Inside France: Musk, macarons and the prime minister’s overdraft

Inside France is editor Emma Pearson’s weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

Tech wars

I recently found myself humming Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (the anthem of the EU) while packing for a weekend away.

Into my bag I flung a single charger that would charge all my electronics – phone, headphones, e-reader and mini speaker – thanks to EU regulations mandating a single charger type.

Such a simple and small piece of legislation will save tonnes of electronic waste. Now there’s another piece of EU tech regulation on the horizon, from 2027 the EU mandates user-replaceable and longer-lasting batteries in mobile phones, along with the availability of spare parts and user manuals for 10 years.

As a native of Yorkshire – where we are famously careful with money – the ‘planned obsolescence’ of so many items drives me nuts, and that’s before we get into the environmental damage of simply chucking out so many plastic items, many of which include rare minerals and metals, the mining of which causes extensive damage.

Here in France, the government has its own law on the ‘circular economy’ that includes both anti-waste measures and incentives to repair and recycle (including the repair bonus for getting electronics repaired or shoes re-heeled).

But when it comes to regulating American tech giants, who are increasingly overt about the fact that they don’t give a shit about local laws in the countries where they operate, having the weight of a 27-country Bloc is definitely an advantage.

Having said that, the Paris prosecutor seems unafraid of big tech – summoning Elon Musk and Twitter’s ex CEO Linda Yaccarino as part of the investigation into election interference, complicity in possessing child sexual abuse material and Holocaust denial on X.

Predictably, Musk and Yaccarino ont posé un lapin (were no-shows) for the interviews, which the prosecutor says will make no difference to the course of their investigation.

This came in the same week as the French government began moving its employees off Microsoft Windows and onto the European operating system Linux – part of an ongoing effort to move away from American tech.

I’m definitely noticing more and more people in France having the conversation about shifting to European alternatives for things like email, operating systems and payment platforms.

In fact, for the first time this week, I was contacted by a reader who said they refused to subscribe because we use American platforms to process payments. While obviously I want as many people as possible to subscribe to The Local (since that’s how we stay afloat as a company), I admire their principles. As for the move away from American platforms, it’s a work in progress but one that I hope can happen soon.

READ ALSO: 15 French replacements for American tech

The horrifying story of the 11 employees at the International Criminal Court who have been placed under sanctions by the US reveals how much of a stranglehold American tech has on daily life – email and bank accounts closed, credit card transactions blocked, even e-book purchases impossible.  

We’re undoubtedly small fry, of very little interest to the US government – but there’s still the theoretical possibility that someone in the Trump administration could decide that they don’t like our sarcastic article on the Arc de Triomphe and cut off our payment and email platforms.

Talking France

We discuss the French attitude to US tech on the latest Talking France, along with plans for the Paris périphérique and the likelihood of jet fuel shortages in Europe this summer. Listen here.

Watching the pennies

This week we discovered that the French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu is €559 overdrawn at the bank, while the Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin owns a Renault and a Jeep bought for a total €34,000.

This slightly queasy level of detail comes from the government’s annual declaration of interests.

Every government minister is obliged by France’s transparency laws to declare their interests and assets to the Haute Autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique (High Authority for Transparency in Public Life), which then publishes them for anyone to see.

The same thing happens at election time, when candidates in presidential elections are also required to make a detailed declaration of their and their spouses’ assets. Hence we know that the 2022 anti-capitalist candidate Philippe Poutou is living up to his principles by having a single asset – a Peugeot 308 car.

While this level of detail does feel slightly intrusive, it’s certainly an admirable dedication to transparency and keeping public life untainted by financial conflicts of interest.

Flavour combinations

Back to French brands, I’m a big fan of the Breton company Brets, with their incredible range of crisp flavours. But I worry that they have finally gone too far – this week they unveiled a new salted caramel flavour. My weekend plan is to track down a bag and conduct some fearless investigative journalism.

Pierre Hermé is another brand which I think might have gone too far – the celebrity chef’s chain of macaron shops sell flavours including olive oil & vanilla, seaweed and salted caramel/chocolate. I am a macaron purist and believe that pistachio is the only acceptable flavour – all the others are too sweet and over-flavoured. I am prepared to fight to the death on this issue.

Inside France is editor Emma Pearson’s weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.