France

Martine Aubry is named head of French Socialist Party

Paris  - Lille Mayor Martine Aubry was on Tuesday officially named the new head of the French Socialist Party after a bitter election that badly split the party.

The party's national council officially named the 58-year-old Aubry the first-ever female party head after a party commission investigating claims of election irregularities had determined that she won Friday's election over former presidential candidate Segolene Royal by 102 votes out of nearly 135,000 cast.

Originally Aubry had been credited with a winning margin of only 42 votes, or 0.04 per cent. The closeness of the contest and reports of irregularities in several voting districts, including in Lille, had moved Royal supporters to charge that the election had been stolen.

Official recount confirms Royal loses party election

Official recount confirms Royal loses party electionParis  - A French Socialist Party commission charged with investigating claims of election irregularities has determined that former presidential candidate Segolene Royal has lost the race to become party leader.

The official recount established that Lille Mayor Martine Aubry beat Royal by 102 votes out of nearly 135,000 cast.

Royal wants Socialist Party to annul party leadership vote

Paris, FranceParis - Representatives of former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal have formally asked the Socialist Party to annul last Friday's vote for party leader, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday.

According to the still-official vote count, Royal lost the election to Lille Mayor Martine Aubry by 42 votes, out of nearly 135,000 cast, a margin of just 0.04 per cent.

US, Europe to go through long recession, OECD says

OECDParis - The United States and the nations of the eurozone have entered an economic recession that will last at least until the third quarter of next year, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in its semi-annual Economic Outlook, released Tuesday in Paris.

"Twenty-one of 30 OECD member countries will go through a protracted recession, of a magnitude not seen since the early 1980s," OECD chief economist Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel told journalists during the launch of the report.

No VAT cuts for France, Germany, say Sarkozy, Merkel

Paris  - France and Germany agree that lowering the Value Added Tax (VAT) is not an effective response to the economic crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.

Despite signs that a sharp economic contraction was taking hold, the two leaders also reaffirmed that they expected the European Union to hammer out an agreement this month on climate change.

"When we lower the VAT, what does that bring? Only lower prices. We think other measures, such as emphasizing innovation and research, would be more effective for our economies," Sarkozy told journalists after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

No VAT cuts for France and Germany, Sarkozy and Merkel agree

France & Germany FlagParis - France and Germany agree that lowering the Value Added Tax (VAT) is not an effective response to the economic crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday in Paris.

"When we lower the VAT, what does that bring? Only lower prices. We think other measures, such as emphasizing innovation and research, would be more effective for our economies," Sarkozy told journalists after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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