by Multidimension Paris | Aug 12, 2022 | France Today
Ref: le monde, francetvinfo, francebleu
Published on August 12, 2022
The drought is hitting the country, almost the entire country is under drought alert, including 22 departments which are under reinforced alert and 68 others in crisis.
France has not experienced such a drought according to Météo France from records dating back to 1959. July was the driest month on record.
Although thunderstorms are expected on Sunday, August 14, according to Geological and Mining Research Office (BRGM), they are unlikely to penetrate deeply.
This situation of drought concerns almost all the groundwater reserves of the country. It is apparently due to a recharge in water “lower than normal” during the summer and the heat that rages in France and the world.
This dry climate and the lack of water put farmers in difficulty, especially breeders. The heat burns the crops, the animals are hungry but there is scarcity of grass for grazing nor enough water to drink. Breeders are forced to use their winter provisions to feed their animals.
In the case of cows, not only is there an impact on milk production due to the heat, but also on their survival. Farmers try their best to relieve suffering of the livestock by watering them. They do the same for the poultry.
Multidimension Magazine
by Multidimension Paris | Aug 9, 2022 | France Today
Since June 15, 2022, France has experienced several episodes of heat waves, unprecedented in their intensity and their precocity.
In fact, the first round of heat waves occurred much earlier in June and lasted quite long. In July, it lasted for 9 days, from July 12 to 20.
The intensity of heat caused the death of two people according to Public Health (Santé Publique) France, including a death in Brittany on July 18, 2022 during the peak of the exceptional heat wave.
The heat continued in the southeast quarter of the country and persisted since this region was not affected by the storms from the west that refreshed the rest of the country.
Since then, temperatures across the country have remained above normal during day and night.
From August 5, 2022 to August 7, 2022, temperature dropped. On Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6 the maximum temperature was 27°C and on Sunday, August 7 it was recorded at 28°C.
From August 8 the temperature will rise again and will exceed 30°C all week.
Multidimension Magazine
by Multidimension Paris | Jul 25, 2022 | France Today
Ref: Le parisien, Prefecture of the Gironde, Sud Ouest
Published on 25 July, 2022
Gironde is experiencing forest fires never seen before in recent times. Indeed, since Tuesday, July 12, two fires broke out in the forest of La Teste-de-Buch in the district of Arcachon and Landiras in the district of Langon.
On July 23, 2022, after 11 days of fighting against the fire of Teste-de-Buch which burned 7 000 hectares, the fire was “fixed”. The fire near Landiras which burned nearly 13,800 hectares is no longer progressing but is considered “contained”
These fires forced the evacuation of more than 36,000 inhabitants and 6,500 people were able to return to their homes on July 22. The reintegration continued over the next few days.
According to the Prefect of Gironde, large land and air resources have been mobilised to fight these mega fires, a total of 1300 firefighters, 4 canadairs, 2 attack helicopters.
The origin of the fire in La Teste-de-Buch is not criminal. According to the public prosecutor’s office of Bordeaux, “a technical assistant from a campsite located in the area was heading towards the waste disposal site on 12 July with a Ford Transit vehicle equipped with a dumpster. A sudden breakdown affected the vehicle, the driver got out and noticed that flames were developing under the dumpster. He immediately alerted the fire department, but the fire was out of control and spread quickly. Although he had a fire extinguisher in his vehicle, the flames were too large and spread too quickly for him to put out the fire.
According to the public prosecutor, there is a criminal hypothesis behind the fire of Landiras. A 39-year-old man was even placed in police custody on July 18, under suspicion of having played a role in the origin of the fire. However, he was released two days later, on Wednesday, July 20, because “the expert reports, analyses of the elements collected and the hearings carried out” recognize him as innocent.
A new fire broke out in Gironde on Saturday August 6 in the morning, at the intersection of a forest track. All day the team of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service fought hard to fight this new fire. According to the Gironde SDIS, 120 firefighters, 2 DASH and 1 water bomber helicopter are mobilized.
By 4 p.m., it burned at least 30 hectares and the fire was declared “fixed” around 9:30 p.m. In addition, due to the wind, the smoke from the fires rose to Paris affecting the quality of the air. Many internet users on twitter reacted to the grey sky and the burning smell they noticed that day.
Other fires incidents such as in Ardèche, Jura, Isère, Finistère or in the forest of Brocéliande (Morbihan, in Brittany) are more or less fixed.
Although a stormy turbulence is expected to take place from Sunday according to Météo France, it does not mean the end of the fires. On the contrary it could be the cause of other new fires.
The episodes of heat waves in France have played a very important role in the persistence of these fires.
President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France would receive help from European countries (Italy, Germany, Poland, Greece, Austria and Romania) to put out all these fires.
Perhaps it is time to realise the importance of climate change and to take necessary action for the best interest of our future and future generations.
Multidimension Magazine
by Multidimension Paris | Jun 29, 2022 | France Today
Multidimension desk
Written by: Parshi Barua
Photo: Shutterstock.com
In the legislative elections, the French voters elect 577 representatives to sit in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, for 5 years, which forms the legislative power with the upper house, The Senate. These two control the government and they propose, study et vote bills to make laws.
The first round of legislative elections took place on June 12, 2022. Polling stations were open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (8 p.m. in major cities). The rate of abstention was all time high at 52.49% compared to 51.29% in 2017.
Three parties came out on top:
Ensemble (Together)! the union of parties supporting President Emmanuel Macron obtained 25.75% of the votes and came first.
The NUPES (New Popular Union Ecological and Social), the union of left-wing parties led by Jean Luc Mélenchon ranked second with 25.66% of votes.
The National Rally, the party of Marine Le Pen, came 3rd with 18.88% of votes. These results were used only to calculate the cumulative votes casted in the first round and not for the composition of party wise seats in the National Assembly.
According to an Ipsos Sopra Steria poll, among the 18-25 years age group, 42% voted for the NUPES, 18% voted for the National Rally and 13% for the Ensemble!
Following the first round results, 5 candidates were declared elected, 4 from the NUPES and 1 candidate from the Ensemble, who received more than 50% of the total vote casted in their respective constituencies.
On June 19, 2022, the second round of legislative elections took place. According to figures published by the Ministry of the Interior, the abstention rose to 53.77% from 52.49% recorded in the first round.
In the second round, the Ensemble won 245 seats. The NUPES won 131 seats and the National Rally recorded an unprecedented score bagging 89 seats. The Republicans will be 61 in the National Assembly. As for the Union of Democrats and Independents, they managed to obtain 3 seats. Other parties have 48 seats. But no Reconquest candidate! (the party of Eric Zemmour) was elected.
On June 20, the elected deputies were welcomed to the National Assembly. June 21, 2022 marked the end of the term of the National Assembly elected in 2017 and on Tuesday, June 28, the first session of the elected Assembly will take place as well as the election of the President of the National Assembly.
As the presidential union Ensemble failed to acquire an absolute majority, it will need coalition partners to form the next government. A lot of challenges ahead.
Multidimension Magazine
by Multidimension Paris | May 14, 2022 | France Today
Multidimension Desk
Photo : Shutterstock.com
The first round of 2022 presidential elections took place on April 10. There were twelve candidates in the contest including the current president Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Eric Zemmour, Yannick Jadot, Valérie Pécresse, Jean Lassalle, Fabien Roussel, Anne Hidalgo, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Philippe Poutou and Nathalie Arthaud. The results were announced at 8 pm. Emmanuel Macron topped the list with 27.84% of votes, Marine Le Pen came second with 23.15% of votes followed closely by Jean-Luc Mélanchon with 21.95% of votes.
After the announcement of the results, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), a traditional leftist, called on his voters not to vote for Marine Le Pen in any circumstances. Valérie Pécresse, the candidate from the right, The Republicans, appealed to her voters to vote for Emmanuel Macron, so did Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party and Yannick Jadot of Europe Ecology – The Greens. On the other hand, Eric Zemmour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, both representing the extreme right-wing camp, declared their support for Marine Le Pen.
According to the statistics, the French between 18 to 24 years and 25 to 34 years voted mostly for Jean-Luc Mélenchon whose election manifesto, A Different World is possible, focussed on betterment of living conditions of common people, like increase in minimum wages, bringing back retirement age to 60, intensive investment in public service institutions especially hospitals along with the proposition to move the French State towards the 6th Republic for a real democracy (Citizens’ initiative referendum -RIC, dismissal of elected representatives) and new rights in the Constitution (right to control over one’s own body, right to die with dignity).
The second round took place on April 24, 2022. Emmanuel Macron is re-elected with 59% of the votes and Marine Le Pen collected 41% of the votes. In spite of popular discontentment against Emmanuel Macron due to his neo-liberal economic policy, tax cut for the riches and raising retirement age from 62 to 65, he came out victorious as a result of common good sense of the majority of the French electorate who rejected the extreme right-wing programmes of Marine Le Pen based on anti-European Union rhetoric, anti-immigration, racism and xenophobia. Although her significant progress in narrowing the margin of votes shows gradual change in French society which is hailed globally for its inclusiveness being multiethnic and multicultural. Therefore, Emmanuel Macron has to carry much more responsibility to address the discontentment of the population than his first term as president as his election in 2017 is regarded as a watershed in French politics being a young and energetic leader of a newly founded political movement of “neither left nor right”, unknown to the French population at that period of time.
The programme of his second term as president will largely depend on the outcome of the election of the lower house of the French Parliament which is scheduled on June 12, 2022 (first round) and June 19, 2022 (second round). Last time, blurring the left–right divide, his party managed an overwhelming majority by winning 308 seats out of 577 parliamentary seats. But the growing clout of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen in the French political scenario will definitely change the existing composition and put pressure on the political and the economic agenda of Emmanuel Macron.
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