Under the “Rearm Europe” plan announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 6 March, EU member states can boost defence spending even if it means breaking the bloc’s budget deficit rule of 3 percent of GDP.

Von der Leyen suggests the EU could raise “close to” €650 billion over four years, which would be added to a €150 billion loan to member states for defence investment, totalling €800 billion.

European arms manufacturers view this as a golden opportunity to compete against their US rivals.

• EU leaders vow to boost defence as US announces new talks with Kyiv

Some deals are already in motion. During a meeting in London on 2 March, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a €1.9 billion agreement to supply 5,000 Lightweight Multi-role Missiles (LMMs) for use against drones and helicopters.

Thales Belfast, a UK-based subsidiary of French defence giant Thales Group, which produces NLAW (Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon) missiles for Swedish defence manufacturer Saab, is expected to benefit from the surge in demand. Saab specialises in aerospace, missile systems and military technology.

This is likely just one of many contracts that will be offered to European arms contractors, shifting the burden of providing Ukraine with weapons from the US to Europe’s “coalition of the willing” – EU countries together with the UK and Norway.

• Europe’s defence vulnerabilities exposed as US shifts on Ukraine

Arms manufacturers have profited substantially from the Ukraine conflict.

The share value of French company Thales increased by about 50 percent between the beginning of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 and the end of 2024.

Until now, according to the Ukraine support tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IFW), EU countries plus the UK and Norway provided €61.94 billion in military aid to Ukraine, compared to €64.1 billion from the US between the start of Russia’s invasion and the end of 2024.

Weapons supplied to Ukraine since the invasion began include US F-16 and French Mirage-5000 fighter jets, US Abrams tanks, French Caesar howitzers, various missile systems, Patriot air defence systems, armoured vehicles, light weapons, millions of rounds of ammunition and US-made Javelin anti-tank systems that became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance.

Following Trump’s apparent reluctance to continue military aid to Ukraine and Europe’s reaction, the effect on local weapons producers was immediate.

Market statistics show that performance of US defence companies had already fallen behind European arms companies before Trump’s election as US president on 5 November 2024. After his victory, the gap widened.

After Trump’s inauguration on 20 January and particularly following his announcement of plans to suspend military aid to Ukraine after a difficult meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on 28 February, Thales shares soared – as did those of other European arms manufacturers.

Starlink dependency

US policy changes could also impact Ukraine’s battlefield communications. The Ukrainian military has relied on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network since Russian strikes wiped out other communications systems.

But SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, has raised concerns about the network being used for military purposes.

Last month, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Starlink was “never, never meant to be weaponized,” adding that the company never intended for it to be used offensively.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly floated the idea of cutting Ukraine’s access to Starlink unless Kyiv agrees to grant the US access to critical materials such as rare earth elements, lithium, and other essential resources.

Eutelsat

Now, Europe is looking at alternatives. Paris-based Eutelsat, the world’s third-largest satellite operator by revenue, is in talks to replace Starlink in Ukraine.

CEO Eva Berneke told Bloomberg that after “discussions about the Starlink potential pull-out of Ukraine,” Eutelsat shares more than tripled in value over two days, adding over €1 billion to its market capitalisation.

“It is a key element of modern warfare to have strong communications capabilities,” Berneke said. She added that discussions to replace Starlink with Eutelsat’s OneWeb satellite network “have intensified”.

Currently, Ukraine has around 40,000 Starlink terminals, nearly 10 times the number provided by Eutelsat. Berneke said the company could supply “a couple of thousand” terminals immediately but would need “a couple of months” to replace all 40,000.

Eutelsat’s system would eventually be part of the EU’s “Secure Satellite System” IRIS², a flagship project launched on 17 December. The hardware is supplied by Italian aerospace company Telespazio, a joint venture between Italy’s Leonardo (67 percent) and France’s Thales Group (33 percent).

• EU launches flagship satellite project to rival US networks by 2030

Drones

On 6 March, Italian company Leonardo signed a deal with Turkey’s Baykar for a joint venture to produce drones as defence companies rush to respond to the surge in European military spending.

Increased demand may revive the EU’s Eurodrone project, a four-nation development programme involving Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic announced it will extend its Czech ammunitions initiative with Denmark, Canada, Portugal and Latvia, which already supplied Kyiv with 1.6 million rounds of large-calibre ammunition last year.

Overall, the biggest winners from the increase in EU defence spending are likely to be Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Thales and Saab of Sweden, while BAE systems of the UK is well-positioned to benefit from increased military budgets across EU nations.

“Never has the risk of war on the European continent, in the European Union, been so high, because for almost 15 years the threat has been getting closer and closer to us,” declared French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday.

Caught off guard by an American president seemingly ready to review his historic alliances, Europe is being forced into revising its defence model and counting its troops.

France is the only country in the European Union with nuclear weapons, but now the French president says he is ready to open discussions on a potential European nuclear deterrent.

However, this does not imply any sharing of nuclear weapons, explained Elie Tenenbaum, research director at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) think tank.

“The deployment of French nuclear weapons abroad is not currently an option. And in the French concept of [nuclear] doctrine, the weapons are not shared and deterrence is not shared – indeed in any concept of doctrine, since the Americans do not share theirs either. Emmanuel Macron has said ‘it doesn’t change our doctrine’,” Tenenbaum told RFI.

What is changing, however, is how France views its strategic interests in relation to Europe.

“For the moment, we are not talking about a change of doctrine, we are talking about strengthening this European dimension that [Macron] mentioned in his February 2020 speech at the École Militaire,” said Tenenbaum.

This European dimension involves France’s vital interests – interests that could trigger the nuclear deterrent if threatened by an aggressor state.

A German change of heart?

Germany, which until now has relied exclusively on NATO and Washington for its security guarantees, has never asked for the cover of the French nuclear umbrella.

The country’s entire political class has formally ruled out having to contribute to the funding of its neighbour’s nuclear deterrent. But, according to Tenebaum, things are changing and the future German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, seems to be taking a different view.

“Ever since Donald Trump’s ranting during his campaign, including about the fact that he might refuse to defend or honour his security commitments to NATO allies, there has been discussion in Germany about possible alternatives to a US nuclear security guarantee that could be undermined,” Tenenbaum said.

This debate has been ongoing in German media for about a year, according to the expert.

With growing concerns about American reliability, Germany is looking at alternative security guarantees. The European options – France and the UK – have different capabilities than the US.

“But it’s an arsenal dedicated to defending more limited interests than the American model. We have systems that were not designed from the outset to deter a wide range of interests,” Tenenbaum said.

A French-UK nuclear umbrella for Europe? Not likely, say analysts

These converging interests could lead to new forms of cooperation.

“Berlin is looking for alternatives and there is a French desire – including for political reasons – to emphasise the European dimension of its own deterrent. So these two interests are finally coming together and will hopefully lead to discussions.

But he cautioned that any collaboration would be modest in scope.

“We are talking about the participation of Europeans in French nuclear exercises. This has already happened with Italian participation in the French Air Force’s Poker [nuclear air raid simulation] exercise.

European industrial projects

A joint industrial project for nuclear deterrence remains a distant prospect, according to Tenenbaum. The immediate focus is on strategic cooperation.

“We are talking about a strategic nuclear culture, about better integration of the nuclear factor into defence planning. When we draw up defence plans, at what point do we consider the link with the dialogue on deterrence?

This discussion is especially timely as NATO is currently developing its defence plans. On the technological front, there are opportunities for European collaboration.

“France’s nuclear deterrent is based on its mastery of a number of technologies… So there are a number of technological building blocks on which we can work together,” Tenenbaum said.

He cites the Ariane Group as an example – a European aerospace company working on both space access and ballistic technology, which are closely linked.

Nuclear monitor defends Ukraine plant visit via Russia-controlled territory

“We need to make Europeans understand that there are a number of industrial and technological projects that help to strengthen the credibility of our nuclear deterrent,” Tenenbaum said. 

“This may enable Europeans to change their minds about what they have long considered to be a kind of French luxury, when the Americans were already offering an extended deterrent.”

What is France’s nuclear deterrent?

What is meant exactly when we refer to France’s nuclear deterrent? 

Thirty years ago, the country gave up tactical nuclear weapons and retained only two types: ballistic missiles on board its four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, and airborne bombs – the nuclear missiles carried by its Rafale B fighter aircraft, the visible part of the French deterrent.

While the role of the air force is complementary to the ballistic missile submarines, in the eyes of General Jean-Patrice Le Saint, who stepped down as chief of staff of the Strategic Air Forces in the summer of 2024, airborne deterrence has specific strengths.

“The first asset is the weapon. And today’s weapon is a cruise missile, the ASMP-AR. This missile is extremely fast and highly manoeuvrable. It is an extremely accurate missile,” General Le Saint said.

“The second advantage of the airborne component is that it is deployed from airbases that are visible infrastructures, which makes it possible, in the context of the nuclear discussion that the president would engage in, to make his intentions clear.”

France ‘massively upgrading’ its nuclear weapons: report

From bases at Istres, north of Marseille, Avord, in the centre of the country, and Saint-Dizier, in the east, more than 2,000 air personnel are responsible for implementing France’s deterrence.

While it is impossible to recall a ballistic missile, the reversibility of an air raid is always an option – up to a point.

“From the moment the Strategic Air Forces raid is committed, the crews will continue the mission to the end,” continued General Le Saint.

“But up to the point of engagement, the raid can be recalled. And so, when we look at the length of our transmission resources and the capabilities of our vectors, the Rafales combined with the A330 MRTT tankers, it is possible to fly the raid several thousand kilometres before committing to it.

“And the fact that the raid is in transit is a pretty strong signal, which, as you can imagine, gives pause for thought.”

Credibility crucial

A strong signal based on credibility is at the very heart of the concept of deterrence, according to General Le Saint.

“This credibility has three dimensions. The first is political, embodied by the president of the Republic, the holder of the nuclear licence. The second is technological credibility, which is what enables us to guarantee that we are capable of designing, manufacturing and deploying weapons that are reliable and safe.

Putin proposes broader criteria for using nuclear arms

“The third aspect is operational credibility. And there’s an important point here, because credibility cannot be decreed. On the other hand, there are certain parameters that make credibility objective.

“We are credible because the crews of the Strategic Air Forces are highly trained and extremely experienced, because they conduct manoeuvres – such as the Poker exercises which, four times a year, are carried out with around 50 aircraft in an extremely realistic scenario simulating a nuclear raid.”

What’s more, at each Poker exercise, the spy satellites of the major powers point their antennae towards France to observe the exercise and measure the credibility of France’s deterrent – a scenario that has been repeated since 1964.

This article was adapted from the original version in French. Some answers have been condensed for clarity.

Under the banner “Stand up for Science France“, a collective scientists held several demonstrations and conferences in cities across the country on Friday in support of similar events organised in the United States.

The “Stand Up For Science” movement is calling for an end to censorship, the protection of funding and the rehabilitation of researchers who have been brutally removed from their work since Donald Trump came to power.

Mass firings and sweeping cuts overseen by Trump’s senior advisor Elon Musk in recent weeks have targeted research in a range of areas including climate and health.

“Science has become a target,” prominent French climate science researcher Valérie Masson-Delmotte told French news agency AFP.

“Today I am talking about obscurantism: making scientific knowledge inaccessible and spreading disinformation. All of these attacks are of an unprecedented gravity in a democracy”.

Freedom of speech curbed

In an interview with Franceinfo on Friday, Delmotte said that academics’ freedom to communicate had been severly curbed, which was a form of “sabotage to the detriment of American society … and scientific progress in the world.”

“Researchers from federal agencies – the equivalent of the CNRS in France for example – are banned from exchanging with colleagues from other countries,” she said.

She gave the example of NASA’s chief scientist, Kate Calvin, co-chair of Group 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who was banned from participating in the last plenary session of the IPCC last week. “She was also banned from speaking to the press and her support team has been dismantled,” Delmotte says.

Delmotte was one of many French scientists who published an editorial in Le Monde on Tuesday with the title “Defend science against new obscurantisms”.

The signatories insist that the US brutal budget cuts were already directly affecting society and would affect international cooperation and data sharing.

Trump vows to act with ‘historic speed and strength’ via executive orders

For example, hundreds of scientists and experts have been fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a leading US agency responsible for weather forecasting and climate analysis, Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman said last week.

In response, France’s Aix-Marseille University announced a new programme this week to welcome scientists who “may feel threatened or hindered” in the United States and want “to continue their work in an environment conducive to innovation, excellence and academic freedom”.

University president Eric Berton told AFPTV that he would have preferred to not to have had to issue this “recruitment call”.

“The risk these researchers face is that their projects will lose funding and that they themselves – if they are foreigners – will have to return to their home countries,” he said.

Scientists afraid to speak out

“It is a real danger,” he emphasised, particularly for academics who work on “sensitive subjects such as the climate, social sciences and the humanities in general”.

Berton said his university could not take in everyone, adding: “I hope we can launch a national movement”.

The university’s “Safe Place for Science” programme will provide upto €15 million that can accommodate around 15 researchers over three years.

UN rights chief deeply worried about ‘fundamental shift’ in direction in US

French astrophysicist Olivier Berné, a researcher at the CNRS, says he has received anguished testimonies from some of his American scientific colleagues.

“Already, for a certain number of them, they are afraid to speak out,” he told Franceinfo.

“They are afraid of losing their jobs. We do not realise at all in France what is happening in these circles. In the United States, there is an extremely strong attack on the scientific world. Donald Trump has announced that people who go to demonstrations on campus could be thrown in prison or expelled from American territory”.

“There is also an attack on data with a pure and simple suppression of access to data concerning climate studies,” the scientist underlines.

Asked about welcoming US scientists, France’s higher education and research minister Philippe Baptiste said it was necessary to “strengthen” existing systems for international scientists.

“But this discussion must also take place at the European level,” he told the French parliament, lamenting budget cuts by the Trump administration that were “contrary to scientific consensus”.

The unexploded bomb was found “in the middle of the tracks” overnight during maintenance work carried out in the area of the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis, the national SNCF rail company said.

It was detected at about 4am by an earth-moving machine in an area prone to the discovery of World War II relics.

Minesweepers were sent to disarm the metre-long device.

The bomb “dated to the Second World War”, the RER B suburban train wrote in a post on social media platform X.

French lake still riddled with bombs 80 years after World War II

National rail operator SNCF said in a statement that traffic would be stopped at the train station, which hosts Eurostar trains as well as high-speed and local services, at the request of police. 

The other Eurostar routes – between London and Brussels or Amsterdam – were still mostly running as normal.

The Gare du Nord train station lies in the north of Paris and is the country’s busiest rail terminal, serving an estimated 700,000 people each day.

Bombs left over from World War I or World War II are regularly discovered around France but it is very rare to find them in such a people-packed location.

(with AFP)

Following Trump’s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last week and his subsequent withdrawal of US aid to Ukraine, thousands of French consumers have joined online communities calling for a boycott of American products and suggesting French or European alternatives.

“Tired of financing American imperialism? Take action. Here, we are organising to support the French and European economy by boycotting US products,” reads the description of the Boycott USA: Buy French! Facebook group created last week.

The group had garnered nearly 14,000 members by Thursday afternoon.

Its administrator Edouard Roussez is a 33-year-old farmer who grows hops in the north of France. He told France Inter radio that the goal is to boycott as many American companies as possible, with a focus on those whose owners are supporters of the Trump administration, such as Elon Musk.

Sales of Musk’s Tesla cars in Europe have fallen since the beginning of the year. In France, sales were down 26 percent in February compared to the previous year, according to French auto industry trade group PFA.

Tesla sales plummet in France amid Musk’s support for European far-right parties

Boycotts elsewhere

While it is difficult to determine if the drop is due to a boycott or other market forces, consumers looking for ways to limit their consumption of American products are finding inspiration in boycott movements elsewhere in the world.

After Trump repeated his threat to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, the Danish supermarket distributor Salling began adding asterisks to the labels of European-made products in its Danish stores.

Managing director Anders Hagh posted on LinkedIn that the decision came after the company received request “from customers who want to buy groceries from European brands”.

Similarly, in response to tariffs imposed by the US and threats by Trump to annex Canada as “the 51st state”, Canadians have started boycotts of US products and some have cancelled planned trips south of the border to the US.

Trump unveils sweeping US tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China – EU next?

As soon as the US tariffs were announced on Tuesday, the premier of Ontario province, Doug Ford, announced that all American alcohol products would be removed from store shelves and cancelled the province’s $100 million satellite internet deal with Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company. 

This move came in addition to retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada on US imports.

Manufacturing ties

However, for consumers in France seeking to wage their own boycotts identifying exactly which goods are American can be difficult – as can finding alternatives, given the ubiquity of US products on the shelves.

The US was France’s fifth largest supplier in 2023, according to the French Treasury, with €51.8 billion in US imports.

Many American brands have manufacturing facilities in Europe, and European brands have connections with the US. For example, one alternative to buying a Tesla car could be to buy one from Peugeot, a French brand – owned by the Italian-American multinational Stelantis.

Boycotting American brands could also hit European companies, such as the factory in eastern France which produces M&Ms for the American confectionery maker Mars.

Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have bottling plants all over France, and American fast food companies buy from French and European suppliers.

Undeterred, Roussez posted in his Facebook group: “We are aiming for an efficient and rational boycott,” adding that this may not “overthrow the world order, but at least we will have resisted with the arms we have”.

Galthié’s men go into the match at the Aviva Stadium in second place in the Six Nations table, three points behind Ireland.

Victory for France would put them in the driving seat ahead of the final game on 15 March in Saint-Denis against Scotland.

Success for Ireland would set them up to become the first nation to win three consecutive crowns since 2000 when Italy joined the competition to make it the Six Nations championships.

“It’s true that this match is special,” Galthié said. “There’s so much at stake. We’re all aware of that. It’s what we wanted and it’s what we want.

“Ireland are an immense challenge. Danger will come from everywhere.”

Galthié will field Romain Ntamack at fly-half following his return from a two-match ban. Damien Penaud, who missed the match against Italy, will play on the wing, said Galthié. Their inclusion means Léo Barré and Théo Attissogbe drop out of the squad.

“Ireland are a very high-level team, one of the two best nations in the world, if not the best nation in the world, and they’re playing at home,” Galthié added.

Return

Ireland welcome back their skipper Caelan Doris. The 26-year-old forward, who will win his 50th cap, sat out the win over Wales last month in Cardiff due to a knee injury.

Full-back Hugo Keenan, prop Finlay Bealham and Bundee Aki will also feature in the starting line-up.

“Caelan has done incredibly well to get back to full fitness,” Ireland’s interim head coach Simon Easterby said.

“It says a lot about him that he has done what many other players might not have been able to do in such a short space of time.

“The team has worked hard and the preparation has been positive for what we know will be a huge test against France.

“There’s great respect and rivalry between the two teams and it should be a cracking contest.”

In other games during the penultimate round, Scotland host Wales, who are trying to end a run of 15 consecutive defeats, and England entertain Italy at Twickenham.

The military sites of Maréchal and Saint-Exupéry, not far from the port of Dakar, were officially returned to Senegalese authorities.

The French military said these two sites had been empty for a year and had already been earmarked to be handed back to Senegal.

According to RFI’s correspondent, there was no ceremony, just the signing of a document to mark the transfer.

Since his election last April, Senegal’s President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye has made it clear that he wants to reshape his country’s relationships with the outside world.

He told several French media last November that “There will soon be no more French soldiers in Senegal”. 

Transform the nation

This was echoed in the first major policy speech to parliament made by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko in December.

He promised sweeping changes to transform the nation, including the closure of foreign military bases.

The three remaining French military bases are set to be closed and handed back with a timetable yet to be drawn up.

A little over 200 soldiers and their families reside at Camp Geille, the largest of the five military bases, located in the city centre of Ouakam. 20 others are at the Rufisque base in the suburbs of Dakar.

Senegalese PM promises bold reforms in first major policy speech

In January, France’s head of the Africa command General Pascal Ianni paid a visit to Senegalese Chief of Staff, General Mbaye Cissé to discuss arrangements.

Military sources at the time told RFI that September appears to be a logical deadline for the closure for the remaining bases.

“The transfer movements within the army usually take place in the summer, for family and logistical reasons,” a French military source said.

A decision will also need to be taken concerning the future of the Falcon 50, a French army plane parked at Dakar airport.

France has signalled that it would like to see it stay in Senegal for surveillance missions on fishing and drug trafficking, among other things.

Fears for local employment

In the meantime, the announcement of the closure of the remaining military bases has created concern with regards to local employment.

The French military bases in Dakar and its surrounding areas directly employ 162 personnel, and employ between 400 and 500 people in total through subcontractors.

Employees are mainly asking for severance pay in order to bounce back and are still negotiating with their French employer.

To allay fears, the French army organised a career advice day on Thursday to help workers find new jobs in sectors such as construction, logistics, cooking and accounting. 

Senegal unveils 25-year development plan aiming for economic sovereignty

“We are thinking especially of the young people,” electrician Souleymane Touré told RFI.

He says he doesn’t expect much from this day since 60 percent of the workforce is over 50 years old, “and that it is already difficult for young people to find a job in Senegal.”

Brigadier General Yves Aunis told French news agency AFP in January that as an employer, the French state was “very aware of the human stakes and the impacts on Senegalese families, that it would (comply) with Senegalese labor law, but that the starting conditions should be good”.

Senegal and France have historically maintained strong political and economic relations, despite France’s long colonial rule over Senegal, which lasted until 1960.

RFI: In the newspaper Der Spiegel, you compare today’s events to both the 1938 Munich meeting and the 1945 Yalta Conference, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin shaped Europe’s future. How do these historical parallels apply now?

Ralf Fücks: It’s always a little bit dangerous to slip into this kind of historical comparison. There is no fatalism to repeat history, but I think we have to be aware that we are now again in an extremely critical and dangerous situation in Europe.

Munich, after Hitler took power, is the reference for appeasement policy. But Donald Trump is even going further than Chamberlain went in Munich in 1938 with Hitler’s Germany. He is not only trying to appease Putin with concessions, but taking sides with neo-imperial and authoritarian Russia against Ukraine and against former European allies of the US.

The situation is more like Yalta, because Trump is sharing the idea of Putin and of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, about a new world order where the world is dominated by the big powers which can do what they want without being restricted by rules.

Smaller nations submit to the big powers which divide the world into spheres of influence, like big boys who are at the same time collaborating and competing with each other.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his June 2020 essay on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, very clearly said that his vision was the one that came out of Yalta: the return to an agreement with the US about the division of the spheres of influence.

He does not believe in the idea of equality and shared sovereignty between all the nations. NOTE: Putin’s essay reads, “The major historic achievement of Yalta and other decisions of that time is the agreement to create a mechanism that would allow the leading powers to remain within the framework of diplomacy in resolving their differences.”

Trump also shares this view, notably that nations like Ukraine are to have only limited sovereignty and that they have to accept that Russia has a veto power over Ukraine’s future.

And this is a total contradiction of the European post-Cold War order. If we accept that, Europe will become a playground for China, the US and Russia.

RFI: What should Europe do?

Ralf Fücks: It is very hard to believe that the West as a political entity of liberal democracies is over and that we are entering a new political era, no longer relying on the US security guarantees, but one where the United States, at least under the presidency of Donald Trump, will turn on Europe and treat us not as friends, but as adversaries.

This moment is extremely critical, not only for Ukraine, but also for Europe. It is a litmus test as to whether Europe will stay relevant globally or if we will become a punching ball between China, Russia and the US.

As for Ukraine, the test is about our ability to defend the European security order, the principles on which this order was built, and if we can defend our values.

It is not just about solidarity with Ukraine, a country which is now suffering more than three years of war of destruction. It is also about defending Europe.

In the short term, the answer is weapons, weapons, weapons. We have to replace American military supply to Ukraine. Possibly for an interim period, the Europeans [could]  buy weapons in the US and send them to Ukraine. But then we have to build up our own military industries.

We must enable Ukraine to resist and to come into a better negotiation position with Russia, not from the defensive, but from a position of strength.

And we must build a common European Defence Union with Ukraine. Ukraine could be an asset for European security.

Europe scrambles to boost defence as US wavers on Ukraine support

RFI: You have mentioned the failures of the Minsk agreements. What lessons can we pull from those negotiations and what comes after in possible future negotiations with Russia?

Ralf Fücks: Ukraine should never again negotiate from a position of weakness. In Minsk 2014-2015, Ukraine was on the brink of military collapse. And this may never happen again. So if we want to have negotiations with Russia, we have to bring Ukraine into a position of military strength. The outcome of negotiations will depend on the military balance of force.

The second consequence from Minsk is that we cannot bring Russia into a position of brokering a deal. We have to treat Russia as an adversary. And the Europeans cannot be neutral in this conflict. We have to take sides with Ukraine. And we should not lift sanctions on Russia prematurely.

Sanctions go further than military support for Ukraine, our most effective tool to change Russia’s policy. Lifting sanctions wouldn’t only be about ending the war. We must raise other issues: the retreat of Russian nuclear arms from Belarus, from Kaliningrad, to reduce the nuclear threat to Europe. The release of political prisoners from Russian prison camps.

So we must build a package of political demands to Russia as a precondition for restoring economic relations.

RFI: Given all the changes in the US foreign policy, how do you feel that in the current situation the relationship can be saved?

Ralf Fücks: As long as Trump and his fellows are ruling in Washington, it only can be about damage control. We have to be strong economically, military, politically, in order not to be blackmailed by the US. 

We have to accept that with Trump you can only do transactional policies. So we have to define our interests and then negotiate with the US where we can strike deals in our interest.

One point of interest could be future policy towards China. If the US wants us to become tougher against China, especially in economic terms, reducing our economic dependency on China, not delivering critical technology to China, then we should ask the US in return to keep engaged in Europe.

The critical point is the nuclear guarantee. At the moment, even the combined French and British nuclear capacities will not be sufficient to deter Russia and to create a nuclear balance with Russia. So we have to increase our nuclear capacities. This is an issue we cannot avoid.

Ukraine to lead agenda during Washington talks between top EU and US diplomats

RFI: France and Germany together are the motor of the European Union. But the relationship has not been great, with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, differing in style and approach. Will the relationship get better under Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become Germany’s new Chancellor after the elections on 23 February?

Ralf Fücks: Let’s be realistic. I think there is no way back to this former exclusive French-German leadership in Europe. This is over. We have to recognise that the central eastern European nations, especially Poland, but also [the Czech Republic] the Baltic states, the Scandinavians, will play a much more self-assertive and important role.

So, we have to broaden the leadership board of the European Union.

But of course, a restart of Franco-German relations is absolutely crucial. We are almost in an all-time low. The same with Poland. And the designated new German Chancellor, Merz has already, before the elections, announced that his first visit will lead him to Warsaw and Paris.

And I think this is the right signal.

As the war in Ukraine rages on and air raid alerts in Kyiv remain a daily occurrence, a somewhat surprising new trend has flourished on TikTok – young people are posting about the race to get hold of theatre tickets. 

“Before, we used to announce new seasons a month in advance. Now we open ticket sales three months in advance and within two hours, everything’s gone,” said Victoria Bourkovska, the administrator of the Ivan Franko National Theatre – currently celebrating its 105th anniversary – who can hardly believe this turn of events.

In 2024, the hot ticket was for The Witch of Konotop, an adaptation of a 19th-century satirical novel about a Cossack chieftain battling witches. On TikTok, videos of the play have been viewed millions of times. 

EU leaders in Ukraine to mark third anniversary of Russia’s invasion

In front of the pastel blue facade of the theatre, Veronika and her group of friends are delighted to be among the lucky few who have seen the play. Yet Grehori, 32, confesses that before the war, he had never set foot in a theatre. One day he went along, and loved it. Tonight, the group don’t know what they’re going to see: “We just took whatever tickets they had.”

Evgeny Nuschuk, director of the Franko Theatre since April 2024, said: “There is a theatre craze at the moment. And it’s not just in Kyiv. With theatre, there’s this here and now aspect.” A living art form, a format that chimes with current events, it is also a source of inspiration for the future, as reflected in the theatre’s slogan for the new season: “Today’s theatre must reflect tomorrow’s society.”

There have been adjustments since the invasion. Big Russian names such as Pushkin and Chekhov have been eliminated from the repertoire – but a new generation of directors has seized upon Ukraine’s literary and theatrical heritage.

Fundraising for armed forces

In the event of an air raid alert, the play is stopped. And familiar faces have disappeared from audiences. “We have lost some regulars,” says Nuschuk. “They had bought tickets for the evening of 1 January, intending to start the year with us. Some other spectators brought flowers to lay on their seats.”

Before taking over the reins of the establishment, the director twice served as the country’s minister of culture. In the early days of the war he volunteered, and the theatre is engaged with the war effort. “In six months, we have collected more than 55 million hryvnias [almost €1.3 million] for our armed forces. Our troops perform in military hospitals and we lend our spaces to displaced troops from Sumy, Kherson or Mariupol every Monday,” said Nuschuk.

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“There has always been a renaissance of Ukrainian culture in difficult times,” Tetiana and Olha told RFI. These two students have also become regular theatre-goers since the start of the war.

“Remember the proliferation of poetry and theatre in the 1920s, for example [at the time of the occupation by the Soviet Union]. But I also think that one of the reasons for the craze we are experiencing is that today’s directors are reviving a certain authenticity in Ukrainian culture, breaking away from the rigid and overwhelming Russian culture embodied by the great authors and the great ballets.”

Language as resistance

In this cultural war, language is another battlefield. In a country where most people have historically mastered both Russian and Ukrainian, the former is being rejected while use of the latter has become a symbol of resistance.

On Khreshchatyk Avenue – Kyiv’s Champs-Élysées – where Vladimir Putin was planning a victory parade in 2022, the Sens bookshop opened its doors a year ago. On this Saturday afternoon, its two floors are bustling with people, particularly young people. With its café and stylish interior, it’s eminently Instagrammable. The store’s motto? “You can do what you like here, but not in Russian.” You won’t find any books in the language of Tolstoy for sale in this shop.

When the first Ukrainian language only bookshop opened, just before the full-scale invasion of February 2022, many people were sceptical, says Oleksii Erinchak, one of the owners and founders of Sens. “We would always hear that books in Ukrainian were more expensive, that there were few translations and therefore little choice… We wanted to promote books in Ukrainian. And we’ve shown that there is a demand for them.”

He added: “Of course, it’s an act of resistance. For centuries, Russia stifled our culture. This is like putting a protective dome over it.” He believes culture is a weapon, one Russia had tried to deploy in Ukraine long before the invasion: “Putin thought that the Ukrainians would welcome the Russians with open arms because culture had already prepared the ground.”

Before the war, around 75 percent of the book market in Ukraine was made up of books imported from Russia, illustrating Russian influence. Since 2022, these have been banned.

Today, eight of the shop’s top ten bestsellers are written in Ukrainian. They include a collection of love poetry, an anthology on Ukrainian nationalism, and a thrilling detective novel by Illarion Pavliuk, a Ukrainian writer and journalist turned soldier.

The bookshop also organises the collection of Russian-language books for recycling, with the money raised going to anti-aircraft defence.

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Maria Smirova, who is browsing for books to give as gifts with her husband Dimitrov, said: “Before the war I only bought books online, and most of them in Russian. Now everything has changed. We only speak to each other in Ukrainian and we’ve got rid of all our books in Russian.” For her, shopping here also means supporting Ukraine. 

Over the last two years, some 50 new bookshops have opened across the country. According to Rostyslav Semkiv, a professor of literature at the University of Kyivand a literary critic, this “cultural blossoming” can be explained by “a reformatting of our identity”.

“Before 2014, the cultural landscape was dominated by a post-Soviet identity. The large-scale invasion shattered this identity. This Ukrainian ethnic identity has become political. Many people are starting to take an interest in Ukrainian history, art and literature. What makes up Ukrainian culture? There is a search for ‘Ukrainianness’,” he explained.

Somoloskyp (meaning “torch”), the small Ukrainian-language publishing house run by Semkiv, is a testament to this movement. “Ten years ago, for us, printing 1,000 or 2,000 copies of a book was huge. Today, we have average print runs of 4,000 to 5,000 copies, and we can go up to 30,000. And every book that comes out goes very quickly,” he says. Production is in fact struggling to keep up with demand, with the printing works slowing down as a result of the war. 

Renaissance and resilience

In a basement in the centre of Kyiv, around 30 people have taken their seats. “Glory to Ukraine! Putin, you dickhead!” shouts stand-up comedian Arthur Petrov as he takes to the stage.

Nadiya and Stanislas, who discovered Petrov on YouTube, are here hoping to escape for an hour “from our difficult daily lives, and hear a few good jokes about Russkies, fighting and body bags,” says Stanislas, with a heavy does of irony.

“Laugh and keep your head up” is the name of the programme offered by this venue, the Underground Standup Club, which was founded in 2016 and sends 20 percent of its takings to the armed forces. 

When the hour is up, Petrov has another engagement – a charity show with two other comedians in the town of Irpin, near the capital, which has been hit hard by the war. The money raised will go to a charity that buys drones.

The show is taking place in the brand new community hall of a newly built neighbourhood, on a street formerly known as Dostoevsky Street and now renamed for Olha Kobylianska, a Ukrainian feminist writer. The atmosphere is warm among this young, hip audience. 

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Taxi drivers, the Montessori education method, talking in Ukrainian during sex, air raid alerts… war is not the only ground covered by the comedians, and laughter is clearly an outlet. Far from silencing it, the war has seen a huge increase in the number of comedians performing in Ukraine.

“Before the war started, most of the big stand-up shows in Ukraine were in Russian,” says Anton Zhytlov as he leaves the stage. “With the start of the war, we stopped using Russian and this has led to a sort of renaissance in Ukrainian humour.”

In the audience, Rima is happy to be able to relax a little. Her husband is at the front, but she doesn’t know where exactly. “It’s invaluable for our mental health,” she says.

For Zhytlov, the fact that Ukrainians still go to stand-up shows and comedians continue to perform, despite the war, is indicative of the national mentality: “We are courageous and we look fear in the eye. We’re not afraid of anything.”

This article has been adapted from the original in French, by our correspondent in Kyiv.

Nataliia greets us with a big smile and gifts: her favourite Ukrainian sweets, which helped her get through her exile in Paris. We first met in February 2023, when she was living in the French capital her two children, Hanna and Ivan. The family had fled Ukraine days after the Russian invasion, and the destruction of their home. Nataliia’s husband, Volodymyr, had stayed behind in Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital. Forbidden from leaving the country, he set about rebuilding a home for his family.

Today, we meet Nataliia in the centre of Kyiv. She wants to show us the old town. “It’s a bit like Montmartre,” she says as she takes us down Andrew’s Descent, a street renowned for its artists.

Last July, she packed the family’s bags, sold their furniture and left Paris to return home, despite the war that is still raging.

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In front of the sky blue St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, destroyed tanks sit as a reminder of the Ukrainian resistance that prevented Russian forces from entering the capital. “This represents our success,” says Nataliia. “There are also civilian cars. I think these are vehicles that were bombed by the Russians in Bucha or Irpin, when people were trying to evacuate.”

‘I’m on home ground’

Since her return, Nataliia hasn’t had much time to herself. So, after more than two years away, this walk around her city means a lot. “I’m on home ground, I’m in my hometown,” she says, excited. “And it’s important for me to be able to bear witness to life in war, to remind us of our history, who we are and why we’re fighting: for this freedom, for our children’s future.”

It’s hard to know how many Ukrainian refugees, like Nataliia, have made their way home. According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, of the 14 million Ukrainians who have fled their homes since 24 February, 2022, almost 4.3 million have already returned – around a quarter of them from abroad.

Nataliia says she will remember the moment she and her children crossed the border back into Ukraine, on the train from Warsaw, for the rest of her life. “The children were asleep and I started to cry with joy – at last, I’m home! It was crazy.”

At the station, her husband was waiting for her with a bouquet of flowers. “Before the war, he didn’t give me many flowers! And then my mother had prepared plenty of food, and the whole family was around the table, saying hurrah, you’re finally with us.”

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The first few weeks, however, were challenging. The family had to get used to the power cuts again, and the daily air raid alerts. “When we first came back, I couldn’t sleep. The children couldn’t even hear the alerts! I took medication, but after that I couldn’t wake up. So at one point, I said that’s enough. I turned everything off, the alerts and the news.”

Seven months on, the siren that wails as we warm ourselves up in a café no longer bothers her. The illusion of normality that Ukrainians have had to live with for almost three years has once again become her daily routine.

In the middle of the crowd on Independence Square, the nerve centre of Kyiv and the scene of the Maidan Revolution in 2013, she notes there is a “ballistic threat” and calls her children to check they are following “the two walls rule” – meaning there must be two walls between you and the street. On the other end of the line, Ivan and Hanna reply distractedly: “Yes, yes, Mum…”

“I was more stressed in France than here,” says Nataliia. “Here, I see the alert on my phone and life goes on. In France, I was always following the alerts on Telegram. When I saw that it was in Kyiv, I sent text messages, then when nobody answered I couldn’t sleep.”

A return to ‘normality’

Today, the family lives in a residential area of Kyiv. The work to rebuild a house on their land has been delayed, but they work on it every weekend, even if it bears little resemblance to the beautiful yellow house they lived in before the invasion. They are making do – with compensation from the city of Kyiv and help from the Ukrainian Fund for International Volunteers, a French humanitarian organisation.

On her return, Nataliia was lucky enough to be able to return to her job as a language teacher at the National Defence University of Ukraine, a military higher education institute. “I’m doing what I know how to do and what I like to do. That’s important to me,” she says, with relief.

In Paris, with the help of the Lesoult family, who took Nataliia and her children in on their arrival, and to whom she is “infinitely grateful”, she was taken on as a reception assistant for the Democratic Movement political party, where she also wrote articles on the situation in Ukraine for the party’s blog.

She has rediscovered the sense of purpose she had been missing 2,000 kilometres from home, even though she sent money to the army every month during her time away from Ukraine.

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Her pride in teaching English to officers in the Ukrainian army can be heard in her voice – she leads intensive four-month sessions, six hours a day, to enable soldiers to communicate or handle equipment sent from abroad. She also continues to give online French lessons to Ukrainian refugees, and refuses to “let them go before they’ve reached survival level!”.

At first glance, Nataliia looks like she’s picked up where she left off in March 2022. But as her story unfolds, it becomes clear things are not that simple. Inevitably, her two and a half years away were not without consequences.

“I don’t regret coming back at all, because I’m with my family, as are my children, I’m with my husband. For us, that’s the most important thing.” But, she confides, “the separation was a complicated period” for the couple, and when she got back they had to learn to live together again.

The most painful thing has been the lack of understanding she sometimes feels among those close to her who have stayed in Kyiv throughout. It’s a rift that’s hard to heal, and it’s also fed, she thinks, by a feeling of betrayal, even jealousy perhaps. For many Ukrainians, she says, even before the war Europe sounded like an El Dorado – a place that promised a better life.

“Everyone thought it was a thousand times better than Ukraine. We had fantasies, no doubt linked to the Soviet Union and when the borders were closed.” So for those who stayed at home, for her to come back to a country at war, with children, when she had a flat and a job in Paris and spoke the language… “They can’t understand. They think, is she crazy or what?”

‘Life is difficult for refugees’

The decision to return was not an easy one. “I wanted to come back from day one, but I always had doubts about whether I was doing the right thing for my children, because my husband was always telling me no, you have to stay, the children have to live in peace, you have to sleep well, that’s what’s important.”

Right up until her last day in Paris, he hoped that she would change her mind. But for Nataliia, life in France had become unbearable. 

“We are very grateful for what France has done for us and for all the Ukrainian refugees,” she insists. “But it’s too complicated to be away from your family. And life is very difficult, especially for refugees, both materially and morally. Because all our roots are here in Ukraine. Over there, I was alone, everything was on my shoulders. I had to deal with all the problems, paperwork, for the flat, at work, with the schools… Everything I earned went to the rent. It was my husband who paid for our food. I couldn’t live there on my own with two children.”

The children went to school in France for two years, but also continued to follow the Ukrainian curriculum via distance learning in the evenings and at weekends, in the hope of eventually returning. For Nataliia, on top of everything else, this timetable was too much. “I said stop, we can’t live like this!”

Especially since she could see, on her visits home to see her family, that “people were still living here, trying to enjoy themselves”. “I said to myself, why do my children and I have to suffer in France if we can be with our families, be together and enjoy every day? Why do I have to cry myself to sleep every night without my husband, without my children’s father, without my parents, without my loved ones? Of course,” she concedes, “if we lived in occupied territory, if we didn’t have a roof over our heads, things would be different.”

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It was in a Telegram messaging group set up by a Ukrainian psychologist that she found the support she needed to put her fears to bed and take the plunge and go home. In the group, women, often mothers like her, refugees all over Europe, shared their worries. Others, who had already returned, talked about their experiences. 

Nataliia does not want to seem ungrateful to France. Her favourite things there, she says, were the châteaux, Normandy, the ocean and Berthillon ice cream – “a great stress reliever!” She knows that having temporary protection status made her situation among refugees rather enviable. But her eyes mist over and her jaw clenches when she thinks back to those two and a half years, when she felt herself drowning in problems.

How are Hanna and Ivan, now 13 and 11? “They’re happy, they’ve got their own room and their friends back,” she says. “Everyone thinks there’s no future here. But if everyone leaves, what will become of this country? Nothing. So it’s up to us and our children to rebuild.”

We pass beneath the imposing Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People, a monument from the Soviet era, then named the Peoples’ Friendship Arch, Nataliia explains. Night has fallen, it’s cold, and yet there are lots of people around. “We live each day,” says Nataliia – day by day. “Before, I wouldn’t buy anything, I’d save for the children, for work [on the house]. But now, no… you have to live now, you have to enjoy it. You never know what tomorrow will bring.”

This article has been adapted from the original French version, by our correspondent in Kyiv.

“What is exciting and quite unique is to find various objects from as far as Ireland, England, the Netherlands and Germany buried with the corpses in this part of western France, in the late 8th century,” archaeologist Annie Bolle, of France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), told RFI.

Bolle is the scientific project manager for excavations taking place at La Flotte, a village on the Ile de Ré, off the French Atlantic coast.

INRAP was called in to look at a plot of land ahead of the construction of a house – because in 1985 a Gallo-Roman villa dating back to the 4th century was unearthed next door.

Between October and December 2024, the INRAP team uncovered around 50 graves in and outside a chapel. Having belonged to the priory of Saint Eulalie, according to texts from 1156, it was later destroyed during the French Wars of Religion, between Catholics and Protestants, in the 16th century.

“The findings provide rare tangible evidence of close ties between the Carolingian Empire [a Frankish empire in Western and Central Europe during the early Middle Ages] and a population from the North and Celtic Seas,” said Bolle.

Unusual burials

Five of these graves stood out. The position of the bodies and the artefacts they were buried with “are quite rare to find on Ile de Ré or even in western France,” explained Bolle.

Two of the bodies were not positioned in the customary Christian fashion, with the heads facing east towards Jerusalem, but were orientated towards the south.

The lower limbs of some were bent rather than extended, as would be expected. Furthermore, two others were laid on their sides and one female was found lying face down.

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“The bodies in the five graves were buried with various objects and ornaments. This practice, common during the 6th and 7th centuries, disappeared later in the 8th and 9th centuries, around the time we think the five were buried,” said Bolle.

The archaeologists found two combs and necklaces made of amber, glass, bone and copper beads.

The findings from the La Flotte excavations have been preserved and will undergo analysis to gather information about their composition and provenance.

“By finding out what technique was used to make the combs, we will be able to tell when and where they were made. DNA testing of the material used – bones or antlers – will help us to more accurately determine where they came from,” Bolle explained.

Other artefacts unearthed include a metal belt with an intricate design, and a knife similar to one previously found in the south-east of England.

Social status

“Stable isotopes analysis of the human bones will help us to reconstruct the diet of the individuals,” Bolle said, explaining that what they ate will give an indication of where they came from – as well as their social status, given usually only people with means could afford meat.

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“Paleogenetic analysis of the skeletons’ DNA should help us determine the sex of the individuals and whether they were related or not,” she added.

The findings have been sent to various laboratories around France, with some at the Arc’Antique Laboratory in Nantes, while some of the DNA testing – of the combs, for example – will be done at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

Trade links

Most of the artefacts unearthed from the graves appear to originate from northern Germany, the Netherlands, south-east England and the area around Dublin in Ireland. The beads are Irish, the knife or the belt could come from England and the combs may come from the Frisian region in north-western Europe – in modern times, parts of the north of the Netherlands and north-west Germany.

“What is fascinating is trying to uncover how the various objects from so many different places found their way in this small plot of land on Ile de Ré,” Bolle said.

“The La Flotte excavations [have uncovered] rare archaeological evidence of the active trade relations we’ve read about between the Carolingian Empire and the population around the North Sea.”

Danish and German archaeologists have already shown an interest in the La Flotte findings. Now follows at least two years of investigation to uncover the story behind them.

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“What we don’t know yet is whether the individuals were locals buried with their own objects or whether they were foreigners buried on this land,” said Bolle. “It says a lot if the foreigners were buried amongst the locals. It means that they were well accepted. And, resonates with what is happening nowadays in terms of tolerance towards migrants.”

A woman’s voice emanates from Michel-Marie Maudet’s laptop, sitting on a desk at the headquarters of his software development company Linagora, in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, south of Paris.

“Hello, I am Lucie, a large language model trained on a massive data set of text and code in French and other European languages.”

Speaking English with a French accent, she continues: “I am able to understand and respond to questions in a way that is sensitive to the nuances of European culture and language.”

This chatbot, which can communicate in French and several other European languages, uses the word “nuance” frequently when describing itself – which Maudet echoes. 

“It is a question of nuances. These large language models are statistics, and if the models are trained mainly on US content, you are more likely to get answers influenced by US culture.”

Listen to an interview with Michel-Marie Maudet (and “Lucie”) in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 124:

The idea is that different content will be generated on a tool that has been trained on different languages.

“Languages are our culture, our civilisation, our values, and we developed Lucie, our large language model, to fix this under-representation of our culture,” said Maudet.

Lucie was released to the public in January with little testing beforehand, and ran into problems as users found it was generating nonsense – and worse. It was taken offline three days later.

Maudet said that while the release was premature, it generated interest – notably about the training data, which was made public at the same time as the chatbot, because Linagora is committed to developing open-source tools.

Behind the curtain of AI

“It’s a completely open-source model,” he said. “If you want to build transparency and trust in an AI system, you have to know where and how these models are built.”

The training data set was downloaded 10 times more than the actual model, revealing the level of interest in how these tools work.

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And while Lucie’s release was something of a public relations disaster, Maudet says it also demonstrated an interest in alternatives to tools developed by US tech giants.

This was borne out at the AI Action Summit held in Paris earlier this month, at which France and other European countries sought to stake their claim in terms of innovation and governance.

European identity

“People are asking for this kind of technology, as an alternative to Chinese or US companies,” Maudet added. “I think the debates around Lucie were very interesting, because they raised an expectation that we want to have our own technology, our own strategy, our own mastery of our digital future.”

Linagora is not the only company developing these alternatives, and far from the most powerful. But the company is dedicated to transparency and open sourcing, in its aim to create a tool that can generate text not derived from American content.

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“We want to incorporate these systems into our daily life, and I am not sure we have the same approach in the US as our social system here in France or Europe,” Maudet explained.

However, the company’s mission presupposes a European identity that is not always clear, or unanimous.

“A big challenge for Europe is to act as one continent,” said Maudet. “AI models could ease a common vision of what we call Europe. We will be stronger and better if we play collectively and act as a single continent and one entity.”

Listen to an interview with Michel Maudet in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 124, listen here.

His first comments as the go-to face of the impending winter extravaganza were as assured as yesteryear’s surge to glory. 

“The challenge ahead of me is like a long field of bumps,” quipped Grospiron, who embarked on a career as a motivational speaker after hanging up his skis. “So you’re going to need strong knees … don’t worry, I’m used to it.

“We’re going to encounter bumps, but our mission is going to be to overcome them, to face them. The bigger the obstacle, the greater the opportunity behind it, and that’s what we’re going to be working on together with the organising committee.”

Top of the list will be the selection of a chief executive to help share the load. Around €600 million worth of sponsorship will also need to be secured to pad out the two billion euros allocated for the 26th Winter Olympic Games.

The egos of local, regional and national political leaders will have to be flattered and pampered while adhering to the icy demands of national and international Olympic administrators.

Global warming – leading to the amount and quality of the snow – will be a likely concern.

In the flurry of interviews after his anointment, Grospiron maintained his composure. 

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Task

“I don’t see it as a nightmare at all,” Grospiron told RFI. “On the contrary, I see it as a big challenge. And big challenges lead to big victories, and small challenges to small victories.

“What’s interesting about this project is that in France, we have extraordinary resources and we’re going to be able to mobilise them.

“They are already well mobilised to serve this project. It is a magnificent project that should also help to provide answers to the climate challenges we face”. 

Sports administrators in France are basking in the glow of a successful Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

The three-time Olympic canoeing champion, Tony Estanguet, headed that organising committee with drive and panache and French athletes then harvested record hauls of medals to justify the financial investments in their bids for personal and national kudos.

In the wake of those coups, regional government officials gleefully parade their savoir-faire during tours with delegations from future Olympic cities such as Los Angeles and Brisbane.

“It’s all about teamwork and synergy,” said Grospiron. “Managing to unite all the energies that will enable us to get there. Obviously, Paris 2024 leaves a legacy in terms of human resources, that are, shall we say, plug and play. And that’s a real opportunity”.

Grospiron emerged as a candidate after former biathlete Martin Fourcade quit at the beginning of February. Fourcade, France’s most successful Winter Olympian with six golds and a silver from Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeonchang between 2010 and 2018, fell out with local politicians and clashed over the siting of the organising committee’s headquarters. The 36-year-old preferred a base in Grenoble, Chamonix, Albertville or Aix-les-Bains rather than Lyon.

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Chance

His withdrawal was a huge blow to the prestige of the project a few months after President Emmanuel Macron described him as the Estanguet of the Alps.

Though unable to boast a dazzling array of Winter Olympic hardware – Grospiron took bronze in the moguls in 1994 – a sense of pragmatism emerges from the 55-year-old’s experiences as chef de mission for the France team at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics and as head of Annecy’s bid to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“The only politics I’m going to have is knowing what’s good for the project and how the elected representatives are going to be able to help me deliver these Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Grospiron insisted. “Because that’s really what’s at stake.

“Tony [Estanguet] was faced with the same thing and he succeeded. He managed to get people on board the project”.

After an opening ceremony along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, the ice sports, except for the speed skating, will be staged in the city.

Some 600km away to the north, La Clusaz and Le Grand-Bornand in the Haute-Savoie section will provide the venues for the cross country skiing and biathlon. La Plagne, Courcheval and Méribel in the Savoie cluster will host inter alia the bobsleigh, luge and the alpine skiing. Serre Chevalier and Montgenèvre in the Briançon cluster will stage the freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

“On the basis of the budgetary realities and the environmental realities we face, we have to find solutions that will enable us, that must enable us to deliver games,” said Grospiron.

“The concept of these Olympic Games is a fragmented one that would have made purists howl 30 years ago,” he added.

“And I understand that. But this concept is an opportunity to spread the load, particularly of spectators. And that’s an opportunity”.

At the end of February, the Comoros government announced a series of measures to counter the surge in prices ahead of the month-long Muslim fasting period of Ramadan, which this year falls in March. The population is 98 percent Sunni Muslim.

These measures included tax breaks, a guarantee fund of 6 billion Comorian francs to secure the import of basic necessities, and reinforcing the electricity supply.

The authorities also assured residents that these adjustments would not be limited to the month of Ramadan.

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However, the Consumer Federation of the Comoros says the measures have not been implemented quickly enough, and that the price of oil, sugar, flour and other basic necessities are not regulated enough for a population struggling to cope.

“The measures announced are all well and good, but they are not being implemented,” the president of the Federation, Nasra Mohamed Issa, told RFI’s correspondent in the capital Moroni.

“Yes, there has been a slight improvement with electricity, but food prices continue to rise. There is still a shortage of water and petrol is becoming a new problem. The population is at the end of its tether,” he said.

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Rise in money transfers

RFI spoke to several residents who said they are relying on relatives in the diaspora to send them items from abroad – a trend reflected in the number of money transfers in the lead-up to the religious holiday.

One agency told RFI that transfers increased from 59 to 135 million Comorian francs (from €119,500 to €273,000) between January and February.

In Moroni and elsewhere, residents continue to face power cuts and water shortages despite the installation of new generators.

Mahamoud Salim Hafi, deputy secretary-general of the government, has said the public needs to be patient.

“Regarding water, there are improvements to be made. I am convinced that in some time this water issue will be resolved. We have adjusted certain taxes,” he told local media.

“The government has issued a decree fixing the prices agreed between the government and the private sector, on the wholesale side and the retail side.”

Added to these difficulties is the quality of fuel, the Consumer Federation said, which is causing cars to break down. It was due to hold a meeting with the Transporters’ Union on Thursday to discuss this situation.

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A major mining agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Chinese consortium is facing renewed scrutiny, as civil society organisations allege that a recently renegotiated deal continues to put the Congolese state at a disadvantage.

The CNPAV coalition – “Le Congo n’est pas à vendre” or “Congo is not for sale”  – comprises of anti-corruption NGOs who claim the new terms are still heavily skewed in favour of Chinese companies, resulting in a $132 million (€124 million) loss for the DRC in 2024 alone.

The group is urging the government to reopen negotiations to secure a fairer agreement.

The so-called “contract of the century” was originally signed in 2008 under then-president Joseph Kabila, granting Chinese companies access to extensive copper and cobalt mines in exchange for infrastructure development.

Renegotiated in early 2024, the agreement was meant to yield nearly $4 billion (€3.8 billion) in additional benefits for the Congolese.

However, watchdogs argue that the new terms fail to rectify previous imbalances.

Long road for DRC as it renegotiates minerals deal with China

Fluctuating markets

One of the primary concerns raised by CNPAV is the dependence of infrastructure funding on the fluctuating price of copper.

Under the revised terms, the DRC is supposed to receive $324 million (€312 million) annually for road infrastructure over a 20-year period.

However, these payments are only guaranteed if copper prices remain above $8,000 (€7,700) per tonne.

If prices fall below this threshold, “the state will receive less, or even nothing at all,” warns the coalition. 

Additionally, even if copper prices soar to $12,000 per tonne, the Congolese side will still receive the same $324 million, preventing the country from fully benefiting from market upswings.

Eastern DR Congo grapples with Chinese gold mining firms

Skewed payment structure

A further criticism of the deal lies in its fixed payment structure, regardless of the volume of minerals extracted.

Baby Matabishi, coordinator at the Carter Center-DRC and a member of CNPAV, highlighted the issue in an interview with RFI’s Kinshasa correspondent Pascal Mulegwa.

“Everything depends on the price of copper. There is this volatility and uncertainty of price, which doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the $324 million is secured,” Matabishi explained to RFI.

The NGO also raises a key inconsistency: “How can it be understood that a company that produces 100,000 tonnes of copper pays $324 million – and on the day it produces 200,000 tonnes or 400,000 tonnes – and then pays the same amount?” Matabishi emphasised.

Hence, the lack of a production-based scaling mechanism means the DRC does not proportionally benefit from increased mining output.

CNPAV has also condemned ongoing tax exemptions granted to Chinese companies, which cost the DRC at least $100 million annually.

While the Kinshasa government argues that infrastructure development will offset any losses, civil society organisations claim that many promised projects remain incomplete or substandard.

Queen Rima (born Born Marie Tolno) is considered one of the pioneers of dancehall in her native Guinea Conakry, a style that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in Jamaica before taking the world by storm.

She was a finalist in the RFI Prix découvertes (discovery prize) in 2022 and 2023, and her determination to win the 2025 crown impressed the jury, chaired by Benin’s Angélique Kidjo.

“If we give her the chance to have a career and we surround her well, she can have a long career. She can surprise us,” Kidjo said at the prize ceremony on 17 February.

“She can do a lot of things with her voice. That is why, unanimously, with the votes of the public, we voted for Queen Rima. But the others are also good.”

For Kidjo, it was difficult to choose a winner among the ten candidates, who were all very talented and motivated.

But she was particularly impressed by Queen Rima‘s stage presence, especially with the song “Lantchou mi Yobaï”, which means in Pular  “I will manage”.

“It gives me hope for my continent because there’s quality, and the future looks bright. I’m happy to see African artists taking on board their respective cultures and mixing things up,” Kidjo told RFI.

Upon learning the results of the competition, Queen Rima, contacted by RFI, said she was “so happy she cried” and hadn’t slept a wink prior to the announcement.

“I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished. This is a great victory for women who make urban music like me in Guinea,” the artist said.

The winner of the RFI Discovery prize pockets 10,000 euros and gets an African concert tour in partnership with the Institut français network, as well as a concert broadcast by RFI.

The sound of struggle: South Africa’s lasting legacy of cultural resistance

Upending stereotypes

28-year-old Queen Rima started her career as a dancer and has accompanied numerous Guinean artists such as Singleton or Djelika Babintou.

She formed her dance group Toxaï Girls, before devoting herself, ten years ago, to writing music, which she calls “afro-fusion dancehall” – mixing styles and borrowing from reggaeton, amapiano and traditional music.

Teenage performers from Benin use girl power to take on the world

Singing in local Guinean languages such as Pular and Susu as well as French and English, Queen Rima has made a niche for herself in what is a very male-dominated genre of the music business.

She told RFI that she “wants to prove to men that women are just as capable as them of making urban music,” and likes to upend stereotypes with video clips like “Boss Up” where she appears surrounded by four bare-chested, muscular men.

In her title “Guinée Won nomane”, she pays tribute to all the strong women of her country, who face inequality in a patriarchal society.

Khartoum contends the UAE is “complicit in the genocide on the Masalit (community in Sudan) through its direction of and provision of extensive financial, political, and military support for the rebel RSF militia,” the ICJ said in a statement.

“The United Arab Emirates fuels the rebellion and supports the militia that has committed the crime of genocide in West Darfur,” the Sudan submission to the court said.

The UAE, which has repeatedly denied supporting the RSF, dismissed the case as a “publicity stunt” and said it would try to have it thrown out.

The case “is nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt aimed at diverting attention,” a UAE official said in a statement sent to AFP, adding: “The UAE will seek the immediate dismissal of this baseless application.”

Protracted war

For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army in Sudan have fought a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million. Famine has been declared in parts of the country and is likely to spread.

Sudan called on the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries, to issue emergency orders – “provisional measures” in the court jargon – to force the UAE to pay reparations, among other requests.

“The United Arab Emirates must make full reparation for the injury caused (by) its internationally wrongful acts, including paying reimbursement to the victims of the war,” Sudan’s submission argued.

ICJ rulings are legally binding but the court has no power to enforce them.

Sudan reels as US suspends aid amid ongoing war

For example, it ordered Russia to halt its assault on Ukraine only a few weeks after the invasion – to no avail.

But Khartoum urged the court to act quickly “to ensure the urgent and fullest possible protection for the Sudanese civilian people who remain at grave and immediate risk of continuing and further acts of genocide”.

Sudan’s submission accused the RSF of “genocide, murder, theft of property, rape, forcible displacement, trespassing, vandalism of public properties, and violations of human rights”.

It added that these acts were “perpetrated and enabled by the direct support given to the rebel RSF militia and related militia groups by the United Arab Emirates”.

Sudan charged that the UAE was breaching its obligations under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention “by attempting to commit genocide, conspiring to commit genocide, inciting genocide, complicity in genocide, and failing to prevent and punish genocide”.

UAE denials

The UAE official said: “The allegations presented by the SAF representative at the ICJ lack any legal or factual basis, representing yet another attempt to distract from this calamitous war.”

In June, Sudan’s UN ambassador Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith accused the UAE of fomenting conflict in his country, saying the RSF was being “supported with weapons by the Emirates”.

The Emirati envoy to the United Nations, Mohamed Issa Hamad Mohamed Abushahab, rejected the claims as “ludicrous” and accused Sudan of using the council to plead the army’s case.

UN experts monitoring an arms embargo on Darfur said accusations that the UAE had funnelled weapons to the RSF through Chad were “credible”.

The Gulf state promised the United States in December that it would not arm the RSF, after two US lawmakers attempted to block its purchase of $1.2 billion in advanced rockets and long-range missiles.

In January, the US lawmakers said the UAE had broken its promises and was still supplying the Sudanese rebels.

The United States made the decision to halt intelligence sharing and military aid as part of efforts to crank up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to cooperate with President Donald Trump‘s bid to convene peace talks with Russia.

American intelligence is vital for Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets. France warned that Washington‘s actions would harm Ukraine’s operations against Russia’s invasion.

Speaking on France Inter radio, Defence Minister Lecornu said France’s own intelligence provided to Kyiv was not reliant on Washington.

Russia hits back at Macron speech as Europe faces tough choices on Ukraine

“I think for our British friends who are in an intelligence community with the United States, it is more complicated,” he said, alluding to the “Five Eyes” group of English-speaking countries that also includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand, when asked whether Europe could replace US intelligence.

“We have sovereign intelligence and we have our own capacities and have resources that we use to help the Ukrainians,” he added.

Lecornu’s office later said the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine is not a novelty but “a continuity of service.”

Lecornu added that following the US decision to suspend all military aid to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron asked him to “accelerate the various French aid packages” to make up for the lack of American assistance.

In the wake of the US decision, shipments of Ukraine-bound aid departing from Poland had been suspended, Lecornu said, adding however that “Ukrainians, unfortunately, have learned to fight this war for three years now and know how to stockpile”.

Russia has responded with scorn to French President Emmanuel Macron’s televised speech, in which he warned that Russia poses a direct threat to France and Europe.

Senior Russian figures – including lawmakers and former leaders – dismissed Macron’s statements as exaggerated fearmongering and accused him of fuelling unnecessary tensions.

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian senator, claimed Macron had fundamentally misinterpreted Russia’s actions, arguing that Moscow was merely reacting to NATO expansion rather than pursuing aggression.

“Such an erroneous analysis leads to fatal errors,” he stated, insisting that the French president was misleading his own citizens and allies.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – never one to shy away from caustic remarks – mockingly referred to Macron as “Micron” and predicted his political downfall by 2027.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, ridiculed Macron’s assertion that France has the most effective military in Europe, suggesting that he might want to put that claim to the test.

Meanwhile, Kremlin-aligned commentators accused the French leader of distorting reality, with former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov claiming Macron was engaging in slander and military propaganda against Russia.

Macron sounds alarm on US-Russia shift, urges Europe to stand firm

Ukraine war is a ‘global conflict’

Macron’s speech, delivered in a national address on Wednesday evening, framed Russia as a clear and present danger to Europe.

He described the war in Ukraine as a global conflict and even floated the idea of extending France’s nuclear deterrent to European allies – an idea that has sparked considerable debate.

Macron directly stated: “Russia has already turned the Ukrainian conflict into a global conflict. It has mobilised North Korean soldiers and Iranian equipment on our continent, while helping these countries to further arm themselves.

“President Putin’s Russia violates our borders to assassinate opponents and manipulates elections in Romania and Moldova. It is organising digital attacks on our hospitals to stop them operating. Russia is trying to manipulate our opinions with lies spread on social networks”.

His remarks come at a time when European support for Ukraine is facing growing uncertainty.

US President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in Washington’s stance, advocating for a peace deal that some European leaders fear could weaken Ukraine’s position.

Meanwhile, divisions within the European Union over military aid and financial commitments have further complicated the situation.

EU summit aims for united front on Ukraine as US support wavers

EU summit on Ukraine’s defence

As European leaders gather in Brussels for a summit on supporting Ukraine, they are confronted with the challenge of maintaining a united front.

With Russian forces advancing on the battlefield and Western backing wavering, the EU’s discussions are centered on reinforcing Ukraine’s defences and ensuring that Europe does not falter in its commitments.

While President Vladimir Putin continues to dismiss NATO’s concerns, Ukraine and its allies argue that Russia’s actions amount to an imperial land grab.

Moscow currently controls nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and large portions of the east and south.

Caroline Darian, whose parents are now divorced, filed the complaint on Wednesday, accusing Dominique Pelicot of drugging her and committing “sexual abuse” against her, she told AFP in an interview.

She said she took legal action as a “message to all victims” of sexual abuse who were drugged not to give up.

Darian has said she suspects Dominique Pelicot abused her too after pictures of her naked and unconscious body were found among the detailed records he kept of his crimes.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, has always denied he abused his daughter.

“Yes, he denied it, but he also lied several times and gave different versions of the story during the two and a half years of the investigation,” Darian said.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, last year became a feminist icon for her courage during trial of her former husband for mass rape while they were married.

She had insisted that the trial be held in public and waived her right to anonymity.

A court in southern France in December sentenced him to 20 years for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of men to do the same for almost a decade.

Mass rape trial revives question of consent within French law

His 50 co-defendants were also found guilty and handed various sentences of between three and 15 years.

“We clearly saw in court that at no time was Dominique capable of telling the whole truth about what happened,” Darian added.

Darian has campaigned for awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse, and in 2022 wrote a book about the family’s ordeal, “Et j’ai cesse de t’appeler papa” (“And I stopped calling you dad”).

Her new book about victims of sexual abuse, titled “For us to remember” (“Pour que l’on se souvienne”), hit bookstands on Wednesday.

‘Message to all victims’

In the latest book, she recalls her time in court at her father’s trial, describing it as “the worst experience of my life” and her feeling of having been “the person who was most forgotten at the trial”.

She says that since the trial she has been plunged into “abyssal void” and a “feeling of injustice” which “crushes” her. She wants more than ever to be a voice for the victims who are sexually abused after being drugged, she writes.

“Rebuilding requires recognition of my status as a victim,” she told AFP, adding: “I know that the road is still long”.

Beyond “my personal case”, the complaint filed this week represents “a message sent to all victims”, she said.

“It is important for me to convey this message so that other victims” of chemical sedation can “tell themselves that there are things to do, there are remedies, and we must never give up”.

She has stepped up her public activities since the trial, notably through an NGO she has set up called M’endors pas (Don’t fall asleep).

“It’s a fight that requires a lot of time, brainpower and a certain form of mental load, but it’s really worth it,” she told AFP.

“Things are moving and I want to believe that this will allow us to set up real initiatives and real avenues for improvement to support victims who really need it.”

Since 19 January a fragile ceasefire saw an influx of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory before Israel announced on Sunday it was blocking deliveries until militant group Hamas accepted its terms for an extension of the truce.

“We call on the government of Israel to abide by its international obligations to ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza,” the countries said in a joint statement.

“A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza such as that announced by the government of Israel would risk violating international humanitarian law. Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool.”

The three European nations described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”.

Egypt calls on EU to exert more pressure on Israel over Gaza ceasefire deal

Sustaining the ceasefire

The Gaza ceasefire deal’s first phase ended over the weekend after six weeks of relative calm.

They included exchanges of Israeli hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.

Of the 251 hostages taken on that date, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

“It is vital that the ceasefire is sustained, all the hostages are released, and continued flows of humanitarian aid to Gaza are ensured,” the three nations said.

“All hostages must be unconditionally released and Hamas must end their degrading and humiliating treatment.”

(with wires)

Harvey Elliott scored the winner in the 86th minute, just 40 seconds after replacing a spectral Mohamed Salah on the right wing.

It was a goal that contrasted ghoulishly with PSG’s delicacy and finesse.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, who had kept his side in the tie with half a dozen spectacular saves, hoofed the ball in the direction of Darwin Nunez. The Liverpool forward jumped up with PSG skipper Marquinhos and Nunez, the fresher of the pair, gained control on the edge of the box as Marquinhos slipped to the turf.

Rather than shooting, the Uruguayan side-footed the ball over to the right for the on-rushing Elliot to slide it past the PSG goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma.

“If you have seen the game, it’s a very good result for us,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

Quality

“I knew the quality of PSG before the game. They won 10 times in a row, scored goal after goal after goal. They have incredible pace with the wingers. Every underlying statistic shows you that they were the best team in the Champions League so I wasn’t surprised that they were so good.”

Few outfits have mastered Liverpool during their rampage into a 13-point lead at the top of the English Premier League and the League Cup final.

But from the outset Luis Enrique’s men stated their intent to dominate.

With Vitinha and Joao Neves respectively as schemer and toiler-in-chief in the midfield and Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola roving down the wings, they engulfed Slot’s men with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the January signing from Napoli, adding more trickery.

It was Dembélé’s wizardry though that set up the first big chance of the night.

The 27-year-old France international whirled past Andy Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister on the right touchline and centred but Joao Neves scuffed his shot into the ground and the ball looped over the bar.

PSG continued the push forward and after 20 minutes, Kvaratskhelia curled the ball elegantly around Alisson into the net.

In vain. The Georgia international was offside when he received the pass.

Despite the escape, Liverpool’s response failed to materialise and Slot’s men were fortunate that Ibrahima Konaté was not sent off half an hour into the encounter for bringing down Barcola on the edge of the penalty area.

Barcola should have punished more backline sloppiness minutes later but he lashed the rebound over the bar after Dembélé had brought a good save from Alisson.

Changes

To the delight of the partisans in the house, it was a case of déjà vu after the pause. PSG monopolised possession, weaved intricate patterns and Liverpool repulsed.

Alisson’s strong arm stopped Dembélé’s effort and the 32-year-old Brazilian added to his highlights reel after 80 minutes with a flying save to push Désiré Doué’s curler from the left away for a corner.

“Alisson had a great game,” Enrique said. “We didn’t let them play. Liverpool were better than us for the first five minutes and then it was all PSG.”

Enrique, whose side enjoys a 13-point cushion at the top of the Ligue 1, is likely to rest his star players for the weekend game at Rennes.

“We go to Liverpool next week with nothing to lose,” added the Spaniard. “And that makes us dangerous.

“It was potentially one of our best games of the season,” he lamented. “We did everything to keep the ball. We played a full game. Their best player was their goalkeeper. That tells you everything.”

Lille in the hunt

Three days after losing 4-1 in Ligue 1 at PSG, Lille drew 1-1 at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night. Karim Adeyemi opened for the scoring at the Signal Iduna Park afer 22 minutes.

But the hosts failed to match the intensity of the visitors in the second-half and paid the price for their lack of aggression when Hakon Haraldsson muscled through the Dortmund backline to level.

“We were timid in the way we used the ball’ in the first-half,” said Lille boss Bruno Genesio. “We didn’t take enough risks going forward, and we didn’t make enough runs to offer options for the pass.

“But the second-half was much more accomplished. We took more risks and we deservedly got back on level terms. Overall I’m satisfied with a positive result.

The second leg will take place on 12 March at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

“Given what we showed in the second-half in Dortmund, we almost regret not scoring a second goal but there’s another match coming up. It’s going to be a very tight game.”

Demonstrations organised by the Alliance police union saw officers gather outside police stations in several cities including Caen, Nantes, Besançon and Nanterre – the Paris suburb where the shooting occurred.

Nahel, 17, was killed in June 2023 by a bullet fired at point-blank range by a police officer – identified as Florian M – who was checking the vehicle when the teenager attempted to restart it. 

Police initially claimed the young man had driven towards them, but this version was contradicted by amateur video footage shared on social media. 

The officer had been held in custody for five months before being released under judicial supervision. 

On Monday the Nanterre prosecutor requested that he face trial for murder, and that charges against a colleague for complicity in murder be dropped. 

France re-enacts fatal shooting of teenager that led to riots

Modest protests

Around a hundred police officers gathered to protest the move in Nanterre – although initial reports had suggested that “several hundred” officers were expected. 

“We are here today to symbolically support Florian,” Fabien Vanhemelryck, secretary general of the Alliance union, told BFMTV at the Nanterre protest. 

“We are all Florian. Saying that a colleague is a murderer is intolerable and unacceptable. A murder is voluntarily causing someone’s death. We cannot say that a police officer is a murderer.” 

Media reports said that in Caen about 30 officers stood on the steps of the police headquarters in a silent demonstration, while in Besançon some 40 officers gathered outside the Gare d’Eau police station despite it being during school holidays. 

At the Nantes central police station, several dozens of officers briefly assembled “in a symbolic way before quickly returning to their ranks”, according to Ouest France.

Grandmother of teen killed by French police pleads for riots to stop 

Unions divided

Police unions have taken different approaches to supporting their colleague. While Alliance called for nationwide gatherings, the Un1té union advised against protests. 

“In accordance with our values and our unwavering commitment to Florian, Un1té will always act in his interest and in protection of his rights. Consequently, we will not call for any gatherings,” Un1té said in a statement cited by Le Figaro. 

Alliance has taken a more confrontational stance.

“If today a police officer can be tried as a murderer for having faced a refusal to comply, then tomorrow, no police officer will be able to intervene without fearing the courts,” the union said in its statement. 

The footage of Nahel’s shooting, and apparent disconnect with the official version of events by police, galvanised months of violence and protests against police brutality across France.

The doctors, who qualified outside the European Union, also plan to demonstrate outside the Health Ministry in Paris on Saturday. 

Many work in medical fields facing staff shortages, including geriatrics, emergency medicine, visceral surgery and psychiatry. 

They earn significantly less than their French counterparts – sometimes three times less – and are often employed on short-term contracts that renew every six months. 

“We find ourselves in an unacceptable precarious situation,” Abdelhalim Bensaïdi, a diabetologist who has worked at Nanterre Hospital for more than six years, told France Inter.  

Three-quarters of foreign-trained doctors come from five Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Morocco and Lebanon. Many have been working in France for years, supporting a health system struggling with staff shortages. 

France admits more foreign doctors than ever before, but inequalities remain

Unmet promises 

In January 2024, the government pledged to extend work permits for foreign doctors who had failed a highly selective national exam required for them to be fully integrated into the French system.

More than a year and two governments later, that promise remains unfulfilled. 

To gain full recognition of their qualifications in France, the doctors must pass knowledge verification tests. The process is highly competitive. In 2023, some 20,000 foreign-trained doctors applied for positions, but only 2,649 succeeded – a pass rate of just 13.5 percent. 

During the most recent exam session, 20 percent of the positions that should have been awarded were not granted, a decision Bensaïdi described as “arbitrary”. 

Reforms to address France’s ‘medical deserts’ pit doctors against nurses

For many doctors with years of experience and proven clinical skills, the exam represents an unfair barrier to job security. 

They say the uncertainty affects not just their careers but their personal lives, making it impossible to settle in France. 

“Our entire family life depends on this exam and the renewal of our papers,” Nadir, an anaesthetist-reanimator earning €1,476 per month, told France 3 in January.  

“How can we take out a loan or plan for the future when we don’t even know if we can stay?” 

Essential workforce 

Healthcare experts have emphasised the vital role these foreign doctors play in the French system. 

“If the French hospital system hasn’t collapsed, it’s because a wave of foreign doctors has arrived during each crisis period,” Louis-Vladimir Vandermeerschen, national delegate of the Public Health Managers Union, told left-leaning daily Libération. 

President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged their contribution earlier this year, conceding they “sometimes single-handedly keep our care services running”.

The sharp decline in US-Ukraine relations has raised doubts about American support for Europe, as the continent assesses its ability to defend itself against a threat from Russia.

Donald Trump’s decision to cut military aid to Ukraine this week signals a  shift in US foreign policy and raises questions about America’s commitment to Europe’s security.

From shortages in the number of tanks and the availablity of artillery, to the debate over a unified European army, leaders must decide whether to bolster national forces or embrace deeper military cooperation.

As France and the UK guard their nuclear arsenals and Russia tests Europe’s resolve, can the EU build a credible deterrent, or will it continue to rely on America?

The Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa at the Institute for Economics and Peace, Serge Stroobants, explained to RFI that Europe lacks the capacity to react quickly to security threats, with defence procurement bogged down by fragmentation and slow production timelines.

As early as 2016, Germany’s defence industry acknowledged that no major projects would reach completion for at least six to eight years. Today the projections are even worse.

“If you want to invest quickly in the military – into defence, into new equipment and weapon systems – these need to be bought off the shelf outside of Europe,” with the US, Turkey, and South Korea as key suppliers, he says.

Defence neglected

Beyond military upgrades, Europe faces a broader challenge as its entire economic and state system must adapt to meet modern security demands.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent pledge to cut red tape for defence procurement is a step in the right direction, Stroobants says, but it comes too late and under pressure from events rather than forward planning.

“The problem is – as is so often with the EU – we are doing this under the pressure of the events. We’re not doing this in advance. We’re not planning. We don’t have a strategy.”

Despite being a continent of 500 million people – and the world’s third-largest economic and military power – Europe remains unable to ensure its own security due to a longstanding lack of strategic foresight and neglect of defence spending.

As it stands, a unified EU defence force remains a challenge due to Europe’s struggle to coordinate military policy alongside foreign diplomacy and development.

Stroobants explains that peace and security are based on three pillars – diplomacy, development and defence. “When you look at the EU, this has been done for almost 75 years, but if you are not able to integrate foreign policy and foreign development…and have common influence outside of European borders? Well, it doesn’t really help to only unify just one of those three pillars,” he said.

While the EU has made progress in development and soft power, true strategic influence for the bloc requires the full integration of defence and diplomacy to establish an undivided foreign policy and a stronger global presence.

‘Europe must do the heavy lifting’ in Ukraine, needs ‘US backing’: UK’s Starmer

Reshaping Europe

“For 30 to 35 years now, we have been divesting from defence, but it’s much more than defence. It’s the entire society that has lived with the idea that we would live eternally in peace,” Stroobants says.

He argues that to independently deter Russian aggression, European nations must go beyond bolstering their military capabilities – they need to rethink their entire strategic approach.

“If you want to be ready, you need to invest in defence…but you also need to reshape your society and your infrastructure,” he adds.

He also points out that with France and the UK as Europe’s only nuclear powers, their cooperation on a nuclear umbrella remains uncertain. France insists its deterrent will stay national but may engage allies without losing autonomy. Both nations favour a “coalition of the willing” over an EU or NATO-led approach, prioritising national security.

‘Deterrance and power’

While Moscow takes America’s military threat seriously and views European states as weak, Stroobants added,  Europe must take concrete steps to change this perception and restore credible deterrence.

European security hinges on two key concepts: deterrence and power. Deterrence relies not just on military capability but on the will to use it – because, as Stroobants puts it, “you can have 20,000 nuclear warheads, but if you have nobody who is strong enough to use them, they are not going to be a deterrent.

“And that’s exactly what’s happening with the EU at the moment”.

True power – accroding to Stroobants – is essentially a combination of military, economic, and diplomatic strength,comboined with a clear strategy and the political will to act.

Britain holds back as France pushes for truce between Russia and Ukraine

While Europe possesses significant resources, it lacks a unified vision on how to confront Putin’s Russia and define its role in an increasingly aggressive global order – leaving it strategically adrift and unable to deter adversaries effectively.

The absence of key nations – including the Baltic states – from a recent high-level security meeting in London only underscores the challenge of consolidating a unified European deterrent.

“After having lived in the military for 30 years, in Europe and under the NATO umbrella, not incorporating all the allies or member states [at high level meetings] is really strange,” he said.

For Stroobants, Europe now is facing the disintegration of alliances that have taken over seven decades to build.

During Monday’s debate in the National Assembly on how best to back Ukraine and protect European security, French MPs from all sides expressed their support for Kyiv and saluted the country’s ambassador to France, Omelchenko Vadym, who was in attendance.

However, MPs from the far right refrained from applauding Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s denunciation of US President Donald Trump’s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week.

The debate, which did not lead to a vote, was symbolic and allowed parties to position themselves on European and French security, but also to reiterate support – or opposition – to Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic efforts towards European solutions.

Ukraine in the EU

Bayrou addressed the Assembly to lay out the government’s “vision” on a need for European countries to come together, as the US pulls away from its traditional alliance, declaring: “It is up to us, Europeans, to guarantee the security and defence of Europe.”

The alliances created after the Second World War are “finished,” he said, adding that the European Union is the “only path and the only possible strategy,” with France playing a “central role in building this new world”.

‘Europe must do the heavy lifting’ in Ukraine, needs ‘US backing’: UK’s Starmer

The head of each political group in the Assembly then presented their position. Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, head of the Ensemble pour la republique group, which allies itself with Macron, called for an “acceleration” of the process of admitting Ukraine into the EU.

“It is the solution that will enable us to stand up to future exchanges,” he said, adding that there should be “safeguarding clauses” to protect agriculture from Ukrainian competition – a concern raised by the far-right National Rally (RN).

Far right on Russia

For their part, the RN’s leader, Marine Le Pen, called for “realism” in France’s support for Ukraine, “keeping in mind our own national interests”.

She praised the “heroism” of the Ukrainian people against the “indefensible Russian aggression,” but reiterated her opposition to Ukraine’s joining either the EU or NATO.

Has France’s far-right National Rally really turned on Russia?

Throwing out a barb to the government, she added that there should be concern about “France’s gradual abandoning of its unique role as a balancing power” and blamed what she called “the consolidation of a Russia-China axis” on “Western intransigence towards Russia in recent years”.

Throwing back the barb, Attal denounced what he called the RN’s “capitulatory instinct, saying: “Ukraine is burning, and you are still looking the other way.”

He called for France to reconsider its position on frozen Russian assets and use them to “help Ukraine” – a move supported by Boris Vallaud, leader of the Socialists in the Assembly. 

“France’s position is that these Russian assets… belong notably to the Russian central bank,” finance minister Eric Lombard told France Info on Tuesday, adding that to use them to aid Ukraine “would be contrary to international agreements that France and Europe have signed up to”.

European defence

The question of European defence is crucial, now that the US has cut off military aid to Ukraine, and the French right would like to see higher spending in this area.

Michel Herbillon, head of the Republicans (LR) in the Assembly, agreed with Attal that the defence budget should be exempt from the 3 percent deficit limit. He also called for a “massive reorientation” towards European military equipment, as “nearly two-thirds of European defence purchases are made from American manufacturers”.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Cyrielle Chatelain, leader of the Ecologist MPs, echoed this, saying she wants the EU to become “a political and military force” and to commit to supplying equipment, training soldiers and to “the reinforcement of European troops in countries bordering Ukraine”.

For their part, Socialist leader Vallaud called for “a major joint loan of €500 billion”.

‘Absurd’ figures

The disagreement on spending came from the political extremes – on the left and right.

“These discussions of abstract figures are absurd,” said Aurélien Saintoul of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), who criticised France’s joining of NATO’s integrated command in 2008.

He agreed that France was too “critically dependent on the United States” but said the solution was not to outspend it. Instead, he called on a France to “reverse the logic of competition and predation on the planet”.

He also added that international law requires “the same support to the Palestinian people” be given as to Ukraine – an idea backed by Chatelain.

Front line ‘getting closer’, warns French FM as MPs prepare to debate Ukraine

Le Pen said that European security should come not from a European defence, “but from the concerted reinforcement of each of Europe’s defences” and argued strongly against France sharing its nuclear arsenal.

While Macron has opened the idea of sharing France’s nuclear deterrence with other countries, as a so-called “nuclear umbrella”, he has said that France would remain “totally sovereign” when it comes to any decision to use the weapons.

“To share deterrence is to abolish it,” Le Pen told the Assembly. “Triggering the use of nuclear weapons is inextricably linked to national and popular legitimacy.”

Following on the heels of British sanctions last week, Canada announced punitive measures on Monday, in response to the M23 offensive in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The sanctions include the suspension of new trade initiatives between the two governments or new export permits for controlled goods and technologies to Kigali.

This week, Germany also announced that it would be suspending its aid to Rwanda.

“We will suspend new financial commitments and high-level meetings with Kigali and review existing cooperation with Rwanda,” the German Cooperation Ministry announced in a statement on Tuesday, according to RFI’s correspondent in Berlin.

The statement condemns the offensive by the M23 group and denounces a “violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the DRC.”

Kigali receives annual aid of 50 million euros per year from Germany, for projects related to economic development, energy, climate protection or vaccine production.

In its talks with Kigali, Berlin has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of Rwandan armed forces from the DRC and an end to their support for the M23.

“During the meeting, it was also stressed that Rwandan security concerns must be taken seriously and that Germany is also in contact with the Congolese side on this issue,” the German ministry added.

Betrayal

The Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by saying in a statement published on social media that the German “politicisation” of development cooperation was “wrong and counterproductive.”

“Germany contradicts its own claims of supporting the African-led process to resolve the conflict in eastern DRC by letting the DRC off the hook for numerous violations, which only reinforces its belligerent posture and needlessly prolongs the conflict,” the ministry also posted in a statement on social media.

The Rwandan authorities describe the European decisions to apply sanction as “shameful”.

Kigali is also asking London to pay the outstanding balance of the controversial agreement on sending to Rwanda migrants who arrived illegally in the United Kingdom. This project was abandoned last year when the Labour government came to power.

According to Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo, the UK had asked Kigali to “discreetly” waive the final payment under the migration deal with London, based on the trust and good faith that exist between the two nations.

“The British authorities have betrayed this trust,” she continued, by taking “unjustified punitive measures to force Rwanda to compromise its national security.”

UK resolves Rwanda asylum cases after govt drops policy

London had announced on 25 February that it was suspending most of its financial aid to Rwanda.

On Monday, when Ottawa announced that it would “suspend the issuance of permits for the export to Rwanda of regulated goods and technologies”, it also denounced new government economic projects, and reviewed its participation in international events organised in Rwanda.

Long conflict

The offensive by the M23 has drawn widespread international condemnation.

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized large swathes of the mineral-rich eastern DRC, in the face of limited resistance from Congolese forces.

It now controls large tracts of the troubled region, and valuable mineral deposits. Its rapid advance has sent thousands fleeing.

Rwandan-backed M23 gains in eastern DRC spark UN warnings and regional fears

Kigali says Kinshasa is collaborating with the FDLR, a military group they accuse of persecuting Congolese Tutsi people and Tutsi refugees from Rwanda, who were pushed to leave during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

“Both governments claim their involvement in conflicts in the eastern part of the DRC are linked to protecting ethnic populations,” according to Christopher P. Davey, visiting assistant professor at Binghamton University in New York state and a specialist in the genocide.

“In reality, however, the persistent fighting is destroying economies and livelihoods,” he wrote.

The sharp decline in US-Ukraine relations has raised doubts about American support for Europe, as the continent assesses its ability to defend itself against a threat from Russia.

Donald Trump’s decision to cut military aid to Ukraine this week signals a  shift in US foreign policy and raises questions about America’s commitment to Europe’s security.

From shortages in the number of tanks and the availablity of artillery, to the debate over a unified European army, leaders must decide whether to bolster national forces or embrace deeper military cooperation.

As France and the UK guard their nuclear arsenals and Russia tests Europe’s resolve, can the EU build a credible deterrent, or will it continue to rely on America?

The Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa at the Institute for Economics and Peace, Serge Stroobants, explained to RFI that Europe lacks the capacity to react quickly to security threats, with defence procurement bogged down by fragmentation and slow production timelines.

As early as 2016, Germany’s defence industry acknowledged that no major projects would reach completion for at least six to eight years. Today the projections are even worse.

“If you want to invest quickly in the military – into defence, into new equipment and weapon systems – these need to be bought off the shelf outside of Europe,” with the US, Turkey, and South Korea as key suppliers, he says.

Defence neglected

Beyond military upgrades, Europe faces a broader challenge as its entire economic and state system must adapt to meet modern security demands.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s recent pledge to cut red tape for defence procurement is a step in the right direction, Stroobants says, but it comes too late and under pressure from events rather than forward planning.

“The problem is – as is so often with the EU – we are doing this under the pressure of the events. We’re not doing this in advance. We’re not planning. We don’t have a strategy.”

Despite being a continent of 500 million people – and the world’s third-largest economic and military power – Europe remains unable to ensure its own security due to a longstanding lack of strategic foresight and neglect of defence spending.

As it stands, a unified EU defence force remains a challenge due to Europe’s struggle to coordinate military policy alongside foreign diplomacy and development.

Stroobants explains that peace and security are based on three pillars – diplomacy, development and defence. “When you look at the EU, this has been done for almost 75 years, but if you are not able to integrate foreign policy and foreign development…and have common influence outside of European borders? Well, it doesn’t really help to only unify just one of those three pillars,” he said.

While the EU has made progress in development and soft power, true strategic influence for the bloc requires the full integration of defence and diplomacy to establish an undivided foreign policy and a stronger global presence.

‘Europe must do the heavy lifting’ in Ukraine, needs ‘US backing’: UK’s Starmer

Reshaping Europe

“For 30 to 35 years now, we have been divesting from defence, but it’s much more than defence. It’s the entire society that has lived with the idea that we would live eternally in peace,” Stroobants says.

He argues that to independently deter Russian aggression, European nations must go beyond bolstering their military capabilities – they need to rethink their entire strategic approach.

“If you want to be ready, you need to invest in defence…but you also need to reshape your society and your infrastructure,” he adds.

He also points out that with France and the UK as Europe’s only nuclear powers, their cooperation on a nuclear umbrella remains uncertain. France insists its deterrent will stay national but may engage allies without losing autonomy. Both nations favour a “coalition of the willing” over an EU or NATO-led approach, prioritising national security.

‘Deterrance and power’

While Moscow takes America’s military threat seriously and views European states as weak, Stroobants added,  Europe must take concrete steps to change this perception and restore credible deterrence.

European security hinges on two key concepts: deterrence and power. Deterrence relies not just on military capability but on the will to use it – because, as Stroobants puts it, “you can have 20,000 nuclear warheads, but if you have nobody who is strong enough to use them, they are not going to be a deterrent.

“And that’s exactly what’s happening with the EU at the moment”.

True power – accroding to Stroobants – is essentially a combination of military, economic, and diplomatic strength,comboined with a clear strategy and the political will to act.

Britain holds back as France pushes for truce between Russia and Ukraine

While Europe possesses significant resources, it lacks a unified vision on how to confront Putin’s Russia and define its role in an increasingly aggressive global order – leaving it strategically adrift and unable to deter adversaries effectively.

The absence of key nations – including the Baltic states – from a recent high-level security meeting in London only underscores the challenge of consolidating a unified European deterrent.

“After having lived in the military for 30 years, in Europe and under the NATO umbrella, not incorporating all the allies or member states [at high level meetings] is really strange,” he said.

For Stroobants, Europe now is facing the disintegration of alliances that have taken over seven decades to build.

Officially recognised by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day (IWD) originated from the labour movements of the early twentieth century.

On 8 March, women around the world – and throughout the month in some countries – are celebrated and recognised for their social, cultural, economic and political achievements.

The day also serves as a call to action to accelerate progress towards gender parity.

In 2025, the United Nations will mark International Women’s Day under the theme: “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”

While the situation for women in parts of Africa is undeniably influenced by conflicts, disasters, and insecurity, this episode focuses on progress and empowerment.

Empowering

Spotlight on Africa’s first guest is Magalie Lebreton Traoré, an expert in digital transitions across the African continent at the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

As Unesco leads training for women in AI across Africa’s five regions, Magalie joins us to discuss how women are taking the lead in shaping high-tech industries, particularly artificial intelligence. This technological leap presents significant opportunities for women’s leadership and innovation.

Moreover, a study published in Nature revealed that 79 percent of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be improved or achieved through AI.

To tackle gender and geographical inequalities in AI, Unesco has made these issues a priority in its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence – the first global standard-setting framework in this field, unanimously adopted by Unesco Member States in November 2021.

Celebrating

And to broaden the conversation, we also talk to a curator and two artists from Johannesburg in South Africa, who are organising a special exhibition to highlight the work of artist-mothers and women artists caring for families.

Lara Koseff is a curator at INCCA, the Independent Network for Contemporary Culture & Art in Johannesburg. She has established the second edition of ‘Art After Baby‘, with the support of the National Arts Council South Africa.

These female artists and mothers have been selected to receive support and mentorship in order to complete and exhibit a body of work in solo exhibitions at Victoria Yards in Johannesburg until the end of March.

Lara Koseff, Siviwe James and Phumelele Kunene join us on the line from South Africa.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.

In a packed conference hall in an Istanbul hotel, Ahmet Turk, a leading member of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Dem Party, read a statement by Ocalan calling for the organization, which he founded, to disarm and dissolve itself, declaring an end to the decades-long conflict.

 The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, has been fighting for autonomy and Kurdish minority rights in Turkey since the 1980s.

Ocalan, imprisoned in a Turkish jail since 1999, made his disarmament call after the PKK suffered significant military setbacks in recent years.

 “The PKK is almost finished within the borders of Turkey,” explained Mesut Yegen, a political scientist at the Istanbul-based Reform Institute.

However, Yegen claims with the PKK now primarily based in northern Iraq on Turkey’s frontier, while its affiliate in Syria, the SDF, controls a large swathe of territory bordering Turkey all sides still have an interest in peace.

“We know that the Turkish state needs a peace process because it’s worried about the future development in the region in Syria and Iraq,” added Yegen.

Turkey looks for regional help in its battle against Kurdish rebels in Iraq

Cautious response

The Turkish government gave a cautious response to Ocalan’s statement, saying it’s waiting for the PKK to disarm. The PKK leadership based in Iraq, ahead of Ocalan’s statement, declared it is looking for gestures from the government before any disarmament.

“The peace process in Turkey will largely depend on what emerges, what kind of a deal emerges inside Syria,” Asli Aydintasbas, a visiting senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said.

“So we’re also seeing Turkey be more cautious. That doesn’t mean, you know, Turkey won’t reverse course if it feels there’s no room to go with Syrian Kurds or inside the peace process in Turkey.”

Turkish armed forces are massed on the Syrian border with Ankara, demanding the SDF merge with the Syrian army under the control of Syria’s new rulers, with whom the Turkish government has close ties.

For now, the SDF leader Mazloum Abdi declared his force is not bound by Ocalan’s disarmament call while demanding Ankara end its ongoing attacks on its troops.

Turkey’s Saturday Mothers keep up vigil for lost relatives

Scepticism

Analyst Mesut Yegen adds that ending the PKK conflict will come at a price for Ankara.  “They’re (PKK) expecting that in return for that, the state promises that at least a kind of autonomy or status for Syrian Kurds is going to be recognised by the Syrian regime, the new regime, and that the Turkish state also supports this kind of solution.

“In addition to this, of course, the expectation is that some reforms will be implemented in Turkey with regards to the Kurdish question.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has distanced himself from the current efforts to end the conflict, other than saying a historic opportunity exists for Kurds and Turks to live in peace but offering no concessions.

For months, a crackdown on Turkey’s legal Kurdish movement continues, with the removal of elected mayors and arrests of journalists and human rights activists. 

Trial of alleged PKK figures accused of financing terror begins in France

Turkish commentator on Turkey’s Politikyol news portal, Sezin Oney, warns unless the causes of the conflict are addressed, there’s little hope of a permanent peace.

 “Probably, any disarmament or any disbanding of PKK would be a gimmick,” warns Oney.

“It wouldn’t be a real actual disbanding, and it might just appear in a year under a different name. Because they would still have the pretext to argue that armed struggle is necessary because the Kurds in Turkey don’t have their democratic rights.”

With previous peace efforts failing, opinion polls indicate that the public remains sceptical of this latest effort. But for 75-year-old Ocalan, analysts warn it may be his last chance of any hope of freedom.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

The RFI English team is pleased to announce that Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, won the RFI / Planète Radio ePOP video contest, in the RFI Clubs category. Bravo Saleem! Mubarak ho!

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner!

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write “RFI English” in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 1 February, I asked you a question about our article “African nations set to light up the homes of 300 million people by 2030”.

Nearly 600 million Africans live without access to electricity, which is higher than any other continent. The World Bank and the African Development Bank have a plan: Dubbed “Mission 300”, it’s meant to connect half of those homes to power by 2030.

You were to send in the names of four African countries that have committed to reform their electricity utility companies, push renewable energy integration, and raise targets to improve access to national electricity. The World Bank grant will only be available to countries once these reforms have been carried out.

The answer is, to quote our article: “In Nigeria, an estimated 90 million people, 40 percent of the population, don’t have access to electricity. The country, along with Senegal, Zambia and Tanzania is one of a dozen that committed as part of the Mission 300 Plan.”

The other countries are Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, DRC, Niger, Liberia, Madagascar, and Malawi. 

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What item have you held on to as a remembrance of something?”

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI English listener Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State, India. Radhakrishna is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Radhakrishna, on your double win !

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ahsan Ejaz, a member of the RFI Fans Club in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, and Sharmin Sultana, a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list are two RFI English listeners: Subhas Paul, a member of the RFI Students Radio Club in West Bengal, India, and Christian Ghibaudo from Tende, France.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The “Vivace” from Serenade for Small Orchestra by Jean Françaix, performed by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Louis Lane; “Djourou”, performed by Ballaké Sissoko and Sona Jobarteh; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Baul Song” by Lalan, performed by Torap Ali Shah.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “French president Macron set to brief EU leaders over details of Trump talks”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 24 March to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 29 March podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

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Click here to learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club.   

The United States’ military presence in Syria has been called into question, as President Donald Trump faces conflicting pressure from Turkey and Israel over the 2000-strong US force supporting a Syrian Kurdish-led coalition.

The US force is supporting an Arab-Kurdish coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its war against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Thousands of IS militants are currently being held in SDF prisons, but the US military presence now hangs in the balance. 

Turkey analyst Sinan Ciddi, of the Washington-based research institute, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies says Trump is in a dilemma because he ran on this promise of putting America first. “Getting out of foreign entanglements, not committing US troops and US money to parts of the world in which the US doesn’t have any interest,” he tells RFI.

However, Ciddi warns a quick withdrawal would not be without risk: “The dilemma for Trump is that in a theatre such as Syria, if he were to pull back 2,000 troops, then you’ve got this major security threat.”

Turkey’s Erdogan sees new Trump presidency as opportunity

Turkey labels SDF ‘insurgents’

However, a US pullout would be welcomed by its NATO ally Turkey. Ankara strongly opposes Washington’s military support for the SDF, which it accuses of being linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting Turkey.

International relations expert Bilgehan Alagoz, of Istanbul’s Marmara University, maintains the US deployment has poisoned relations between the two allies, but says a withdrawal by Trump would offer a reset in ties.

“I believe that there is going to be a new ground between Turkey and the United States,” Alagoz said. “And Turkey will guarantee the safety of US soldiers and a successful withdrawal from Syria. So it is all going to be a kind of new negotiation between Turkey and the United States.”

Until now, US soldiers in Syria have prevented the Turkish military – massed on the Syrian border – from overwhelming the SDF, but time may be running out for the Kurdish-led forces.

“Assuming that the US withdraws at one point from Syria … this will mean the end of the diplomatic umbrella for the SDF that the US was able to put over them,” according to Aydin Selcen, a former Turkish diplomat and now foreign policy analyst for Turkey’s Medyascope independent news outlet.

Selcen warns that the SDF has only a small window to secure its future: “Time is of the essence for the SDF to get their act together and join forces with Damascus… to fold their forces into the Syrian armed forces, which would also satisfy Ankara’s security concerns.”

Turkey steps up military action against Kurds in Syria as power shifts

Israel sees SDF as key against IS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has close ties with Syria’s new leaders, and is demanding that the SDF disband or face a Turkish assault.

However, the Israeli government is voicing support for American backing for the SDF, given the risk posed by the Islamic State.

“We know that the SDF controls prisons in which there are around 10,000 Islamic State fighters and families,” explains Gallia Lindenstrauss, a foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“Nobody wants to see the resurgence of the Islamic State. And I think in this respect, the US understands this is a small number of troops [and] they are effective. So why pull them out?”

Paris hosts global conference on shaping Syria’s future

Lindenstrauss told RFI: “Israel has voiced that it does want to see the West continue supporting the Kurdish presence in northeast Syria, so there will be Israeli diplomatic efforts to keep the [US] troops there.”

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, recently underlined the importance of the Syrian Kurds as an ally to Israel – a message that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to have delivered to Trump during his visit to Washington this month, Ciddi believes.

“We’ve seen an increase in moves by the Israeli government to provide more formal and government support for non-state actors, such as the Syrian Kurds,” he said. “Because they understand that hitherto they’ve been entirely reliable in thwarting some of the major security concerns that the Israelis hold close to their heart.”

Greece is reacting furiously against France over the potential sale of the Meteor air-to-air missile to Turkey. The missile sale and the Turkish bid to procure Europe’s Eurofighter threatened to erase Greece’s military edge over its rival Turkey.

Despite France and Greece recently signing a defence pact, French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly rejected Greek calls to block the missile sale, which is made by a European consortium headquartered in France.

“I think that France’s decision is related to what is going on in Ukraine,” claims international relations Professor Federico Donelli of Trieste University in Italy

“Turkey and European countries have the same geo-strategic interest,” adds Donelli. “If you ask Turkey and Turkish policymakers, for them, the main threat to the security and stability of the country and integrity of the country remain Russia. So I think that on this point that France, Turkey, even other European countries converge”.

Turkey’s Erdogan sees new Trump presidency as opportunity

Force

With more than 800,000 personnel in its armed forces, including reservists, Turkey is Nato’s second-largest army.

The importance of the Turkish military to European security could be ascending with the looming threat of Russia and Washington demanding Europe take more responsibility for its defence.

“We think it’s an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger,” warned United States Vice President JD Vance at this month’s Munich Security Conference.

Turkey’s poor human rights record has strained relations with the European Union, along with the authoritarian reputation of the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But such concerns are being trumped by security fears.

“After the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey is starting to be perceived by Nato members as an important ally,” explains Donelli.

“Maybe it’s not the best ally ever because we know that Turkey’s not an easy partner, but at the same time it is the most useful one”. 

Turkish President Erdogan ready to rekindle friendship with Trump

Threat

European leaders met this month to discuss Ukraine and the security threat facing the continent. With the Turkish army dwarfing its European counterparts, Ankara says it can play a key role in Europe’s defence.

“European allies understood that without Turkey, we cannot continue the defence of the European continent and Euro-Atlantic security,” claims Turkish presidential advisor Mesut Casin. “And is Turkey ready to support this European security and defence capability? The answer is: ‘Yes.'”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, too, is eyeing Turkey’s military. During his visit to Turkey on Tuesday, Zelenskyy underlined the importance of Ukraine’s allies deploying soldiers to guarantee any peace agreement reached with Russia.

“Two issues that are very, very important: a strong Ukrainian army, and the deployment in Ukraine from other armies like from Europe, and the United States, our partners,” declared Zelensky at a joint press conference with Erdogan.

Zelensky said he had discussed the issue with Erdogan but that it was too early to reveal the outcome of the talks. While Erdogan has close ties with his Ukrainian counterpart, the Turkish leader has also maintained good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Casin insists if all agree, Ankara is well placed to assist. “Turkey, maybe we send our troops to peacekeeping operations. Why do I say it like this? Turkey joined many UN peacekeeping operations, and the Turkish army is very powerful,” said Casin.

The Turkish military has participated in some of the world’s most difficult UN peacekeeping operations, from Kosovo to Somalia.

However, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out any Nato peacekeepers in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the importance of Turkey’s large and capable army could still play a key role in Europe as European concerns grow over the reliability of their American ally.

Madhya Pradesh is often referred to as the Heart of India. Located right in the middle of the country, the Indian region shows everything India has to offer through its abundant diversity. The IFTM trade show, which took place in Paris at the end of September, presented the perfect opportunity for travel enthusiasts to discover the region.

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board, sat down to explain his approach to sustainable tourism.

“Post-covid the whole world has known a shift in their approach when it comes to tourism. And all those discerning travelers want to have different kinds of experiences: something offbeat, something new, something which has not been explored before.”

Through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Shukla wants to showcase the deep history Madhya Pradesh has to offer.

“UNESCO is very actively supporting us and three of our sites are already World Heritage Sites. Sanchi is a very famous buddhist spiritual destination, Bhimbetka is a place where prehistoric rock shelters are still preserved, and Khajuraho is home to thousand year old temples with magnificent architecture.”

All in all, Shukla believes that there’s only one way forward for the industry: “Travelers must take sustainable tourism as a paradigm in order to take tourism to the next level.”

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

Also known as the Land of the Beautiful Islands, Malaysia’s landscape and cultural diversity is almost unmatched on the planet. Those qualities were all put on display at the Malaysian stand during the IFTM trade show.

Libra Hanif, director of Tourism Malaysia, explained the appeal of the country as well as the importance of promoting sustainable tourism today: “Sustainable travel is a major trend now, with the changes that are happening post-covid. People want to get close to nature, to get close to people. So Malaysia being a multicultural and diverse [country] with a lot of natural environments, we felt that it’s a good thing for us to promote Malaysia.”

Malaysia has also gained fame in recent years, through its numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include Kinabalu Park and the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley.

Green mobility has also become an integral part of tourism in Malaysia, with an increasing number of people using bikes to discover the country: “If you are a little more adventurous, we have the mountain back trails where you can cut across gazetted trails to see the natural attractions and the wildlife that we have in Malaysia,” says Hanif. “If you are not that adventurous, you’ll be looking for relaxing cycling. We also have countryside spots, where you can see all the scenery in a relaxing session.”

With more than 25,000 visitors at this IFTM trade show this year, Malaysia’s tourism board got to showcase the best the country and its people have to offer.

In partnership with Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. For more information about Malaysia, click here.