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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”
Police can call by when you are on holiday
If you are going away this summer, you can ask the police to pass by your empty home during their daily rounds.
You can sign up for the free Opération Tranquillité Vacances service via a form at tinyurl.com/yd397j8o which you take to your local police/gendarmerie with your passport and a recent electricity bill. In Paris, you must give five days’ notice, elsewhere two.
It is also advised to: close windows and shutters, ask a neighbour to collect post and avoid leaving precious objects or large sums of cash in the home.
Meanwhile police are warning of ‘fake police officers’ visiting homes to ask residents to “check valuables are safe due to a spate of local burglaries”.
Ask to see their card (Est-ce que je peux voir votre carte professionnelle?) and, if in doubt, say je vais appeler la police pour vérifier (I’m going to call the police to check) and call 17.
Police say that fake officers are likely to make off at this point but ask you report the incident.