And, in the end, the French Senate rejected the draft law in May 2011.

BBC: French bill re-opens old wounds with Turkey

Mr Erdogan has threatened to take further action should the French Senate approve the bill.

ECONOMIST: Turkey, France and Armenia

Before the residence ceremony, Leach helped open a two-day conference on terrorism hosted by the French Senate.

CNN: Chirac: France owes U.S. a debt

In contrast, the French Senate and the Portuguese parliament both have reserved seats for nationals living abroad.

ECONOMIST: Letters

Now the ban is expected to be lifted entirely any day now, after the French Senate voted in favour of the move in mid-April.

BBC: Absinthe in France: Legalising the 'green fairy'

True, the outgoing president of the French Senate was forced by public opinion last year to leave his official residence, after he tried to hang on to it.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

In April, the French senate voted to repeal the ban.

BBC: The green fairy flies again

In 1804, the French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.

CNN: Saturday,

Arguably so: of the council's nine members, appointed for nine-year terms by the French president, the Senate and the National Assembly, only two belong to the left.

ECONOMIST: France's Constitutional Council

The French and British, together with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee responsible for ratifying the Treaty of Versailles, all called for a scaled-back version of the plan.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Echoes of 1919