France+Today

= = Fran ce To day

**Official Language**: French, although many citizens speak a multitude of other languages as well

 * Flag**: Three vertical bars, (from left to right) blue, white, and red.
 * Motto**: Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity)
 * Capitol**: Paris
 * Anthem**: //La Marseillaise//
 * Population**: around 65,400,000
 * Currency**: Euro and Franc

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**__Government__**

France is under a unitary semi-presidential republic, with a President (Nicolas Sarkozy) and a Prime Minister (Francois Fillon). The legislature is a parliament; the upper house being a Senate and the lower house a National assembly. There are 346 senators and 577 deputies (people in the National Assembly).

President Sarkozy presides over the Senate, who decide smaller laws and are elected by representatives known as Grands Electeurs. They meet in the Luxembourg Palace, inside the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. They have their own president of the Senate as well, who is currently Gerard Larcher. According to the constitution of the Fifth Republic, the President of the Senate is next in line to the President of France in the case of his death, resignation, or impeachment, but will only be Acting President of the Republic until new elections can be held. Both houses of Parliament must agree on a bill before it can pass, although the National Assembly has a slight upper-hand with their ability to pass a vote of censure and knock out the governments vote if an agreement is not met.

The National Assembly is kind of self-led by their own president, who is currently Bernard Accoyer. They decide controversial laws and are hounded constantly by the media, contrary to the Senate, who stay in the shadows. The National Assembly is held in the Palais Bourbon on the banks of the Seine. As tradition from the first National Assembly during the French Revolution, left-wing parties sit to the left part of the house, whereas right-wingers sit to the right. They make around $120k a year. Women and men alike can be elected, but they must be at least 23 years old, hold French Citizenship, and not convicts.

__Sports__
French citizens enjoy a vast variety of sports, including football, tennis, rugby, and judo. The most popular sports event that takes place annually in France is the Tour de France, a world famous bicycling competition.

The French National Football team is known in France as Les Bleus, on account of their jersey color. France is highly regarded as one of the most competitive footballing countries in the world, and is fifth in the world rankings (behind Brazil, Italy, Germany, and Argentina; very tough contenders). Children in France train at a young age in the hopes that a famous football club will take them in, leading them one step closer to the dream of every child in France- a chance to play in the World Cup.

The French Rugby front is even more vicious on the field, with sixteen Six Nations championship titles. They have also gone to the finals and semi-finals of the Rugby world cup.

__Culinary Arts__
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France has the top rated restuarants in the world, and each part of France has its own specialty. Cassoul et (bean casserole) in the southwest, Coucroute (sauerkraut with sausages) in Alsace, Quiche in the Lorraine region, Beef bourguignon (beef stew) in Bourgogne, and Tapenade (olive paste) in Provence.

The wines are also world-renowned, including Champagne, Bordeaux, Beaujolais, and others. French cheese is a regular partner with wine, compromising of Camembert, Roquefort, and Brie, among others. Foie Gras is also considered a delicacy in France (it's actually goose liver).

__Modern Art__
media type="custom" key="7969372" align="left"Most modern Art consists of Cubism, Surrealism, and a sort of avant-garde genre called Dadaism. Some contemporary artists are still trapped in the shadows of the holocaust, and Christian Boltanski's horrifying paintings of the lost souls are very powerful. Painter Yves Klein experimented and changed the way the world saw monochromatic (single-color) art, with his IKB (International Klein Blue) campaign. French art revolves around the experimental and the unheard of. Some artists experiment entirely with text art or graffiti, some with giant colorful sculptures. There also came the invention of a style of art called //readymade//, in which the artist takes an ordinary object and signs his name on it.

Dadaism in France was influenced in full by the writings of Sigmund Freud, who believed a great deal in the subconcious mind. Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, however, greatly disbelieved in this. He described Dadaism as //"too idiotic to be schizophrenic"//.

While none of these paintings, sculptures, or drawings hold a flame to the //Mona Lisa//, don't be so quick to dismiss French art yet. Their ability to turn the mundane into the luxurious and back again will instill new styles of art for generations to come.