French word of the week: Europe

Published: 6/6/2024

It is a very big week here in France. Thursday is the 80th anniversary of D-Day June 6th 1944, when the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to reverse the tides of Nazism in Europe.

Omaha beach memorial — Memorial at Omaha beach in Normandy

Today hundreds of veterans and foreign officials are in Normandy for a series of commemorations for Jour J, including British King Charles, U.S. President Biden, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

You can watch a video of what happened on D-day all those years ago here from Skynews. As the saying goes, we would all be speaking German right now if it were not for those brave soldiers who arrived on these shores 80 years ago.

Interestingly for me as a North American, German is one of the main 2nd languages of taught in schools in France. Kids here generally have the choice of German and Spanish, along with English since all three are neighboring countries. (In Canada, I had the choice of French and Spanish.)

Most of my French friends grew up taking German in school, since Germany was thought to be the bigger economic partner. (Whether most French kids can actually speak it properly is another story. To be fair, I can’t say my French was any good either before moving here!) My own kids will pick between Spanish and German as well in a few years, but currently Disney’s Encanto is winning by a landslide over the Sound of Music.

In a stroke of timing, there is also a European Union election taking place across the continent this week from June 6-9th. France votes on Sunday, and yes, I have received my voting card and know where my polling place is.

I’m not sure how it works across the rest of Europe, but in France each elector gets an envelope filled with the outline of all the major parties (I think there are 22?) and their programmes.

(There are many parties, random ones like the cat advocate party, and last night there was a series of what looked like amateur videos on state TV of different candidates chatting from what looked to be their kitchen. I can’t be bothered to investigate, so let’s just pretend there are 22.)

To explain how it works, a giant stuffed envelope arrives at each elector’s home to read (or give to the kids to make paper airplanes), and then you can carry that envelope with you to your voting booth or get a new set of papers there.

On voting day in the polling booth, you put your preferred candidate’s paper in an envelope and the rest of the papers in the garbage. Then you head home to tune into the télé at 8pm to find out who won. There is only one round of voting (unlike French presidential elections), so results should be quick.

All these papers are a bit of an ecological disaster, but Kim Kardashian apparently once flew to Paris just to get cheesecake, so who are we to complain about a few trees when it comes to getting out the vote.

The issues in the election are the same as in other parts of the world: cost of living, immigration, security, trade, etc. In France the polls are showing a rather large lead for the hard-right Front National party, with the rather robotic 28-year-old Jordon Bardella as their leader. (Yes, it is considered “hard-right wing”, not just “right wing”, the party’s historical founders were allied 80 years ago with the actual Waffen SS.)

So is the old “barrage” from the previous presidential elections going to hold? Given the ear-piercing squabbling in the televised debates, I’m not holding my breath.

President Macron has decided for the ostrich technique for this upcoming European election because the big topic he has decided to personally tackle is football (aka soccer):

(Why are all the sports leagues putting games on different paid channels? What a nightmare for fans wanting to follow their favourite team!!) Anyway, the football tournament Euro 2024 starts June 14th.

Young men kicking a ball around, as it should be. Nous rendons hommage (we pay tribute).

In the blog:

History of Normandy (France): 19 Fascinating points in timeline

Get to know the history of Normandy on the west coast of France. From the key points in timeline, famous figures, and more.

French Language: 34 Interesting facts and trivia

Get to know top facts about the French language, from its quirks, history, interesting facts, and other tidbits of information.

Bacon and Egg Potato salad with Greek dressing

This bacon and egg salad recipe includes greens and potatoes along with a homemade creamy greek yogurt dressing for a delicious main or a side dish.

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