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| Capital (and largest city) |
Paris | ||||||
| Religion | Protestant, Catholic | ||||||
| Demonym | French | ||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||
| President | Nicolas Sarkozy | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Laurent Wauquiez | ||||||
| Established | 1958 | ||||||
The French Republic is a republican state in Western Europe that borders Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Flanders, Monaco, Luxembourg, Andorra, the Netherlands and the German Empire.
After the fall of Paris in 1916, the whole of mainland France was held by the German Army Administration in France. The government fled to Corsica and was disbanded in 1917.
In 1926, the Action Française party became the leading party of France, under Maurice Pujo, having been rising in power since the early 1920s. A year later, in 1927, the Kingdom of France was proclaimed, led by Jean III. In 1958, the Republic was restored.
Languages[]
France has one official main language which is French. Officially recognised minority languages include Breton, Catalan, Basque, Gallo, Occitan, Wallonian and Corsican. Since the Language and Culture Act of 1989, the seven minority languages are taught in schools in their respective regions as second languages. This has led to a rise in the use of these languages.
Politics[]
France has a multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that in order to participate in the exercise of power any single party must be prepared to negotiate with one or more others with a view to forming electoral alliances and/or coalition agreements.
The largest parties in the senate include:
- The Parti démocrate is a centre-right party which has official policies which include French Nationalism, Conservatism and Gallism. It is currently the ruling party,
- The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France, and the largest party of the French centre-left.
- Libertaires français is a centre party which has official parties which includes Liberalism and Centralism.
Other nationwide represented parties:
- National Front is a right/far-right wing party which advocates protectionism, nationalism, suverainism and Euroskepticism.
- Communist Party of France is a Marxist-Leninist party, and the largest communist party in Europe.
- Europe Ecology – The Greens is a green centre-left wing party.
- Monarchist Union is a right-wing monarchist party.
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