French weekly magazines review

Europe's race to save the euro,  post-election Tunisia and the fight for who will be the next mayor of Paris dominate headlines in France's weekly magazines.

The battle to save the euro takes pride of place in this week’s issue of the economic newspaper Les Echos.

As the leaders of the world’s leading economies gathered in Cannes, former International Monetary Fund, IMF, adviser Barry Eichegreen told the journal that the whole world is so “terrorized” by Europe and the euro, that no one seemed interested in the G20.

Le Point states that George Papandreou’s “treacherous” referendum offer complicated the condition of the euro.

It is struggling to remain competitive in the face of the declining dollar and the emerging Chinese yuan, after being rough-handled by the sovereign debt crisis, criticized by some politicians and discredited by citizens.

Les Echos, credits the euro for containing inflation, and for boosting job creation and economic growth in the EU during the past 12 years.

The economic weekly says there will be a high price to pay if the currency goes down - a debt of 10,000 euros per European, during the first year and 3500 euros thereafter.

Marianne, takes to task German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy for “doing nothing” to resolve the crisis.

Marianne believes the 27 October accord is full of shortcomings that won’t take long to be tested, even if the eurozone obtains the precious Chinese bonds they so badly need for their financial stabilization fund.

The “self effacement” of France has allowed Germany to use the keys of eurozone politics as it pleases says Marianne.

Respected journalist Jean-Marie Colombani told L’Express that European solidarity cannot be limited to the weight of the Franco-German couple. He accuses Sarkozy of gambling on the future of the eurozone.

Le Point runs a profile of French Centrist leader Francois Bayrou, the man who predicted the debt catastrophe. He is a “pain in the neck” and “spoiling the match” between President Sarkozy and François Hollande claims the right-wing weekly.

Bayrou, it explains, believes he will become president after being blessed by a holy spirit. For Le Point, he is so obsessed by the idea that he is capable of sacrificing principles, allies and friends if that will take him to the Elysée palace.

Another standoff rages in France between the front runners in next year’s presidential elections. This concerns what L’Express describes as the mistigri - bearer of bad luck - of France’s Triple 'A' credit rating.

It has become a theme for the 2012 presidential campaign, since Moody’s placed France under watch.

Both President Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger François Hollande are stating their resolve to preserve the precious rating, while accusing each other of endangering the Triple A, as a downgrade looms.

Le Nouvel Observateur examines another fight that has broken out in the ruling UMP party, over control of a key constituency ahead of next year’s municipal elections.

The dispute pits Prime Minister François Fillon against his former justice minister Rachida Dati, currently mayor of the 7th district of Paris.

Fillon needs the “safe seat” to launch his bid for Paris' City Hall, but Rachida has asked the premier to go flex his political muscles elsewhere.

Marianne calls Madame Dati an explosive device that could blow up Sarkozy’s political heartland. Right-wing Paris is at war, says the magazine, its leaders lining up behind the two belligerents.

Ruling party chief Jean François Copé is in the firing line against Fillon and told the weekly why he hates the prime minister’s ways. Le Nouvel Observateur calls the spectacle a “pitiful glimpse” of UMP life in post-Sarkozy era.

There are various comments in the French weeklies about the new challenges raised by Islamists to the Arab spring.

Marianne takes note of the landslide victory scored by the moderate Ennahda party in Tunisia’s first democratic vote to elect a constituent assembly.

“They took everyone by surprise”, comments the journal, rallying the middle class vote at the expense of the secular parties. Marianne brands Ennahda’s 70 year-old leader Rached Ghannouchi, a veiled fundamentalist.

Le Nouvel Observateur observes that the so-called moderate Islamist party is upholding dubious policies.

Some interrupt prayers to pledge their commitment to liberty. Others speak about respect for women’s rights while their militants wear the burqa.

The magazine wonders if the Jasmine revolution can still deliver the democratic values which the Tunisian people fought so hard for.

For its part, Le Point regrets the choice of Sharia as the basis of the social order in Libya.

The weekly holds that the gruesome discovery of mutilated bodies and the summary killings taking place in the country after the end of combat operations cast a dark shadow on the international image of the Western-installed regime.