French press review 26 January 2013

For a saturday morning, the French dailies are a little bleak.

The tabloid Aujourd'hui en France asks: "Who will pay for our elders?" This comes after President François Hollande announced aged-care reforms for the end of 2013.

The article includes research on how autonomous elderly people are, the cost of housing and retirement homes and a better re-distribution of personalised aid. With an aging population and increasing pressure on (future) tax payers, it's no surprise that helping the elderly has become a major issue. Chair elevators, walk-in showers and personal assistants don't come cheap.

Aujourd'hui en France also features two rather depressing stories.

Firstly, the sordid murder of a jogger in Nîmes in the south of France, further gruesome details of which are still to be revealed.

Secondly, the number of unemployed people in France has increased by 285,000 since 2012 - a 10 % rise. The paper writes that, even though the government wasn't expecting it, "for the 20th month in a row unemployment has increased." France's minister of Economy Pierre Moscovici believes the battle against unemployment will probably take years.

The conservative Le Figaro also made this their top story. It writes the number of people who have registered with French job centres is at its highest level since 1998, despite a very stable month of December.

Another story that can be found in today’s French press is about François Hollande finally metting representatives from the movement against same sex marriage and adoption. This comes ahead of this Sunday’s pro-gay marriage and adoption march. It appears the debate is far from over.

The fact that it's not just gay marriage but also adoption and medically assisted procreation means the issue remains complicated. Le Figaro writes that Hollande is now going to consult an ethics committee about medically-assisted procreation.

One doctor tells the paper that when artificial insemination was legalised 30 years ago, anonymous sperm donors were used. Everything seemed perfect and everyone seemed happy.

Fast foward years later and the first test-tube babies have become young adults eager to know about their genetic origins. This can lead to a lot of heartache if they discover the anonymous donors have a genetic illness.

Leftist Libération believes France is way behind when it comes to gay rights. It has a special report around Europe about homosexual parents. It heads to Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Germany and many other countries, reporting on same-sex couples happily married. When it comes to the debate on medically assisted procreation (or PMA as it's called here), like Le Figaro, Libération is also talking to “experts”.

They say it was hypocritical for heterosexuals to deny this medical help to homosexuals while allowing it for heterosexuals. “Surely the most selfless thing to do would be to adopt a handicapped and HIV positive child?” “You might as well not only open the procedure to lesbian couples but also to single heterosexuals if you want to fit in with today's society. " writes the paper.

An interesting piece of information that can be found in Libération is the fact that the first recognised artificial insemination took place in England in 1776. It wasn't medically assisted. A draper used a heated syringe to get his wife pregnant. Ouch.

The only paper that seems to have a nice story on its front page is La Croix, which takes us on a little trip to Angers which it refers to as the green city. Apparently its citizens are dedicated to preserving the environment. It is full of tramways, green districts and eco-districts that have been built recently. It means the city can live in perfect harmony with its green and diverse surroundings, writes La Croix.