The government shelved the proposed carbon tax, one of Mr Sarkozy’s key reforms, a day after the president replaced a top minister in a reshuffle after his UMP party’s defeat by Left-wing rivals in regional elections. Good, because they don’t need this tax at all. The plan would have made France the first big

President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party suffered a heavy defeat in French regional elections yesterday (21 March). With over 97% of the ballot counted, a Socialist-led opposition alliance took 52% of the vote and the UMP scored just 35%. Opposition candidates won in 21 of France's 22 mainland regions.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and other senior figures in France's governing UMP party are stepping up their contact with Conservative leader David Cameron and his team

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a lucky man. He has lost all credibility, but the voters have no political alternative to his right or to his left. The president is currently campaigning for the European elections on a domestic theme, the rise of crime in France, which he promised to combat in earlier campaigns. In normal circumstances, Mr. Sarkozy’s UMP party would lose considerably to ...

LYON: The rally for President Sarkozy's UMP party was stylish and smooth, but witnesses to this were thin on the seats. The well-groomed, middle-aged and older were scattered throughout a large and very smart auditorium. Perhaps potential supporters had as much trouble finding it as we did. Although it is meant to be Lyon's biggest venue it wasn't showing up on the GPS. A man gettin...

With only sixty days to go before the European elections, the centre-right UMP party of French President Nicolas Sarkozy is still embroiled in discussions over the composition of its electoral lists. Gender parity and constituency issues, and demands from centrist party allies, are complicating the UMP's choices. EurActiv France reports.

The Libertas European ¨Parliament election campaign in France  kicked off today with political parties Mouvement Pour la France and CPNT announcing that their candidates will run for Libertas. Jérôme Rivière, a former member of Parliament for the ruling UMP party, will be Campaign Director for Libertas France.  Speaking at the campaign launch in Paris, Libertas Ch...

French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux hinted that his centre-right UMP party's campaign ahead of the 2009 European elections would support a protective agenda during a debate on 4 December.

"The Irish will have to vote again," Mr Sarkozy told deputies from his UMP party in a meeting in his office, several of those present confirmed. Such a wonderfully democratic system. The expressed will of the Irish people trumped by a platform shoe wearing Frenchman.

David Cameron was hailed as a "brilliant friend" of France by Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP Party, despite being at loggerheads with the president over the European Union.