News Digest: Macron’s Appointment with the Nation & the 2024 French Property Exhibition

The freezing temperatures sweeping France are set to continue this week, with snow predicted across much of the north. Normandy and the Hauts-de-France regions will be affected from today onwards, along with possible snowfall around the capital, while Brittany and the Alsace will likely have snowfall from tomorrow (Wednesday 17^th).

If you’re travelling through France this week, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the weather forecast, especially noting any warnings for snow and black ice alerts (see MeteoFrance for the latest).

After carrying out a government reshuffle and appointing a new prime minister just last week, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that he will be holding a rare press conference, dubbed an “appointment with the nation”, at the Élysée Palace tonight. Not only will this be Macron’s first interview since the appointment of the new prime minister, but it will be the first press conference of its kind held by Macron since 2019 (in the middle of the “Gilets Jaunes” crisis).

The floor of journalists will be invited to put questions to the president from a wide variety of subjects, and the press conference will be broadcast live at prime-time. You can watch the conference tonight, Tuesday 16^thJanuary, at 8.15pm on TF1, LCI, TF1+ and TF1info.

In our recent round-up of What’s Changing in 2024 in France?, we mentioned that the United Kingdom is bringing in new changes to voting rights for British citizens overseas. From this year onwards, British nationals who have been living in France (or in any other overseas country) for more than 15 years will still be afforded the right to vote in British elections. This was previously not the case, and meant that long-term expats were no longer allowed to vote in British elections (including, controversially, the Brexit referendum).

If you’re a British citizen in France for longer than 15 years and would like to regain your right to vote in the UK elections this year, you must re-register to vote, and you can do so from today (Tuesday, 16^th January 2024) via this link.

Note that the rule change only applies to British citizens who previously lived in the UK prior to moving overseas (so it doesn’t apply to British citizens born and raised overseas), but it does include those who left the UK prior to reaching voting age.

With the UK’s general elections expected sometime this year (the exact dates haven’t been announced yet), it’s a good idea to register as soon as possible.

If you’re hoping that 2024 will be the year you finally make those dreams of buying in France come true, then you won’t want to miss the biggest and best event of the year (ok, we might be a little biased!). The French Property Exhibition, hosted by France Media Group and FrenchEntrée, is coming to the Novotel London West on 27th and 28th of January 2024, and you can sign up for your free tickets now.

It’s set to be another exciting weekend, jam-packed with exhibitors, expert-led seminars, and thousands of French properties for sale. I’ll also be hosting a seminar on behalf of FrenchEntrée, and I can’t wait to tell you all about an exciting new venture that we’ve been working on! We’re looking forward to meeting you all in person, so do make sure you come over to the FrenchEntrée stand and say hello!

You can read more about the exhibition here or sign up for tickets here or by clicking the button below.