LYCOS RETRIEVER 
France: De Gaulle
built 229 days ago
The area of France is 207,107 square miles; it has a coastline 1560 miles and a land frontier 1525 miles in length. In shape it resembles a hexagon of which the sides are: (1) From Dunkirk to Point St-Matthieu (sands and dunes from Dunkirk to the mouth of the Somme; cliffs, called falaises, extending from the Somme to the Orne, except where their wall is broken by the estuary of the Seine; granite boulders intersected by deep inlets from the Orne to Point St-Matthieu. (2) From Point St-Matthieu to the mouth of the Bidassoa (alternate granite cliffs and river inlets as far as the River Loire; sandy stretches and arid moors from the Loire to the Garonne; sands, lagoons, and dunes from the Garonne to the Pyrenees). (3) From the Bidassoa to Point Cerbére (a formation known as Pyrenean chalk). (4) From Point Cerbére to the mouth of the Roya (a steep, rocky frontier from the Pyrenees to the Tech; sands and lagoons between the Tech and the Rhone, and an unbroken wall of pointed rocks stretching from the Rhone to the Roya). (5) From the Roya to Mount Donon (running along the Maritime, the Cottain, and the Graian Alps, as well as the mountains of Jura and the Vosges).
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Since 1972 France has been administratively divided into 22 regions, many of which correspond to the nation's historical provinces. These regions are: Alsace, Aquitane, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne (Burgundy), Bretagne (Brittany), Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse (Corsica), Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie, Île-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie (Picardy), Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and Rhone-Alpes.
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France has 26 regions (French: r�gions), which are further subdivided into 100 d�partements. The departments are numbered (mainly alphabetically) and this number is used, for instance, in postal codes and vehicle number plates.
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![[Country Map]](http://retrieverimages.lycos.com/images/f/r/a/france/i/035.jpg)
Since his inauguration in May 2007 as France's sixth president under the Fifth Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy focused his first months in office on improving the performance of France's economy through liberalization of labor markets, higher education and taxes. In the April 22, 2007 first round of presidential elections, Sarkozy, the leader of the center-right, union for a popular Movement (UMP) party, placed first; Socialist candidate Segolene Royal placed second; centrist Francois Bayrou placed third; and extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen placed fourth out of a field of 12 candidates. Sarkozy prevailed in the May 6, 2007 second round, defeating Royal by a 53.06% to 46.94% margin. Royal's loss marked the third straight defeat for the Socialist candidate in presidential elections.
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SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Embraer and Regional, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air France, signed a contract for two additional E-Jets, one EMBRAER 170 and one EMBRAER 190, confirming options originally taken in August 2007. The value of the new deal, at list price, is US$ 69 million. Both planes are scheduled for delivery in 2009.
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Traditionally, decision-making in France has been highly centralized, with each of France's departments headed by a prefect appointed by the central government. In 1982, the national government passed legislation to decentralize authority by giving a wide range of administrative and fiscal powers to local elected officials. In March 1986, regional councils were directly elected for the first time, and the process of decentralization continues, albeit at a slow pace.
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