French people

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls presented his government's resignation on Aug. 25, a day after Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg called for new economic policies and questioned neighbour Germany's "obsession" with budgetary rigour.

France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls presented the resignation of his government to President Francois Hollande on Monday and was asked to form a new cabinet.

The press office of Hollande informed in a statement that a new government would be formed on Tuesday in line with the course outlined by the President.

It is not clear yet whether Greece needs debt relief, according to International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde.

“I would not pass judgment on whether or not debt relief is or is not needed or what form the European support will take,” she told journalists in a briefing on Tuesday. “I think the jury is out.”

The 22nd edition of the Medieval Sighisoara Festival that is conducted this year under the title "Jacques de Molay - 700 years of knighthood", will host on Saturday evening, in a premiere for medieval arts festivals in Romania, the Grand Parade of the Templar Knights of Romania, France and Serbia.

Greek MEP Costas Papadakis was disciplined on Tuesday after interrupting French National Front leader Marine Le Pen during a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Global economic activity should strengthen in the second half of this year and accelerate in 2015 although momentum could be weaker than expected, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on July 6, adding that the Fund did not expect a sharp slowdown in China.
   

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken into custody for questioning, according to legal sources.

He is being investigated over alleged influence peddling, according to the BBC.

Hours earlier, it was reported that his lawyer and two magistrates had also been and interrogated as part of a corruption probe involving Sarkozy.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said June 30 that riots following Algeria’s World Cup win on June 26 proved that French immigration policy had failed.

Delirious celebrations in France when Algeria qualified for the the second round of the World Cup turned violent in some French cities.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta says that harsh punishment is required for acts like the June 13 attack against a young Romanian, brutally beaten by several person in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, north of Paris.

"Friendship with French forged in heroism"

BELGRADE -- "The friendship between the Serbs and the French, forged in the heroism of World War I, has gone through various temptations," says Tomislav Nikolić.