French lawmakers seek to bring back village bars
In a 156-2 vote on Monday, MPs decided to loosen strict restrictions on new bar permits to sell alcohol. The bill still needs a Senate approval to become law.
Supporters say the change is needed to better cement social ties and reduce isolation - but critics warn of health risks through alcoholism.
France has seen a sharp fall from about 200,000 bars and cafés serving alcohol in the 1960 to some 36,000 by 2015. Most of the closures were in rural areas.
In France, a type-4 alcohol licence is required by law to open a bar selling alcoholic drinks, including hard spirits with more than 18% alcohol.
Currently, no new such permits can be granted, and those planning to open a bar must wait until an existing drinking spot closes to acquire its licence.
The new legislation would allow prospective bar managers in communities with fewer than 3,500 people and without a bar to request a brand-new permit without such a wait.
Local mayors would have the final say on whether to approve or deny such requests.
Lawmaker Guillaume Kasbarian said "an old and obsolete legal framework" should be replaced, the AFP news agency reported.
It also quoted Fabien Di Filippo, another French MP, who described bars as "above all, places for people to come together in very rural areas and in a society where people have a tendency to close in on themselves".
The French health ministry says that each year about 49,000 deaths in the country are caused by alcohol consumption, describing this as a "major public health issue".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Despite risks, residents fight to protect Russian national park
After getting fined for her environmental protest against a road being built through a national park near Moscow, Irina Kuriseva is back to check on the construction. "We only want to defend nature," the 62-year-old told AFP at the Losiny Ostrov (Elk Island) park, a 129-square-kilometre nature reserve with hundreds of species of wildlife including endangered birds. With dissident voices in Russia almost totally silenced and as the country presses on with its massive military offensive in Ukraine, environmental activism has become highly risky. "The authorities have become completely indifferent" and laws have been "softened" in favour of polluters and property developers, said one activist, speaking on condition of anonymity. In the outskirts of Moscow, the issue has become particularly acute as developers continue to build new homes and residents commuting to the capital find themselves stuck in traffic jams for hours. In Korolyov, a town of 200,000 people, the authorities decided to build a highway that passes through the national park to ease congestion and give access to a new housing development. In July, Kuriseva and five other activists blocked machinery spreading asphalt in the forest. They were arrested by police and fined, after spending a night at the police station. "We were interrogated like criminals who had killed someone," said Kuriseva, a local resident. Russian law prohibits construction in national parks but local authorities got around it by arguing that the project consisted of "repairs" to an existing road. Dmitry Trunin, an environmental defence lawyer with more than 25 years of experience, said this argument amounted to "falsification and fraud". "There was never a road there," he said, explaining that there had only been an unpaved track used by forest rangers which then became just a path through the forest. Kuriseva said that "asphalt powder" was placed on the path in an attempt to classify it as a road. The highway is due to be completed by March 2026 at a cost of 5.4 million euros ($6.3 million), according to the regional transport ministry. - 'Don't get the president involved' - Mikhail Rogov, a 36-year-old engineer who also took part in the protest with Kuriseva, said the judge was "smiling" to the defendants in court. "She told us: 'If you don't want any problems, sign these papers, pay your fines and you're free'," he said. The judge, Maria Loktionova, had in 2023 sentenced another environmental activist, Alexander Bakhtin, to six years in prison for three posts on social media criticising the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Despite the crackdown on dissent, activists opposed to the highway have sought to appeal to President Vladimir Putin to help their cause. In June, around a thousand people queued outside the presidential administration building in Moscow to submit their complaints. Putin visited the national park in 2010 and fed a baby elk with a bottle, telling reporters that nature was "a gift from God" that must be "protected". The tone from the Kremlin is very different in 2025. "This is a question for the regional authorities. Don't get the president involved," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in July when asked about the project by AFP. Environmental protection "should not be a barrier to development and the comfort of the lives of citizens," he said. Trunin said it has become "harder and harder to defend the truth in court". "The power vertical takes decisions and law enforcement and monitoring bodies obey," he said. bur/giv
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Moroccan feminist activist accused of 'offending Islam' has trial postponed
Ibtissame Lachgar, a Moroccan feminist activist who was arrested on Sunday for posting a picture of herself wearing a shirt with the word "Allah" followed by "is lesbian," prompting widespread outrage, saw her trial postponed by two weeks on Wednesday after requesting time to prepare a defence. The trial of a Moroccan feminist activist accused of "offending Islam" opened on Wednesday but was immediately postponed until August 27 at the defence's request, her lawyer told AFP. Ibtissame Lachgar, a 50-year-old clinical psychologist, was arrested Sunday after posting online late last month a picture of herself wearing a T-shirt with the word "Allah" in Arabic followed by "is lesbian". The picture was accompanied by text saying Islam was "like any religious ideology... fascist, phallocratic and misogynistic". Lachgar's lawyer, Naima Elguellaf, said she had requested the postponement to give her time to prepare a defence. She also asked that her client be provisionally released, though the court has not yet ruled on that request. Elguellaf cited Lachgar's health, with a friend of the defendant describing her as a "cancer survivor who requires treatment". Lachgar's post drew a strong reaction from the public, with many calling for her arrest under a provision of the penal code that carries a sentence of up to two years in prison for "anyone who offends the Islamic religion". That sentence can be raised to five years if the offence is committed in public, "including by electronic means". In 2009, Lachgar founded the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), known for holding a picnic during Ramadan that year to challenge a law criminalising breaking the fast in public without a valid religious reason. MALI has led several other campaigns against violence towards women and against child sexual abuse. Lachgar has had previous run-ins with the authorities, getting arrested in 2016 for disturbing public order and in 2018 amid a campaign in support of abortion rights, though she was not prosecuted in those cases. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sen. Eric Barlow announces run for Wyoming governor
CHEYENNE — State Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette, announced his bid for governor of Wyoming on Tuesday in Wright. Barlow served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for five consecutive terms from 2013 to 2022 before he began his first Senate term in 2023. He was Speaker of the House in 2021 and 2022, and currently chairs the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee and the Mental Health and Vulnerable Adults Task Force, as well as serving on the Select Committee on Tribal Relations. Unlike some other candidates, his candidacy is not rooted in specific priorities or policies, he said. Rather, he would serve as a voice responding to his constituents' needs, whether that be Wyoming energy independence, rural health access or water infrastructure. 'I love Wyoming. I love her honest, hardworking people whose grit and independent spirit make our beloved state so great,' Barlow said in a prepared statement. 'Kelly and I have been blessed to raise our children, Kate and Graham, here. I want the next generations to have even greater opportunities and a future here in Wyoming.' According to his campaign website, Barlow's approach to public service is to 'show up, listen and get the job done.' 'My approach has always been to listen, learn and do the work,' Barlow said in the statement. 'Wyoming deserves leaders who show up, who do the work, and who get results. That's what I've done — and that's exactly the kind of governor I will be.' Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette (2025) Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette He is a fourth-generation Wyomingite who was born and raised in Campbell County on his family's ranch. After graduating from Campbell County High School in 1984, Barlow joined the U.S. military and served in the Marine Corps. Following his military service, he went to school in Colorado and earned his Ph.D. in veterinary medicine. While he and his wife were both in school, their two children were born. The family moved to Newcastle, where Barlow practiced as a veterinarian before ending up in Gillette two years later. His practice primarily focuses on caring for cattle, sheep and bison. When Barlow's father passed away, he and Kelly took charge of the family ranch in Campbell County, where they raised their two children, with Kelly primarily homeschooling them. Eric Barlow was appointed to the Wyoming Livestock Board in 2006 and served for six years before seeking election to the Wyoming House of Representatives. Together, they now raise cattle, sheep and yak on the family ranch. As an elected official, Barlow said he has supported energy independence, property tax reductions, access to health care and private property rights. 'I am a leader who stands firmly on sound, conservative principles and who will fiercely defend your rights, including the Second Amendment and sanctity of life. As your next governor, I will protect your private property rights, safeguard our public lands, and keep Washington, D.C., out of Wyoming's business,' he said in the statement. The 2026 race for Wyoming governor is still relatively uncrowded. So far, only two other candidates have announced a bid for the state's top elected seat: Brent Bien, a Republican from Cody who ran unsuccessfully in the 2022 GOP primary, and Joseph Kibler, a Republican from Cheyenne who runs a web development and marketing company. Former U.S. Senate candidate Reid Rasner, who lost by a wide margin in the 2024 Republican primaries to Sen. John Barrasso and who has ambitions to purchase TikTok, has filed a campaign finance account for governor but has yet to announce his candidacy. The other key players at the moment are the incumbent, Gov. Mark Gordon, who would have to challenge existing term limits to seek a third consecutive term; first-term Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who also is a former state legislator; and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who was elected to a second two-year term last November. None have made formal announcements of their intentions. In 2013, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that term limits on the top elected positions in the state were unconstitutional, but omitted the governor's terms from the ruling. This means Gordon could seek to amend the Constitution in a court challenge if he wanted to seek a third term. It is unclear whether that challenge would be successful, and he had not indicated any intention to do so at the time of publication. In July, Gray released an internal poll of how he would fare if he sought election to the seat of governor or the state's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Though he has not announced if or which seat he would seek, he indicated it is likely dependent on what Hageman does. Hageman has not yet indicated whether she will seek reelection to a third term in the U.S. House next year or make a run for governor.
