French press review 18 February 2014

Fear is the front-page theme this morning. Right wing Le Figaro has "Socialists scared of mass abstention". Tabloid Aujourd'hui en France warns that we should be terrified by our dinner plates. And business daily Les Echos says the French finance ministry is scared to death by government plans to change the way in which income tax is collected.

First, those scared Socialists.

Caught between the plummeting popularity of the president and the ever-dimishing prospects for real economic growth, the Socialist Party is afraid that huge numbers of traditional left-wing voters will simply stay at home on the 23 and 30 March, when France elects its local politicians.

Figaro is happy to present an image of the ordinary Socialist voter, disappointed by the government climbdown on family law reform and confused by President François Hollande's various charm offensives directed at the bosses.

Then there's those scary things in the kitchen.

According to Aujourd'hui en France, there is simply not enough money to ensure the safety of the food we eat. With only one agent to inspect the kitchens in every 2,500 hospitals and retirement homes, it's perhaps not surprising that the odd germ slips through the net.

Especially since the unfortunate inspectors spend an awful lot of time writing reports about the germs they have found, sometimes reporting to two different ministries and four

separate administrative bodies. Against such a background, it's easy to see how the occasional east European horse gets mixed up with the French burger beef.

The latest scandal concerns pork, one-billion-euros -worth of it, originally from the western French region of Brittany, suspected of having been contaminated with the potentially fatal salmonella bacteria but resold in France and Russia as perfectly fit for human consumption. The owners are suspected of having forged the food safety documents in order to protect their profit margins. Investigations are continuing.

Les Echos gives front-page prominence to fears that a government project to have income tax collected directly, rather than retrospectively and by state employees, could cost as much as 15 billion euros.

The present administration would like to see tax collection farmed out to the private sector, with employers withholding the money on behalf of the finance ministry. The advantages include less scope for fraud and a synchronisation of earnings and tax liabilities. The current system means people are always 12 months out of date. If your income remains stable or rises, there's no problem. If, however, because of illness or unemployment, your income drops dramatically, you still have to pay the tax for the final year of the good old days.

And, of course, there's the problem of what to do with all the supernumerary tax officers and pen-pushers who currently run the nation's taxation machine. There will be tears.

Other stories catching the barely-open eye this morning . . .

Catholic La Croix reports that ordinary, unordained lay people could soon have an important voice in the curia, the government of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis and his cardinals are currently examining ways of modernising the organisation of an institution frequently criticised as being out of touch with its rank and file.

Le Figaro looks at the risks posed by France's increasing involvement in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The effective elimination of the Séléka rebel movement has not resulted in a return to the original situation of quiet bankruptcy in the CAR, says Le Figaro, but has instead unleashed a terrifying wave of ethnic and religious violence.

The French authorities now feel that a police presence is almost as important as a military one, says Le Figaro, noting that 55 police officers are to be deployed by Paris, in the hope that 150 others will be provided by the European partners.