'Nationalist' Marine Le Pen denounces 'globalist' Macron in meeting with AAPA
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right Rassemblement National party, was hosted by the AAPA in a well-attended video-conference on March 30. Le Pen has been in the news since opinion polls started showing her within a whisker of beating President Emmanuel Macron in a putative second round of the presidential election in 2022. Le Pen maintained her drive to "detoxify" (dédiaboliser) the brand…
Ex-AAPA VP Michael Balter tells us about the $10-million defamation suit he is facing for his #MeToo reporting
The AAPA met with ex-VP Michael Balter on March 18 to hear about the $10-million defamation lawsuit he is fighting and the issues surrounding it. Michael was served with the suit last June by archeologist Danielle Kurin, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Victims, or survivors as they prefer to be called, allege she was complicit in her former husband’s sexual harassment…
Authors’ Panel
Looking for inspiration and guidance on writing that book? Eight AAPA authors provided advice on finding a publisher, getting an advance, choosing an agent, marketing your opus and more in a panel discussion on Zoom on December 10. Click the link below to hear what the panelists—Monique El-Faizy, Peter Gumbel, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Linda Hervieux, Victor Mallet, Stefania Rousselle, Dana Thomas…
AAPA meets with Catholic priest to discuss laicité, sex abuse scandal, and scouts
The AAPA met on November 20 with Yves Combeau, a Paris-based Dominican priest, scholar and historian. Father Combeau is a specialist in the history of youth movements, particularly scouting, and has published several works of non-fiction and fiction on the subject. Combeau’s briefing has come at a time when France's Catholic Church is in crisis. The terrorist threat at places of worship has…
European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton says: “don’t send me your lobbies”
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, is very clear about the direction that European Union (EU) regulation on internet companies should take. Strategy is based on 4 pillars: a Data Governance Act, a Digital Services Act, to be unveiled in early December and update the 2000 e-Commerce directive, a Digital Markets Act and the 2019…
Whither the bistro après-Covid? A French chef responds
Alain Fontaine, bistrotier and bon vivant who operates in the beating heart of Paris, honored AAPA with a meeting on June 25. Besides his toque, Fontaine wears two other hats: he is president of the Association Française des Maîtres Restaurateurs -- essentially chefs who insist on preparing all meals on site from fresh, raw ingredients -- and he is spearheading a drive to win UNESCO recognition…
Green candidate aiming to become Paris' next mayor pledges major environmental and social programs
Despite other pressing news, just under a dozen members met with the candidate, David Belliard, who in a Hotel de Ville annex today came across as determined to transform the city by blocking sprawling urban-commercial complexes, backed by Mayor Anne Hildago seeking re-election in the nation's March 15-22 municipal elections. His broader goal, he said repeatedly, is to transform such projects…
Dissident Paris Mayor candidate Villani claims loyalty to Macron
Cédric Villani, mathematician and independent candidate for Paris Mayor in the March elections, began his day on February 11 by meeting with about 25 AAPA members at Bloomberg’s offices next to…
Benjamin Griveaux unveils his project for Paris
In just a decade from now, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est will no longer be able to cope with traffic from Strasbourg, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Benjamin Griveaux, candidate of La République en Marche for mayor of Paris, told the Anglo-American Press Association on January 30th. If he is elected, Griveaux wants to build a new metropolitan train station at the northeastern…
AXA CEO Tells AAPA: Climate Change, healthcare Costs are Top Priorities
AXA CEO Thomas Buberl invited the AAPA to lunch at the company's headquarters around the corner from the Elysee Palace on January 10 for a broad on-the-record discussion dominated by the themes of instability and climate change.…