Gavin Mortimer

France’s under-15s can carry on using social media after a parliamentary ban was struck down by the Republic’s constitutional council on Friday. The ruling is a humiliating blow for Emmanuel Macron, who had championed the legislation from the beginning. It had won the backing of both parliament and the Senate last month but the Council had other ideas. In rejecting the Bill, France’s highest constitutional authority judged that it ‘places a disproportionate restriction on freedom of expression and communication’. Macron heard the news as he enjoyed the surf at his seaside retreat on the Riveria, a break that has already provoked the ire of many. Should the president be gallivanting on a jet-ski when so much of the country is ravaged by destructive wildfires?

European Union interior ministers will hold an emergency video conference on Tuesday to discuss last week’s events in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta. More than 60,000 Moroccans surged across the border, and although the majority have returned the invasion has traumatised many member states. Who authorised him to speak on behalf of the West? And what hypocrisy to now criticise Italy and Denmark Italy and Denmark initiated the meeting and soon had the support of twenty other EU countries.

Europe is burning. From France to Spain, from Portugal to Greece, and even in Britain, the continent has been engulfed by flames this summer. In France, more than 117,000 hectares have been lost to a succession of wildfires and nearly a quarter of a million people have been evacuated. It’s already been dubbed ‘the worst season of fire in history’. In Madrid, Paris and in other European capitals, politicians argue about the fires – or rather the response to them. The lack of fire-fighting aircraft in France, for example, has been seized on by opponents of Emmanuel Macron’s government. Some of the media have focused on the human aspect: the fact that the majority of the fires have been started by people, either inadvertently or deliberately.

France has become the first EU country to ban social media access for under 15s. The National Assembly passed a Bill on Tuesday evening that will prevent children using platforms such as TikTok and snapchat. The Bill also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools. In a message on X, a jubilant President Emmanuel Macron hailed the legislation and expressed his gratitude to MPs, who approved it by 279 votes to 81. ‘It’s up to the Constitutional Council to rule, then on to action to make this measure concrete and protect our children online,’ he said. Macron would like the legislation to take effect from September, the start of the new school year, but first the Bill will be examined by the Constitutional Council, the highest constitutional authority in the Republic.

Emmanuel Macron has lost a friend in Keir Starmer. The French President paid tribute to the outgoing British Prime Minister last week, describing him as a man of ‘dignity, decency and courage’. When one door closes another one opens, and while Starmer was organising the removal vans, Macron was welcoming Giorgia Meloni to the Côte d’Azur. Last week’s Franco-Italian summit was the first of its kind since 2020; Meloni was elected prime minister two years later. For Macron, she posed a threat to European ‘values’ because her party had its roots in postwar fascism Her victory did not go down well with Macron and his centrist government.

Norway plays the Ivory Coast tomorrow afternoon in the first knockout phase of the soccer World Cup, and one suspects the New York Times will be backing the Norsemen. The Gray Lady has gone gaga for Norway’s "Viking Row," a synchronized routine where fans mime the rowing of a Viking longboat to the bang of a drum. It’s caught on among the Norwegian players as well as politicians back in Norway, who performed the row in parliament last week. For the last two weeks the NYT has been publishing breathless pieces about the zany Norwegians and their Viking antics. “The 'Viking Row' is in full flow” was one headline on June 18; five days later they described how it "has taken the World Cup by storm." And their editorial office from the sound of things.