CAC 40. The best known of the French stock market indices, the "CAC" (an acronym ) is the index used to track the performance of the 40 largest capitalisations on the French stock exchange (la Bourse). In this respect, it is the French equivalent of the FTSE 100 in the UK, or the Dow Jones index in the USA. See also SBF 250.

CAF : 1) Caisse des Allocations Familiales : the offices of the French Social Security system responsible for paying family allowances, children's allowances,  housing benefit and certain other allowances to eligible beneficiaries, except for state employees who receive these allowances directly with their pay.
    2) See Club Alpin Français , below. 

Café : popular type of French drinking establishment, usually serving all types of hot and cold drinks from coffee to spirits. Many cafés also sell croissants in the morning, and do meals at lunchtime, and sometime in the evening. In Paris, cafés often charge more for drinks served at a table, than for drinks taken standing at the bar.

Café Liégois Coffee with thick cream on top. The name was given to the drink by president Poincaré, in recognition of the resistance to the German invasion in 1914 by the Belgian defences in the area of the city of Liège.

Caisse Primaire, or CPAM Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie, the service in charge of running the state health insurance scheme in France.  The CPAM is the service that receives national health insurance contributions, and reimburses most people for officially recognised health care expenditure, such as visiting the doctor or hospital treatment. It is the organisation from which European Community visitors, using the European EHIC medical card, should request reimbursement of their medical expenses in France.

Camargue: The name given to the wetlands situated in the delta of the Rhône river, which are among the most important wetlands in Europe. The region is famous for its pink flamingoes, its white horses and its black bulls. It is also the only area in France where rice is grown.

Camembert : 1.) The best known of France's many soft cheeses, named after 2) a village in Normandy.

CAMIF : Large mail-order firm, reputed for providing good value for money. A cooperative formerly reserved for employees of the French state education system, the CAMIF is now open to all.

Canadairs : Canadian built planes, used by France's airborne firefighters, for combating forest and brush fires.

Canal Plus : France's national private encrypted pay-TV channel.  Canal Plus has been a major investor in French film production. Canal Plus's sound and image are normally encrypted, except for some early evening news / current affairs programmes.

Canard Enchainé, LeSatirical French weekly newspaper, the nearest French equivalent to the British weekly "Private Eye". Over the years, the Canard has been instrumental in revealing a number of political scandals and tracking down hypocricy and shady dealings in public life..

Cannes, Festival de Film After the Academy Awards, the Cannes film festival is the biggest annual event in world cinema. It is held each year in May, in the Mediterranean coastal resort of Cannes, near Nice, and attracts the glitterati of the world's film industry.  A number of different awards are distributed at the Cannes festival, the most important being Cannes' equivalent of the Oscar for the best film, the Palme d'Or (golden palm); this is one of the most coveted prizes in world cinema. Less "commercial" than the Academy awards, the Cannes festival shows a broader range of films from a much wider range of countries, and is in particular the best showcase for the European cinema industry, and for "art" cinema. 

Cantal : An uncooked hard cheese from the Cantal department in the Massif Central mountains of Auvergne. .

Canton :  A territorial subdivision of France. There are over 4000 cantons in modern France; most of these  comprise two or more communes (see below), and serve mainly to define the constituencies used for the election of members of Departmental (county) councils (Conseils généraux). In rare cases, cantons may include just a single commune; and more rarely, the largest communes may be divided into more than one canton.

Cantonales, élections :  Local government elections, whose purpose is to elect members of Departmental (county) councils (Conseils généraux). These elections take place every three years, with half the seats in each council being up for reelection each time. As for most elections in France, voting takes place in two stages, and candidates can only go through to the second round if they have obtained the votes of at least 10% of registered voters.

Carrefour :  The biggest of France's retail distribution chains, best known for its Carrefour hypermarkets, and for Champion, a national chain of smaller hypermarkets and supermarkets. Carrefour is one of the world's biggest retail chains, and has expanded its activities worldwide.

Carte Bleue:  the standard French domestic credit or debit card.

Carte grise: the official title of ownership of a motor vehicle in France, printed on grey paper. The carte grise is issued by the Préfecture, and must be changed whenever ownership of a vehicle changes, or the owner moves to a new department. French motorists are supposed to carry their carte grise with them whenever using their vehicle, though not to leave the document in the vehicle.

Carte Orange :  a card entitling residents in the greater Paris area to buy an unlimited travel pass for use on the region's public transport network. For this and other purposes, the greater Paris area is divided into six concentric zones, and cards cover one or more zones, working out from the centre to the outer zone.

Carte verte:  Green card, the French motor insurance certificate. Cars registered and insured in France must carry their green card at all times. Generally speaking, French vehicle insurance is automatically valid for use in other European countries, and in this respect the French Green card is the equivalent of the international Green card that UK motorists must usually purchase at extra cost if they intend to take their vehicle out of the country.

Carte Vitale: Plastic card, with microchip, attesting that a French resident is covered under the national health insurance scheme. Since the introduction of the Carte Vitale, the process of payment for medicines has been greatly simplified. By presenting their card to the chemist or pharmacist; card holders now simply pay the difference betwen the cost and reimbursement value, and no longer have to fill in and send  in forms in order to claim reimbursement.

CCI - Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie : Chamber of commerce. These are important and effective tools for the development of local economies in France, and are responsible for certain local public services to industry, including professional training and in some cases also the management of commercial infrastructures such as ports or even airports. They are mainly financed through a levy on firms and grants from local authorities, and have the status of public bodies (établissements publics économiques). Each chamber covers a limited geographic area, often a department, sometimes a city, or a group of towns and cities. There are also regional chambers of commerce.

CCP -  Compte Chèques Postal : The name given to bank accounts with France's post office; the banking arm of the national post office has been recently renamed La Banque Postale.

CDG - Charles de Gaulle : The name of the principal Paris airport, located at Roissy en France, just north of the capital. The airport is the main long-haul and medium-haul airport for France, but also has domestic flights. It has two main terminals, Terminal 1 used by many international carriers, and Terminal 2 used largely by Air France and its partners. The airport is linked to central Paris by the RER express transit rail link, and to many cities in France by a TGV (high speed train) station situated beneath Terminal 2. See also Orly and le Bourget.

Centre, le : Name of the administrative region in the middle of France, south west of Paris.  Capital  Orléans, largest city Tours. The Centre region is not a historic province of France, but encompasses an area that was historically the heartland of the old kingdom of France, the Orléanais (region of Orléans), Berry, and Touraine (the area round Tours). It comprises six departments, Cher, Eure-et-Loir, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Loiret. The north of the region includes the large wheat belt of the Beauce, the south of the region has many forests and wetlands.

CES, see Collège : middle school, normally for pupils aged 11 to 15.

Cévennes, Parc National des.   One of Metropolitan France's six national parks, located mostly in the department of the Gard, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and covering a part of the Cevennes mountains, the south eastern range of the Massif Central.

CFDT  - Confédération Française du Travail : one of the three big trade unions in France, traditionally less hard-line and more consensual than the CGT (see below).

CGT  Confédération Générale du Travail :  The biggest trade union in France, formerly with strong ties to the French Communist Party. Since the 1990s, official links with the PCF have been abandoned as the CGT has sought to modernise its image; but many GCT activists remain members of the party.

Chambre des députés, See Assemblée Nationale

Chambre d'hôte. The French equivalent of "bed and breakfast".

Chamonix. Town lying at an altitude of 1100 metres, in the Haute Savoie department, renowned as the French capital of mountaineering. Chamonix is the departure point for the ascent of Mont Blanc, by foot or by cable car. It is also a border post at the entrance to the Mont Blanc road tunnel.

Champagne  The most famous sparkling wine in the world, produced in the 34,000 hectares of registered vineyards in the Champagne-Ardenne region of north-east France . The two main centres for Champagne production are the areas of Reims and Epernay. Champagne is an Appellation contrôlée, and the name can only be used to describe sparkling wine produced in the Champagne area. Other areas used to label traditionally produced sparkling wines as being  "méthode champenoise", but even this adjectival use of the word is now prohibited.

Champagne-Ardenne : Region in north east France, lying betwen Paris and south west Belgium. Capital Rheims (Reims). The region consists of  four departments, Aube,  Ardennes, Haute-Marne and Marne. It borders on the regions of Lorraine, Franche-Comté, Burgundy, Ile de France, Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. It is one of France's principal regions for the production of wheat, sugar beet and oilseed rape, as well as including over 28,000 hectares of vineyards, mostly for the production of Champagne. Over recent decades it has lost population, due to rural exodus and to the attraction of other regions with a warmer climate.

Champs Elysées. The most prestigious avenue in Paris, running between the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe in the Place de l'Etoile. The broad avenue is the traditional venue for national parades, and in particular for the Bastille Day parade on July 14^th. The street is lined by some of the most expensive shops and cafés in the city

Chancellerie, la : Chancery, a name used to designate the French Ministry of Justice. See also Garde des Sceaux.

Charles de Gaulle: See either CDG (Paris airport) or General de Gaulle (president of France) . Also, name of one of France's nuclear powered aircraft carriers.

Chirac, Jacques, born 1932. (adj. Chiraquien) Former conservative (Gaullist) President of France, from 1995 to 2007. Chirac's reelection in 2002 was an unexpected twist of fortune, caused by the elimination of the front-runner, socialist Lionel Jospin, pipped into third place in the first round of the election by a surge in the vote for the far right wing leader of the French National Front, Jean Marie Le Pen. Facing Le Pen in the second round, Chirac was reelected with a massive majority in what was in essence a contest between the the extreme right and everyone else. Had the second round of the election been a classic left-right contest, Chirac's re-election would not have been guaranteed.
    Jacques Chirac was a highly ambitious career politician, who worked his way rapidly up the ranks of the Gaullist movement; yet his first steps in politics were actually as a militant for the Communist party, and as a student he sold the communist newspaper l'Humanité on the streets of Paris. After graduating from "Sciences Po", he changed tack, married into Parisian high society, studied at the elite ENA (Ecole Nationale d'Administration), and then began a career in politics, working for the office of the prime minister, Georges Pompidou. In 1976, he was appointed junior minister for employment in the third Pompidou government, and from then after he remained one of the most omnipresent of conservative politicians in France. From Gaullist, he became a supporter of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing during Giscard's 1974 bid for the presidency - against the Gaullist Chaban-Delmas - and was appointed Prime Minister when Giscard won. Two years later, he resigned, complaining that Giscard was cramping his style.
     This was the start of his rise to the top. No longer prime minister, in 1977 he set about building his own power base, or rather his own two power bases, firstly as leader of a new political party, the RPR, created out of the old Gaullist UDR, and secondly by becoming elected Mayor of Paris. In 1981, he challenged Giscard for the presidency, but came third in the first round of the election, which was won by François Mitterrand. By 1986 he was clear leader of the conservative opposition. When the conservatives won the general election of that year, he was appointed prime minister, ushering in the first period of cohabitation (see below) between a president and a government of different political persuasions.
      In 1988, he was again a candidate in the presidential election, and again lost; but with his power base in Paris and in the RPR, he then had seven years in which to prepare his third, and first successful, challenge for the presidency.
      He served two terms as president, the first of seven years, the second of five – though as already stated, his reelection in 2002 was more due to the failure of the Socialist campaign and the surprise presence of Le Pen in the second round, than in his own popularity. It is still rather early to judge the Chirac presidency in a historic perspective, but early appraisals suggest that it will not be remembered as a great period in French history. It was a time during which France dramatically failed to adapt to the changes in the modern world - the end of the Cold War and the challenge of globalisation - and failed to push through the social and economic reforms that were allowing other developed nations such as France, Germany or Spain, to find their place in the new world order.

CHU, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire  - University hospital, teaching hospital.

Circonscription électorale:  Electoral constituency. There are currently 555 electoral constituencies in Metroploitan France, plus  15 for the overseas departments, and 7 for other overseas territories. 

Cité administrive: local government offices.

Citroën : One of France's three major brands of car. Citroën is now part of PSA, the Peugeot-Citroën group. the company was particularly famous in the 1960s and 1970s for its idiosyncratic and innovative models, such as the iconic 2CV or "Deux Chevaux", the most basic production car ever mass-produced, or the aerodynamic DS (Déesse), one of the most comfortable cars ever produced, on account of its air-suspension.

Club Alpin Français -.officially since 2005 the FFCAM. Founded in 1874, this is a large association of hikers, mountaineers and mountain-lovers; it is a lobby for the sometimes contradictory causes of the development of mountain areas for sport and outdoor activities, and the protection of the mountain environment. It manages a network of 131 high-mountain refuges, châlets and visitor centres.

CNPF : Conseil National du Patronat Français - See MEDEF.   

COB – Commission des Opérations de Bourse : the watchdog responsible for overseeing trading operations on the French stock exchange, which was merged in 2003 into a new organization, the AMF.

Cocos, les : slang for Communists, the equivalent of "Commies".

Cohabitation: word used to describe the delicate political balance in France, when the  President and the Parliament are of different political persuasions.  The third period of cohabitation in the Fifth Republic occurred when President Chirac (conservative) appointed Lionel Jospin (a socialist) as Prime Minister, following the Socialists' victory in the 1997 parliamentary elections.

Cohn Bendit, Daniel :  Nicknamed "Danny le rouge".  Cohn-Bendit was the  most famous and charismatic of the leaders of the left-wing student uprising in 1968, which almost toppled the government of General de Gaulle. After the events,  Cohn-Bendit, who had dual French and German nationality, left France and settled in Germany, where he more recently achieved prominence as a Euro MP, and member of the German Green Party.  He has been a MEP for both the French and the German Green parties.

Collège. Middle school, the intermediate level in French school education between primary school and lycée.

Coluche :  Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci (1944-1986) - Very popular French comedian, whose most outstanding legacy was to have set up the "Restos du coeur", a national chain of associations working to provide food for the homeless and the needy, particularly in winter. Coluche died in a motorcycle accident, while at the height of his popularity.

Comédie Française : the original and most prestigious of France's national theatres, and the only state theatre with a permanent troup of actors. Founded in 1680 under Louis XIV, it has been associated with many of the most famous playwrights in french history, from Molière onwards.  The theatre is based (since 1799) in the Salle Richelieu, in the Palais Royal in the centre of Paris (1° arrondissement).

Commission Paritaire, see "Paritarism"

Communauté de communes:  local government administrative structure, whereby several communes , particularly small communes, manage local affairs coherently as a group of communes, rather than each one acting independently.

Commune. a) The basic unit of local government and administration in France. Established after the French Revolution in 1789, the commune system of local administration was designed for another age, in which France was very much a rural nation. Even today, there are still over 36,000 communes, each with its Maire and municipal council, each with its budget and responsibilities, including local taxation and local public services. 

Commune de Paris: Revolutionary proto-communist administration that governed Paris for two months in 1871, following French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. The people running the Commune de Paris were known as Communards, not Communists.

Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité, see CRS.

Complément retraite:  voluntary additional retirement pension, based on the personal contributions made during a persons's working life.

Concorde: Franco-British supersonic aircraft, in service from 1976 to 2003: the world's only supersonic commercial airliner.  Concorde had a distinguished career, until this was brought to a stop following a fatal accident in the year 2000, at Gonesse, near Paris. All Concordes were withdrawn from service (by BA and Air France)  following this disaster, and though the plane later took to the air again, commercial operations were stopped in 2003, following further fears about the plane's safety. Concorde was a magnificent product of the brave new world of 1960's optimism, designed at a time when environmental considerations and fuel economy were just not issues. Its extravagent operating costs meant that it was never really profitable except on the London-New York  route, and was never bought by any airlines other than the British and French national flag carriers. It was nonetheless a magnificent symbol of prestige, used by Presidents and other VIPs, as well as a fantastic technological achievement. This technological prowess seems even more significant, when one remembers that Concorde was designed and built at a time when computer operated systems were in their infancy.

Conscrits. Popularly known as Bidasses, conscrits were young men engaged in military service, le service national, in France, until this was phased out in 1997.

Conseil Constitutionnel. Composed of nine nominated members, the Constitutional Council, like the US Supreme Court, oversees the running of elections in France, and can be called upon to rule on the constitutionality of legislation passed by the French parliament. See Government and politics in France

Conseil des Ministres. The French Cabinet (in British English) or Administration (in US English). In France - unusually for a parliamentary democracy - the Cabinet is presided over by the head of state, the Président. Cabinet meetings usually take place each week on Wednesdays, in the Elysée Palace, the President's official residence. See Government and politics in France.

Conseil d'Etat. The highest administrative court in France, the Council of State is the body ultimately responsible for determining the legality of administrative measures. It may also be consulted by the government to determine the legality of forthcoming decrees or parliamentary bills.

Conseil du Culte Musulman : the French Muslim council, a body responsible for overseeing Islamic affairs in France

Conseil Général : County council, the local authority responsible for running a French département.

Conseil Régional :  Regional council, the local authority responsible for running a French administrative region.

Conservatoire:  public sector music school.  Most French towns and cities have their conservatoire de musique; musical education is technical and classic, and strongly competitive. Students who do not reach the grade are not allowed to continue; those who complete their studies become higly competent musicians,and often go on to become music teachers or professionals.  The top Conservatoire is the "Conservatoire de Paris", whose diplomas are highly prestigious. 

Constitutional Council, see Conseil Constitutionnelle

Coq sportif, le : A designer brand of French sportswear. See Cock above.

Corail, train. Comfortable intercity express trains running on routes not designed for TGVs. Since 2004, express services on several long-distance routes have been upgraded with the introduction of newer "Corail Téoz" carriages. See Rail Travel in France

Corse - Corsica .  One of the larger islands in the Mediterranean, lying south east of the French Riviera, and north of Sardinia, Corsica is an integral part of metropolitan France, and has the status of a region. It is divided into two departments, Corse-du-sud (Southern Corsica) and Haute Corse (Upper Corsica). See also the following article

Corse, la Question.  Corsica, the large island lying between France and Italy, has long been the scene of periodic violence, including bombings and assassinations, perpetrated by radical nationalists against symbols of French government. Corsican nationalist parties and factions have strong local support, though it is clear that most Corsicans do not want independence from France.  The Corsican question has dragged on for four decades or more, damaging the Island's economy and tourist industry; and while there is less in the way of violence today than there was at times in the past, the problem shows no sign of going away. 

Corsica, see Corse

Côte d'Azur : the French Riviera, the Mediterranean coast of France, between Toulon and the Italian border. The area includes many of France's most prestigeous resorts, such as Saint Tropez, Antibes, Juan les Pins and St. Jean Cap Ferrat.

Côte d'Emeraude : name of the northern coast of Brittany, betwen Cancale in the east, and Cap Fréhel in the west. Its most important towns are St Malo and Dinard.

Côte d'Opale : the north east coastline of France, bordering the Straits of Dover, and stretching from the Baie de Somme to the Belgian border.  See coastlines of France

Coupe de France : the French national football cup

Cour d'Appel. Appeals court

Cour d'Assise. Assize court, the major criminal courts, with judges and juries, in which people accused of serious crimes are judged and sentenced.

Crédit Agricole: a semi cooperative bank,  the biggest retail banking group in France, and the second largest in Europe. It is quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange, and on the New York stock exchange, and is a CAC 40 company. Crédit Agricole was founded in the nineteenth century to provide local banking facilities for France's millions of small farmers - a function that it still fills to this day. Today, the Crédit Agricole is made up of 39 autonomous cooperative regional banks (caisses régionales), which together have over 7,000 retail banking outlets in France. 

Crédit Lyonnais - One of the big French retail banks.  Once one of the biggest banks in France,  the Crédit Lyonnais was a nationalised bank from 1945 to 1999. Duing the 1980s, the bank ran up massive debts due to bad loans and financial scandals, some of them involving subsidiaries and operations in the USA. The bank was saved from collapse by a massive rescue operation by the French state. In 2003, the Crédit Lyonnais was bought by rival bank Crédit Agricole (see above), many of its activities were wound down, and its high-street banks began trading as LCL.

CRS, Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité. The CRS are best known for their role as French riot police. This reputation was originally acquired in 1968, when they were used with great effect as frontline troops by the government in order to contain and repel protesting students and factory workers. They are regularly called out to supervise large street demonstrations, to protect public buildings, and to intervene the moment things get out of hand. Among their other jobs are the protection of government ministers, supporting other police forces when they are stretched, and undertaking motorcycle patrols on main roads.

CSA Comité Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel. The official watchdog overseeing the broadcast media in France

Cumul des mandats. Expression used to describe the cumulation, by a single politician, of a range of different representative functions, such as parliamentarian and mayor, or mayor and president of a regional council.  The principle of combining different representative roles is deeply anchored in the French political tradition, where national politicians frequently built up their reputation and power bases in their local fiefdoms, and local politics were often in the hands of local "notables" with their fingers in many pies. According to a 2007 opinion poll for Le Nouvel Observateur, 74% of French people disapprove of the principle of cumul des mandats. Reform of this aspect of French life would surely be appreciated by voters, but the principle is so well rooted in the French socio-political system, and so many decision-makers and advisors- of all political persuasions - have a vested interest in the system, that this is a reform that will likely prove very difficult to implement.