French press review 10 November 2012

The news is dominated by the Vendée Globe the solo non-stop round-the-world yacht race which starts at Les Sables d’Olonne on the Atlantic coast today.

The competition is known as the “Everest of the seas”. No surprise therefore that it is the favourite front page story of the day. The papers are actually taking to the seas themselves in spectacular manner: “Round the world in 80 days”, Le Figaro; “Alone against the ocean”, Aujourd’hui en France/Le Parisien; “High seas” Libération.

Even the very Catholic La Croix is in buoyant mood and relishing the “dream road”.

Libération reports that more than one million spectators have gathered at Les Sables d’Olonne to cheer the 20 skippers as they set sale for the 24,000-mile, three-month odyssey round the world.

Libé has portraits of the skippers taking part in this seventh edition of the race. It expresses special admiration for 38-year-old British mother Samantha Davis, who finished fourth in 2009.

Aujourd’hui en France/Le Parisien spoke to the” little lady of the high seas”. Davis is one of only 68 people who have circumnavigated the world solo non-stop. She says she has "seawater in her veins” and that she is fired up and ready to set off. The paper also reviews security measures taken by boat designers and the race organisers to prevent a repetition of the tragic mishaps that have littered the race since its beginning in 1989.

Le Monde purrs through the recommendations of the governance report prepared for the president by Socialist former prime minister Lionel Jospin.

He is proposing a big political bang of profound renovation of state institutions, including:  

• Changing the legal status of the president to avoid conflict of interest;
• a ban on the holding of several elected positions simultaneously;
• the revitalisation of France’s democracy;
• electoral reform to include proportional representation to improve gender parity;
• the requirement for presidential candidates to collect 150,000 signatures of ordinary citizens, instead of the current 500 signatures of mayors and other elected officials.
  

In an editorial Le Monde holds that France’s democratic system is suffering from a crisis of confidence which Jospin seeks to resolve in the recommendations he makes.

The paper is urging lawmakers in both arms of parliament to stop thinking only about their own material interests and embrace democratic reform.

For Le Monde Jospin is not joking. France could witness a period of profound and salutary renewal if Hollande adopts the measures without hesitation with the backing of the National Assembly and the Senate, it believes.