France General Discussion IV: Yellow Fever

[NewYorkExpress]

France will offer free contraceptives to all women under age 25.

France will start offering free contraceptives for young women next year to help with the financial costs of protecting against pregnancy, French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced on Thursday.


Véran said women under the age of 25 would not be charged for appointments, tests or other medical needs related to birth control starting January 1, 2022.

Last year, the government made contraception completely free, regardless of insurance, to girls under 15 for the first time, after previously offering it for ages 15 to 18, as part of a bid to end underage abortions. Abortions have been free for all women and girls in the country since 2012.


"It is intolerable that young women cannot protect themselves, cannot have contraception if they choose to do so because it is too expensive for them," Véran said on France 2, a public broadcaster, adding that the government noticed a decline in the use of contraceptives among some young women because of the cost.

The age of 25 was chosen as a threshold because it's an age in which more "autonomy" is assumed in terms of "social and financial" development, Véran said, and because 25 is the age people in France are no longer covered by their parents' health insurance.

[NewYorkExpress]

Alexandre Benalia sentenced to three years in prison, two suspended.

A former security adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron was sentenced on Friday to three years in jail, two of them suspended, over charges including roughing up May Day protesters in 2018, media reported.

The May Day scandal was an embarrassment for Macron, who is expected to run again in elections next year.

The court said Alexandre Benalla, who was also found guilty of illegally using diplomatic passports and illegally carrying a weapon, acted with "a feeling of impunity and omnipotence," a franceinfo reporter present in the courthouse said on Twitter.

The court's sentence was tougher than the 18-month suspended term sought by prosecutors.
Benalla will serve the one-year sentence at home with an electronic bracelet, media including BFM TV said.

Macron and his Elysee palace team were sharply criticized in 2018 for not immediately sacking Benalla, who was fired when a video of the incident emerged six weeks later.

[NewYorkExpress]

French authorities are investigating a male solider raping female solider at the Presidential Palace.

French authorities are investigating an alleged rape that occurred earlier this year in the presidential Elysee Palace, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Friday.

The prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press the investigation was opened on July 12. But it did not immediately confirm French media reports saying a female soldier guarding the palace had accused a serviceman of rape on July 1.


French media have also reported that President Emmanuel Macron was not nearby when the attack allegedly took place but had been at an event earlier in the evening. Macron resides at the Elysee.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the accused serviceman has been questioned as an “assisted witness,” a status that means he was not interviewed as a suspect facing potential charges.

The office would not confirm or provide further details.

[NewYorkExpress]

Elisabeth Moreno claims France still has a problem with patriarchy.

Elisabeth Moreno, France’s minister for gender equality, diversity and equal opportunities, told CNBC Friday that the country still has a problem with “patriarchal attitudes.”

Moreno, who was speaking to CNBC’s Karen Tso at the Women’s Forum in Paris on Friday, said that French President Emmanuel Macron had made gender equality the “great cause of his term.”

She said that there had been particular focus on violence against women. For instance, last year the French Parliament approved a bill giving more power to doctors to help protect victims of domestic violence. However, France reportedly still has one of the highest rates of femicide in Europe.

Moreno said the French government was also focusing on improving gender equality in the workplace. In May, the French Parliament voted unanimously to introduce gender quotas at an executive level.

Nevertheless, Moreno said that France still suffered from “a lot of stereotypes, a lot of patriarchal attitudes.”

[NewYorkExpress]

Amid unrest over COVID restrictions, France is considering granting some autonomy to Guadeloupe.

Minister for Overseas Affiars Sebastian Lecornu, said the French Government was ready to talk about giving some autonomy to Gaudeloupe following massive riots and protests on the island over COVID restrictions and a lagging economy.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Reuters/status/1463206965727928325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etf...

[NewYorkExpress]

COVID Pass protestors pelt MP Stephane Claireaux with seaweed.

A French MP has been attacked by a crowd of Covid-19 pass protesters outside his home in the overseas territory of St Pierre and Miquelon.

Video showed Stéphane Claireaux being pelted with seaweed and other missiles in the North American territory.

He likened the attack to a "stoning" and said he would file criminal charges against those responsible.

The MP is from the ruling party of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said the incident was "intolerable".

The attack came a few days before the introduction of France's health pass in St Pierre and Miquelon, two islands near Canada's Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.

The measure has long been in effect on the French mainland, where people are required to present proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to access many public venues.

Local media said about 500 opponents of the passes gathered for a protest in St Pierre and in Miquelon, where Covid infections are rising.

A group of those protesters descended on Mr Claireaux's home.

"I was waiting for the demonstrators in order to speak to them," he told the franceinfo news website. "There was a car loaded with seaweed, and people started throwing it at my face. It was like a stoning."

https://twitter.com/AnnickGirardin/status/1480270903736942596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etf...

[NewYorkExpress]

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer apparently announced new COVID measures while on vacation in Ibiza.

France's education minister has come under fire after confirming reports that he announced stringent new Covid-19 measures for schools while on vacation on the Spanish party island Ibiza.

"I regret the symbolism" of Ibiza, Jean-Michel Blanquer told lawmakers on Tuesday.
However he did caveat his regret. "In winter it's not at all like in summer," he told French TV channel TF1 Tuesday, "I was just outside, in contact with the government."

Blanquer announced the measures in a telephone interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, published on January 2, the magazine's editor said on Twitter, although reporters did not know he was in Spain at the time.