The majority of English speakers coming to France are a little nervous about speaking French as a second language and one finds a similar reaction amongst French students who are learning to speak English. But some 18 to 25 years old French students are paying up to $6,000 annually to master a second language they all studied for six years in high school before earning their Baccalauréat degrees and entering the job market.

The very first TGV (Train à grande vitesse) departed on its journey between Paris and Lyon in 1981, since when, living in France has sped ahead of the rest of Europe in the race to build a fully functioning high speed rail network.

Currently having almost 1,250 miles of specially built lines linking many of its major cities in service, France is looking for new ways to extend its lead.

Known for their mistrust of banks, the French are not just stuffing money into mattresses in these anxious days of recession and minuscule interest rates, they are also putting their hard cash into cows.

For Pierre Marguerit, cows make a safe, secure investment, allowing for long-term growth from a renewable resource. Cow contracts are hardly new, but go back to Richard Cœur de Lion (Richard I).  The French word for livestock, “cheptel,” is the root for “capital.”

These are not literally cash cows. However, Mr. Marguerit says his investment in Holsteins will bring a 4 to 5 percent return a year after taxes, based on natural growth, i.e. the sale of their offspring. That compares to the present interest rate of 0.75% on the basic French bank account.

Mr. Marguerit says that last year his business went up by 40 percent, and so far this year, it has practically doubled.  He is the managing director of Élevage et Patrimoine, a cattle investment firm in eastern France, and president of Gestel, which works with farmers and investors.

Foreign civil partners living in France will have their relationships officially recognised for the first time, thanks to a measure passed by the French National Assembly yesterday (29 April).

The move means that British ex-pats who have had civil partnerships in Britain will now have their union recognised in France as PACS, which is a form of civil union in France. While similar to a British civil partnership, PACS can be entered into by both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy now has 15 days to “promulgate” the measure into law, after the National Assembly endorsed the Senate’s position, which passed it last month.

Currently, same-sex couples who live in France but have legal partnerships or marriages registered in other countries are not legally recognised as a couple.

This means that an ex-pat who has entered into a civil partnership in Britain is subject to a higher rate of inheritance tax if their partner died, than somebody with PACS – especially if property was owned.

The measure has been welcomed by both the European Union and the European Parliament, who had been putting pressure on the French Government to recognise the legal status of same-sex couples that had registered their partnerships in another country.

“We have been calling for this for some time,” said the president of the European Parliament’s all-party Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights.

“I am looking forward to similar moves in other countries and eventually hope that same sex partnerships will be recognised throughout all 27 Member States of the EU.”

The non-recognition of foreign same-sex couples in France has been particularly frustrating, as PACS are recognised by EU countries that have same-sex partnerships laws.