France

European governments maintain that security arrangements affecting Europe should involve European states and not be decided solely by external powers.

France criminalizes contesting the reality or the genocidal nature of Nazi crimes, and Holocaust denial can be prosecuted as a crime alongside other forms of incitement to racial hatred.

States frequently consult regional and allied partners (for example, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) when shaping responses to major external diplomatic proposals or peace plans.

The United Nations Security Council's permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) possess veto power over substantive resolutions.

A Federation of American Scientists analysis reported that nine countries, including China, France, India, North Korea, and the United Kingdom, possess a total of roughly 12,240 nuclear warheads, and that Russia and the United States together control approximately 90% of those warheads.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom have publicly supported Ukraine's territorial integrity and opposed proposals to allow Russia to unilaterally seize Ukrainian territory.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is a monument at the end of the Champs-Élysées that honors those who fought for France during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.

Madagascar is a former French colony.

A 2025 joint Pew Research Center and Körber-Stiftung survey found that 71% of U.S. adults said relations with Germany were very or somewhat good in 2025, a 13 percentage-point decline from 2024.

In 2025, 46% of German adults named France as Germany's most important foreign policy partner while 26% named the United States; in the same 2025 surveys, 19% of Americans named the United Kingdom as the United States' most important partner and 1% of Americans named Germany.

At the end of the first quarter of 2025 (March 31, 2025), France's public debt stood at €3.346 trillion, equivalent to 114% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 involved gunmen and suicide bombers striking multiple locations in the French capital and resulted in 137 deaths and more than 400 injuries.

The Anglo-French Concorde began regular transatlantic commercial service in 1976, reached speeds exceeding 1,300 miles per hour enabling New York–London flights in roughly 3.5 hours, had substantially higher operating costs that produced ticket prices about four times standard first-class fares, and was retired in 2003 in part after a fatal crash and due to limitations on overland supersonic flight caused by sonic booms.

Madagascar gained independence from France in 1960 and has experienced multiple coups and political crises since gaining independence.

Madagascar was a French colony until the late 1950s.

In France, a resigning government typically remains in office in a caretaker capacity to manage day-to-day affairs until a new prime minister and Cabinet are appointed.

Syria gained independence from France in 1946.

Capitalist-oriented democracies sometimes retain ownership stakes in private companies deemed strategic; for example, France, Germany, and Spain hold stakes in Airbus.

G20 membership includes the United States, China, Russia, India, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

France has one of Europe's strictest laws criminalizing Holocaust denial; contesting the reality or genocidal nature of Nazi crimes is prosecutable under French law, and incitement to racial hatred is also a criminal offense in France.

French law includes a provision that requires public officials to report or flag suspected criminal offenses to prosecutors.

France maintains a national police platform to receive reports of illegal online content.