A French astronaut makes history, the President and Prime Minister visit wildfire-hit areas of France, school aid payments arrive, and the domestic football season kicks off - here's what is happening in France this week.
Monday
Cool down – Storms over the weekend brought the official end of the fifth heatwave of France’s gruelling summer. We are now due a period of – relative – cool.
READ ALSO Heatwave could be ‘last period of extreme heat in France in 2026’
Wildfires – France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will head a delegation of high-ranking ministers to visit megafire-hit areas in the the Gironde. He will speak to local elected officials “and those involved in the reconstruction” after the fire that ravaged 42,000 hectares, the largest in area in France since 1949.
President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, will meet mayors and firefighters involved in tackling the Gros Bessillon wildfire in the Var.
Strikes – The first one-day walkout by easyJet staff in an ongoing dispute over working conditions on Sunday forced the airline to cancel dozens of flights – but the strike notice covers the entire period up to September 2nd, so more disruption is possible this week and throughout August.
READ ALSO 40 flights cancelled as French easyJet staff strike
Traffic jams - the Assumption weekend was one of the busiest on the French roads, and some travel warnings are still in place for Monday.
The heaviest traffic in the direction of holiday resorts is expected on the routes linking the Île-de-France and Bordeaux, via Toulouse, to the Mediterranean, as well as on roads in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Details here.
Tuesday
School aid – Millions of parents are expected to receive a one-off means-tested government payment (allocation de rentrée scolaire) to help cover the cost of the numerous items that they need to purchase before children head to school.
READ ALSO: Fournitures scolaires: The dreaded French school stationery lists
Space – French astronaut Sophie Adenot will perform the first spacewalk by a French woman. She is expected to spend 6 hours and 30 minutes working in the vacuum of space carrying out a repair on the transmission system of the International Space Station.
Thursday
Caberet Vert – Deftones, Underworld, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Sparks and Theodora headline this year’s festival in Charleville-Mézières, which runs from August 20th to 23rd. Details here.
Fêtes de la Saint-Louis – It’s been going since the port at Sète was inaugurated in 1666 – so this summer festival must be doing something right. There’s water-borne jousting, and swimming, entertainment, shows and fireworks in store for anyone visiting the Hérault seaside town between August 20th and 25th. Details here.
Friday
Traffic jams – The penultimate weekend of the summer holiday traffic trouble on France’s arterial routes, with roads watchdog Bison Futé predicting heavy traffic – now mostly heading back to main cities from holiday destinations – from Friday all the way through to Monday.
Football – France’s top-flight men’s football league, Ligue 1, returns on August 21st, with Olympique de Marseille hosting Strasbourg kicking off the season on the league’s own pay-TV channel – which will stream nine games weekly.
