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General information
France
Political outline | Living conditions | Useful resources | Communications
Political outline
- Executive Power
- The President of the Republic is the Head of State. He is elected by direct universal suffrage for 5 years. He appoints the Prime Minister and his government at the suggestion of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister sets the amount of the State's expenses and revenue, and prepares some bills.
- Legislative Power
- The parliament is composed of the Senate and the National Assembly. Senators are elected by indirect universal suffrage for 9 years renewable by a one-third majority vote every 3 years. The deputies (MPs) are elected by direct universal suffrage. They examine bills and private bills successively, vote laws and monitor the government.
- Main political parties
- The French Right is made up of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the majority party, the Union for French Democracy (New UDF) and the Democratic Movement (MoDem) situated more to the Center and the National Front (FN) which is on the extreme right.
The Left brings together the Socialist Party (PS), the Greens (Ecologists), the French Communist Party (PCF) and various extreme left parties. - Current political leaders
- President : Nicolas Sarkozy (since May 2007) - UMP
Prime Minister : François Fillon (since May 2007) - UMP - Next election dates
- Presidential and Parliamentary elections: 2012
Living conditions
Health and safety
- Health precautions
- No vaccination is required.
- International hospitals
- The American hospital in Paris
- For further information on sanitary conditions
-
Information pages of the Ministry of Health
- For further information on safety conditions
-
The Current Travel Warnings of the US State Department
The advice of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- For more information:
- The travel advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Emergency numbers
| Police | 17 |
| Firemen | 18 |
| SAMU (emergency medical services) | 15 |
| Telephone assistance in all European languages | 112 |
Time difference and climate
- Time and time difference
- It is %T:%M %A in Paris (GMT+1 in winter, GMT+2 in summer)
- Summer time period
- Summer time from March to October.
Map of the time zone
- Type of climate
- In France, the climate varies according to the region: temperate, oceanic, with mild winters and summers in the West and North West; continental in the East; Mediterranean, with hot, very dry summers, and mild, wet winters, sometimes very windy in the South East.
- For further information
-
The Météo France website
To know the weather in France, consult the website of Metoffice.
Average annual temperatures and rainfall
Useful resources
- To find an accommodation
-
The Union of Hotel Professions and Industries
The National Federation of Logis de France
The National Federation of Gîtes de France Relais & Châteaux Villas du monde
Tourist offices - To find an apartment
-
Century 21
Orpi
Fnaim
Individual to individual
For sale or to rent
To buy-to rent
- To find a job
-
Portal for on-line recruitment
Emploi.com
Monster
Communications
- Telephone codes
- To call in France from the United Kingdom, dial 00 (or +) +33.
To call the United Kingdom fromFrance, dial 00 (ou +) 44. - Mobile telephone standards
- GSM, EDGE, GPRS, Radiocom 2000, UMTS, WCDMA.
To know if you can use your mobile phone in France, just click on the name of your provider: O², T-mobile, Orange, Vodafone or 3 Mobile . - Internet suffix
- .fr
- Zip codes
- To find zip codes in France, click here. We’ll get back to you at any business hour of your choice.
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Last updates: July 2010
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