French press review 11 May 2012

The dailies are all about the sensitive files already piling up of the table of French President François Hollande as he prepares for his inauguration on Tuesday and a quick trip to Berlin for his first summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the eurozone crisis.

There is no way Merkel will give in to Hollande grunts Le Figaro as it looks forward to Tuesday’s tense meeting between the president elect and the German chancellor who rejects any economic growth policies driven by deeper budget deficits.

Le Figaro explains that the leaders of Italy, Spain and Britain (Mario Monti, Mariano Rajoy, David Cameron) and others didn’t have to wait for the arrival of “a saviour at the Elysée” to start working towards establishing the basis of durable growth in Europe..

According to the right-wing paper, everyone has carried out the structural reforms imposed by Europe’s dramatic condition, which France is finding it hard to implement.

Le Figaro says there should be no major obstacles to securing approval for Hollande’s so-called “basic measures”, in the short term, on condition that he gives up re-negotiating the budget discipline pact and the “zeal “ to transform the European Central Bank into a last-resort lender..

Le Figaro argues that while the presidential campaign was not a “brilliant learning experience”, the moment has come to explain clearly to the French what is possible and what isn’t, and that there is room for “audacious reforms” not driven by aggravating the debt burden.

Le Figaro praises Angela Merkel for “talking straight in the face of Hollande”, hoping that she would be heard.

Le Monde says the Greek storm is blowing towards Europe, diagnosing the inability of this “eurozone light-weight”, to give itself a government, after hung elections that could plunge the EU again into deep crisis.

“And what if Greece drops out of the Euro?” asks Aujourd’hui en France/Le Parisien. The paper points out that in the middle of “deep political chaos and without a government”, it now appears inevitable for the sick-man of Europe to leave.

Some of Friday’s papers bring under scrutiny some domestic policy issues that will force President Hollande to hit the road running.

Les Echos picks out the payment of wealth-tax rebates which it says could begin this summer. According to the economic newspaper, payments could be disbursed in two instalments especially for the wealthiest beneficiaries.

L’Humanité voices strong support for steel workers at the ArcelorMittal plant in Gandrange, as the CGT union tabled a new ecological and viable proposal to prevent the shut down of the factory. The workers have lined up meetings with Hollande’s aides, seeking his commitment to rescuing the strategic industrial site.

La Croix takes up the growing protest being staged by policemen in their campaign to secure the release of a crime squad colleague facing prosecution for gunning down a notorious criminal in the Seine-Saint Denis outskirts of Paris.

The Catholic paper explains part of their anger is directed against the policy of figures put in place by the Sarkozy government and what they say is the "condescending” attitude of the judiciary towards the police force.

In a related comment, Le Monde holds that “what Sarkozy gave the police during his time as interior minister was taken away by Sarkozy the president”.

The paper underlines that while he pressed the police for results, he oversaw drastic cuts in manpower, a policy that left the force more depleted than when he took over the security portfolio in 2001.

The newspaper wishes good luck to the new interior minister who not only has to calm flaring police tempers and resolve the deep malaise sweeping through the force, but also restore public trust in their ability to perform the miracle of curbing rising crime in the neighbourhoods.

Libération hails the public endorsement of gay marriages by US President Barack Obama as “the accomplishment of the last civic right”. Gay couples now have “the full right to live happily or unhappily as families” like heterosexuals argues Libé.

The left-leaning newspaper says Obama’s move will serve as a boost to François Hollande’s agenda to legalize same-sex marriages in France and restore the dignity of millions of young people stigmatized and rejected by society simply because of their sexual lives.