2022 brings plenty!
In Q2 2022, the number of declarations of hires of over one month in duration, excluding temporary staff, saw an increase of +3.6% after the small decrease of -0.6% in Q1 2022.
This increase was most notably driven by hirings on permanent contracts (+5.5% after a +0.1% increase in Q1), with temporary contracts over one month in duration showing a slightly smaller increase (+1.5% after a drop of 1.2% in Q1).
Over the past year, the increase is even more dramatic, with new hires of over one month in duration having increased by +13.9%.
While all metropolitcan areas benefited from an increase in job hirings over one month in length, the strongest increases were at the regional level:
Ile-de-France (+20.3%)
Corsica (+16.2%)
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (+15.1%).
Haut-de-France (+6.9%)
France Offers €9.7 Billion for EDF
Having initially been privatised in 2004, Électricité de France (EDF) has encountered several issues as of late, both in terms of financial issues, decades of under-investment, the move towards potentially closing 17 nuclear power reactors, and then the ongoing global energy crisis as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the French state has been attempting to find a way to repair the cracks and find a solution.
And it seems that one has finally been found.
The Ministry for the Economy announced a takeover bid for early September, with the total cost of this takeover expected to cost the French state around €9.7 Billion, or around €12 per share.
While there’s no telling whether this will be a a benefit for the French or European energy markets, or whether this will be of any benefit at all, there is an argument to be made that a move towards state ownership could be what the French need to secure their energy needs.
If the funding can be made to reinforce, repair, and ensure the operability of the French nuclear power reactors, and then funding found for the additional three new nuclear power plants that it asked EDF to draw plans for back in 2019, then France could continue to reinforce its energy market and potentially become one of the leaders in green energy, and could encourage the rest of Europe to follow suit.
New Paris Police Prefecture Boss
Following the increasingly difficult task of the Paris police, which struggled to maintain order in Paris during the Gilets Jaunes protests, and hot off the tail of the disaster that was the Champions League Final in Paris, the Paris Prefecture is getting a new prefect in the form of Laurent Nunez.
Having formerly been the director general of interior security, secretary of state for the interior under Christophe Castaner, as well as national coordinator of intelligence and the fight against terrorism, he was previous the cabinet director for the Paris police prefecture from 2012 and 2015 after having been deputy prefect.
Having developed a very high-level expertise in counter-terrorism, he is one of the leading national experts on the topic, and is well placed to lead the Paris prefecture ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
His task will also be the restoration of the reputation of his institution, using his strategic role across the French civil service to repair the relationship between the prefecture and the city of Paris itself and her citizens, a task that will not be easy.
And so does the General Inspectorate of the National Police
And another big move was made by Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who made history today with an irregular appointment.
Typically a post held by former police officers or civil servents, the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN In France) is now going to be led by 41 year old magistrate Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre.
Similarly to Laurent Nunez, a part of her task reputation and relationship reparation, with the IGPN having regularly been criticised for its bias across its investigations, and the relationship between this organisation and the judiciary being extremely tense at the best of times.
Whether she will succeed is anyone’s guess, but nobody can say that the government isn’t trying at this point.
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