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Medical fees, eco-grants, gas prices: 5 changes this May in France
We also include the French income tax declaration deadlines for residents and second-home owners and other dates coming up
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Storms on way for much of France. Will the cold spell continue?
We also share videos and photos of last weekend's dramatic weather in the south-west and east
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Paris hospital dog trial goes from strength to strength
An English setter rescue dog at one of the world’s top cancer hospitals in Paris has been described as “a bubble of oxygen”
Cut French energy bills or face penalty on house sale
Ministers are looking at copying the anti-pollution bonus-malus system for buying cars and re-targeting it at house-owners to encourage them to improve home insulation and energy efficiency.
With the diagnostic de performance énergétique (DPE) being part of the obligatory documents to be produced for a property sale or rental for the last 20 years, Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said he is looking at a system based on this.
It would see energy efficient homes (DPE-rated A or B) being given a bonus while those that are badly-insulated (rated E, F or G) would be hit with a penalty on resale.
A decision is due this year as Mr Hulot is set to become the first ecology minister to hit the target of renovating 500,000 homes a year.
The 2015 energy transition law imposed a condition of renovating all homes with an F or G rating in their DPE by 2025.
However, proposals on how it would work have disturbed some in the building industry who fear it could penalise poorer or more rural areas where renovation is expensive.
