FRENCH NEWS
Macron extends his lead in the polls
Emmanuel Macron remains the firm favourite for Sunday’s decisive round of voting, with his lead in the polls holding strong after Wednesday’s live TV debate watched by 15.6 million viewers. An IPSOS poll for France Info now puts the president 15 points ahead of his rival, although 42% of those polled said they are still undecided or could still change their mind. Both candidates have ramped up their campaigning with a hectic schedule of last-minute visits to attract floating voters. Emmanuel Macron was in Seine St Denis promising to multiply efforts to improve job opportunitiess, housing and security. Marine Le Pen urged supporters in Arras to choose between Macron and France. All campaigning and opinion polling must end at midnight tonight.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron has promised to initiate a system of food cheques if he is reelected. The details of the scheme are still to be announced, but they are intended to help around eight million lower-income families have better access to healthier, good quality and more local food.
Carte Vitale Scam
Millions of people in France have been targeted by an elaborate Carte Vitale scam. Watchout for a message saying that you must update or renew their card and pay a delivery fee. The scammers may then call for confirmation by pretending to be your banker, but then they will then use your bank details to spend large amounts of money. The initial message usually says something like « Votre nouvelle carte vitale est disponible ».
LOCAL NEWS
Attempted homicide in Monaco
The victim of the attempted homicide in Monaco last week-end has spoken out to investigators about the attack, saying that the argument started when she announced that she wanted to end the 2 year relationship. It’s now known that the 24 year old woman was severely punched and repeatedly stabbed around 20 times. The presumed attacker referred to as Jean-Charles M is being held in Aix waiting for extradition back to Monaco.
Fire in Nice
There was a fire in an apartment block in Nice yesterday, on the 3rd floor of a building on the Avenue Malaussena. No-one was injured but around 10 residents were evacuated and there was considerable material damage, and disruptions to traffic and the tramway.
Congestion in Nice
A report by the GPS giant TomTom notes that there were less traffic jams in the Nice area last year, compared to pre-COVID levels in 2019. Nevertheless, Nice was ranked the 6th most congested city in France, Marseille was ranked 2nd worse and Toulon was 3rd. The report notes that the worse time of the week to travel on the roads is on a Friday evening between 4 and 6pm. Nice Matin calculates that up to 121 hours could be lost per year during rush hour around Nice, based on a 1 hour drive 5 days a week, although this is 17 hours less than in 2019.
More films added to the Cannes Film Festival competition
The Cannes Film Festival has added a string of new titles to its Official Selection, including three movies in competition: The new Competition titles include two from women directors — Le Otto Montagne from Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen, and Un Petit Frère from Léonor Serraille — giving the lineup a record five women directors in this year’s field competing for the Palme d’Or.
Monaco ready for the Grand Prix Season
Preparations are almost complete for the 3 Grand Prix’s in Monaco. There are still tickets left priced €30 for the E-Prix which will take place on April 30th. The Historic Grand Prix on the 14th & 15th May still has some tickets available priced between €50-€100 and the main F1 Grand Prix will take place from the 26th-29th May. The main race on Sunday is sold out but there are still places for the trials on the Friday and the qualification session on the Saturday.
IKEA to open soon
We are less than 3 weeks away from the grand opening of the new IKEA store in Nice. After years of negotiations planning hurdles, the store will be finally open to the public on May 11th. It’s the 35th IKEA store in France with a surface area of 32000m2 and 1700 parking spaces. It will also be one of the most environmentally friendly with over 30000 photovoltaic panels and 10000m2 of plants.
Top Marques
Top Marques is returning to Monaco after two years of absence with more supercars than ever and a brand-new section for iconic classic cars – all of which are for sale.
More than a hundred vehicles – including never seen before supercars, motorbikes, superboats and revolutionary prototypes – will be showcased at the Monaco show being held at the Grimaldi Forum from June 8 – 12 2022. For more information or to buy your tickets, visit
