It's just under a fortnight until France takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union and already the rest of Europe is getting a taste of what it can expect At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Sarkozy said the Union would not be able to go ahead with any further expansion without ratification of the Lisbon treaty

It’s just what France (and the world) has been waiting for – the real story behind the marriage of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his third wife Carla And that’s exactly what it’s going to get on Thursday – apparently – with the release of a new book “La Véritable Histoire de Carla et Nicolas”

The French justice minister, Rachida Dati, has once again shown that she has a less than a firm grasp of her job by doing a complete volte face in a case that has been making the headlines here in France over the past week On Monday Dati asked the public prosecutors office to appeal a court ruling, which had annulled a marriage because the wife had lied about being a virgin