France News

The French Navy seized an oil tanker on Friday in the Western Mediterranean that President Emmanuel Macron said belonged to Russia's shadow fleet, a network of vessels that enables Moscow to export oil despite Western sanctions.Local officials told Reuters earlier on Friday that the navy had boarded a Mozambique-flagged oil tanker named Deyna that was suspected of flying a false flag. The ship had been sailing from the Russian port of Murmansk.Western sanctions imposed on Russia…

France's new aircraft carrier will be named France Libre (Free France), President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, as Paris advances its 10.2 billion euro ($12 billion) program to replace its ageing nuclear-powered flagship Charles de Gaulle.The warship is central to France's nuclear deterrent and Europe's bid for more defence autonomy, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump urged NATO allies to shoulder more of their own defence burden.Macron announced the name Free…

France is deploying about a dozen naval vessels, including its aircraft carrier strike group, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea and potentially the Strait of Hormuz as part of defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict in the Middle East.Speaking in Cyprus before visiting the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which arrived this weekend in the eastern Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron sought to reassure his Cypriot counterpart after drones were intercepted heading towards the island last week."When Cyprus is attacked…

France set out a new energy law after years of wrangling on Thursday which slashes its wind and solar power targets and drops a mandate for state-run firm EDF to shutter nuclear plants."We need to stop our internal family squabbling. We need both nuclear and renewables," finance minister Roland Lescure told reporters.The law, to be pushed through by decree on Friday after almost three years of bitter disagreement among lawmakers, also reverses a previous legal mandate to shut 14 reactors.That was a 2017 campaign promise of President Emmanuel Macron…

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure called a draft law proposing to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in its overseas territories "anachronistic" during a debate in the country's Senate on Thursday.In a world first, France banned new oil and gas exploration and production licenses in 2017, hoping other nations would follow suit. But energy security fears following the loss of Russian gas, along with worries over increased reliance on U.S. liquefied natural gas have led senators to reconsider developing domestic resources."The government is not favourable to this proposal ...

The French navy has diverted the "GRINCH" oil tanker it detained on Thursday towards the port of Marseille-Fos for further investigation, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Friday.The navy had intercepted the tanker, which had left Murmansk in early January, on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to the "shadow fleet" that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions, shortly after it crossed into the Mediterranean Sea through the Straits of Gibraltar.The case is being investigated by the prosecutor of Marseille…

The French navy on Thursday intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected to be part of the shadow fleet that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions."This operation was carried out ... with the support of several of our allies. It was conducted in full compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.The interception was carried out on high seas in the Western Mediterranean, between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco…

CMA CGM will register 10 container vessels to be delivered in the next three years under the French flag, adding more seafarers from its home country after facing calls to contribute more to France's debt-stricken economy.CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping line, will recruit 135 French seafarers at an additional cost of 15 million to 17 million euros ($17.49 million-$19.83 million) per year compared with foreign flag registrations, it said on Tuesday.While a small investment compared with the $2 billion construction cost of the ships…

Offshore wind developers and equipment suppliers are bracing for a slowdown in business in France where a political crisis has stalled changes to the country's energy framework and government tenders.The threat of a further hit to France's economy comes after data released on Friday shows business activity declined faster than expected in October.President Emmanuel Macron has churned through six prime ministers in two years as a fractured legislature struggles to agree on a belt-tightening budget.

Greece's security council, KYSEA, approved on Wednesday the purchase of a fourth Belharra frigate from France to modernise its armed forces and as it tries to keep pace with historic rival Turkey, two government sources told Reuters.Greece has a long-standing dispute with its NATO ally Turkey over maritime waters, and the security council meeting comes after Ankara said it would conduct scientific research in the Aegean Sea in the coming days.Athens agreed in 2021 to procure new Belharra frigates for about 3.0 billion euros ($3.3 billion), with an option for one more, as it aims to replace old

Most countries in the Group of Seven nations are prepared to go it alone and lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil even if U.S. President Donald Trump decides to opt out, four sources familiar with the matter said.G7 country leaders are due to meet on June 15-17 in Canada where they will discuss the price cap first agreed in late 2022. The cap was designed to allow Russian oil URL-E to be sold to third countries using Western insurance services provided the price was no more than…

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (June 10) met with leaders of Pacific island nations on the sidelines of a United Nations ocean conference in the southern French city of Nice.Macron discussed the impacts of climate change to the Oceania nations, one of the regions most prone to rising sea levels, and said Paris "will use its diplomacy in close link with our common interests in the Pacific."France possesses overseas territories in the Pacific, which includes New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.The meeting comes as delegates are meeting for the U.N.

The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) will be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in the French city of Nice from June 9 to 13 with the aim of "accelerating action" on protecting the world's oceans.The conference will cover climate change, pollution, biodiversity and making humanity's access to marine resources more sustainable.The oceans are "not doing very well," UNESCO's head of marine policy Julien Barbiere said, citing increasing temperatures, sea level rise, pollution of various kinds and conflicts over fishing and mineral resources as main issues to be tackled during the conf

Greece has signed a deal to buy 16 anti-ship missiles from France, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on Monday (April 14).The agreement for the French-built Exocet missiles was signed by Dendias and France's Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu who is visiting Athens. The cost of the deal was not disclosed.Under a defence pact with France signed in 2021, Greece agreed to buy three French frigates and some 24 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets.In addition, Greece has said it will buy a fourth Belharra frigate and cruise missiles from France, as part of a 25-billion-euro defence plan by 2036 to modernise its armed forces as it seeks to keep pace with its neighbour and historical rival Turkey.(Reuters)

Generally, government owned vessels, particularly ones engaged in law enforcement, are seemingly last in line when it comes to fuel efficiency. Not so in France, as the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA), in late 2024 sealed the deal and commissioned the SOCARENAM-MAURIC consortium to design and build an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) which combines hybrid propulsion and wind sails, among other energy saving/emission reduction enhancements.According to the government agency…