The latest France news, headlines and analysis from The NE Times.
Brussels has agreed a sweeping new EU Returns Regulation just as the New Pact on Migration and Asylum takes effect — reshaping the legal landscape around the UK's 'one-in, one-out' arrangement with France.
Europe's most ambitious defence programme, the sixth-generation Future Combat Air System, has been abandoned for its core jet after Airbus and Dassault failed to agree on who would lead the work.
France hosts the Group of Seven in the lakeside town of Évian, where the aftermath of the Iran war and economic friction with Beijing are set to dominate, alongside high-stakes sideline talks.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu used special constitutional powers to adopt a delayed budget that lifts military spending sharply, while suspending the contested rise in the retirement age.
The pilot, which swaps Channel arrivals for asylum seekers with UK ties, is extended and amended — but figures show it has so far affected only a fraction of crossings.