François Mitterrand

Gabriel Attal, named France's youngest ever prime minister Tuesday at the age of 34, has had a meteoric rise that has invoked comparisons with that of his mentor President Emmanuel Macron.

Greece's former socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis bid a warm farewell on Thursday to former European Commission president Jacques Delors, who passed away on Wednesday, expressing their close friendship. 

Former European Commission President Jacques Delors died on Wednesday at the age of 98.

A pivotal figure in European politics, Delors served as France's Finance Minister under François Mitterrand in 1981 and later became a key architect of European integration.

Something's changed in the tough world of politics, and not just in Greece. Up until approximately a decade ago, few if any European politicians who had risen high through the ranks ever believed they might need to get a regular job someday. Politics was a closed system that ensured a degree of protection and relative permanence.

A newspaper mogul ranked among France's richest 25 people has admitted he was a teenage spy who hacked the mobile phone of President Mitterrand.

Xavier Niel, 52, is the co-owner of Le Monde newspaper and the 21st richest person in France with an estimated fortune of €8 billion.

Two popular fallacies are thriving in a Europe of populism and diminished expectations. Many argue that Europe's problem is a problem of leadership. Missing are statesmen with the stature of Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand or Jacques Delors. Historical distance tends to elevate and idealize leaders of the past.

The French Socialist Party sells its headquarters in Paris at auction, Parisian daily reported.