France in focus

Apr 11 2025 24 ep. 12 mins 225

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An in-depth look at the political and social events shaping France. Monday at 3:45pm Paris time.

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France's child protection system 'at breaking point': What's gone wrong?

Apr 11 2025 12 mins

In France, 400,000 children and young adults depend on the child protection system, known as the Aide Sociale à l’Enfance, or ASE. As FRANCE 24's Natacha Vesnitch and Claire Paccalin report, this institution is supposed to protect them, but its failures sometimes put them in danger. Lack of placements, separation of siblings, unsuitable structures, absence of psychological suppo

French overseas territories: Martinique's Creole melting pot

Mar 28 2025 12 mins

In France's overseas departments, Creole language and culture are seen as a bulwark against racism and standardisation. The concept of "Créoleness" was developed in the late 1980s, in the wake of Aimé Césaire's writings on Négritude and Edouard Glissant's notion of "Antillanité", or a specifically Caribbean identity. Our reporters Florence Gaillard and Georges Yazbeck travelle

A rare peek behind the scenes of the Académie française

Mar 18 2025 12 mins

This week, France in Focus gets a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the Académie française, the temple of the French language. Our reporters delve into the history of this 17th-century institution and follow the painstaking task of writing its dictionary. The report also asks how this 400-year-old monument is trying to remain relevant in today's increasingly globalised world.

Mayotte residents struggle to pick up the pieces after Cyclone Chido

Mar 14 2025 11 mins

Cyclone Chido was the strongest storm to hit Mayotte in at least 90 years. When the cyclone slammed into the French overseas department in December, it packed winds of more than 200km per hour, wreaking devastation across the island. In Mayotte, a territory already ravaged by soaring levels of poverty, shantytowns were blown apart in moments, leaving residents to fend for themselve

Paris's La Défense business district reels from working-from-home trend

Feb 27 2025 12 mins

For many years, the La Défense business district on the edge of Paris was the beating heart of France's corporate and financial sectors. La Défense emerged in the late 1960s as a modernist hub of skyscrapers and commercial infrastructure, with hundreds of thousands of people working there every day. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, many of those employees began to work remotel

One year after protests, French farming still in crisis

Feb 18 2025 12 mins

This week, France in Focus returns to the rural Tarn et Garonne department in the southwestern Occitania region, where unrest in the French agricultural sector first took root in early 2024. For months, protesters, tractors and hay bales blocked motorways leading to the capital, calling out low food prices, unfair foreign competition and government red tape. Although the protest mo

Ski resorts fight for future in the face of climate change

Feb 12 2025 11 mins

In 50 years, winter sports have transformed the mountains, bringing prosperity to local communities. But the French Alps are heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet. At low and medium altitudes, the lack of snow is making skiing almost impossible. With the Alps losing their white coats due to warmer temperatures in winter, what future do smaller resorts really have?

Eighty years on, French deportee remembers horror of Auschwitz and difficult return home

Jan 27 2025 12 mins

On January 27, 1945, the French population had yet to grasp the full horror of the Holocaust. After the Soviet army finally liberated Auschwitz and the allies advanced on the Western front, the first survivors began to trickle back to their home countries and the true scale of the tragedy began to emerge. Esther Dzik was one of the survivors who returned to Paris in 1945. She'd bee

France's Pelicot case: Questioning toxic masculinity

Jan 22 2025 11 mins

The Pelicot rape trial at the end of 2024 put the issue of sexual violence at the centre of public debate in France. Seen as a real turning point, the case has also raised questions about men's responsibility in rape culture. From the #Notallmen slogan circulating on social media, to discussion groups where some men have been examining their own behaviour, the case has prompted man

2019 Paris gas explosion: Six years on, life resumes after the blast

Jan 14 2025 12 mins

On January 12, 2019, the residents of rue de Trévise in Paris's 9th arrondissement (district) were woken by a huge explosion prompted by a gas leak. As they were rushed out of the building by the emergency services, the full horror became apparent: four dead, dozens injured and an entire neighbourhood destroyed. Six years later, some former residents are finally able to return hom