The far-right National Front won its first ever seats in France's upper house of parliament, as President Francois Hollande's Socialist party lost its Senate majority. The left still controls the lower house, which is the dominant legislative body in France, but Sunday's ballot underlined the unpopularity of the president and the continued rise of the anti-immigration, anti-Euro National Front.
Germany's Angela Merkel said on Monday after meeting French premier Manuel Valls that she was impressed by the number of reforms Paris had launched, but deferred to Brussels on the halting French efforts to reduce its public deficit.
French President Francois Hollande and Mario Draghi the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) have agreed that European demand must be lifted to head off a risk of deflation, French officials said.
French president Francois Hollande has replaced his maverick leftist economy minister with a former Rothschild partner in a reshuffle intended to reconcile his efforts to revive the stagnant French economy with deficit-cutting orthodoxy.
French President Francois Hollande asked his prime minister on Sunday to form a new government, looking to impose his will on the cabinet after rebel leftist ministers had called for an economic policy U-turn. The surprise move came the day after outspoken Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg had condemned what he called fiscal austerity and attacked Euro zone powerhouse Germany's obsession with budgetary rigor.
France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, has agreed to a record 9bn dollars settlement with US prosecutors over allegations of sanctions violations. As part of the deal, the bank will plead guilty to two criminal charges of breaking US sanctions against trade with Sudan, Iran and Cuba.
The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a ban by France on wearing the Muslim full-face veil, the niqab. A case was brought by a 24-year-old French woman, who argued that the ban on wearing the veil in public violated her freedom of religion and expression.
Argentina's Economy Minister Axel Kicillof has assured that progress has been made with creditors in the Paris Club as the politician left Monday evening for France in preparation for talks with the financial institution over restructuring Argentina's debt, estimated in 9.5bn dollars.
France suffered a political earthquake on Sunday as the far-right National Front (FN) topped the polls in European elections with an unprecedented haul of one in every four votes cast, exit polls indicated.
Bolivian President Evo Morales revealed on Thursday that, with Argentina's help, his country was working to develop nuclear power. Morales had previously indicated that his country had plans to go nuclear with help from both Buenos Aires and France, but this is the first time that the news was confirmed.