Paris
The center-right party of French President Jacques Chirac took a beating in local elections this week, leaving it with control of just two of France’s 22 regions. French voters overwhelmingly rejected the economic reforms of Chirac’s prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who has made small cuts in the country’s generous pension, unemployment, and health benefits. But Chirac refused to fire Raffarin. Instead, he ordered the prime minister to create a new Cabinet. Raffarin said the unpopular reforms would continue “simply because they are necessary.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The ‘menopause gold rush’Under the Radar Women vulnerable to misinformation and marketing of ‘unregulated’ products
-
Voting Rights Act: SCOTUS’s pivotal decisionFeature A Supreme Court ruling against the Voting Rights Act could allow Republicans to redraw districts and solidify control of the House
-
No Kings rally: What did it achieve?Feature The latest ‘No Kings’ march has become the largest protest in U.S. history
