French press review 14 September 2015

As Europe's interior and justice ministers hold another emergency meeting on the refugee crisis, the French dailies look at the divisions and challenges facing a continent under siege. From an African point of view, the current crisis could force a change in migration patterns.

DR

Refugees continue to dominate the French front pages but the message is anything but clear.

Left-leaning Libération says the continent is deeply divided. So is Libé's front-page, with a smiling girl on one side carrying a placard saying "Refugees welcome" and a snarling skinhead waving a clenched fist on the other.

Right-wing Le Figaro reports the German decision to reestablish border controls at the frontier with Austria and the halting of rail traffic between the two neighbours. There are simply too many people trying to get in.

Catholic La Croix calls for cohesion at today's emergency meeting of European interior and justice ministers to discuss the crisis. With the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary all saying they'll oppose any solution that involves imposed quotas, cohesion is about the last thing we can expect. The Catholic paper says this is a real test of the fundamental European principles of openness and sharing.

Le Monde says a quota deal is unlikely to be agreed at today's meeting. The centrist daily also notes that France is not high on the wish-list of many migrants. Most new arrivals want to go to either the UK or Germany, leaving empty seats on the buses sent to Munich by the French office for refugees and stateless persons. Poor employment prospects and the language are cited as the main reasons for avoiding France.

Le Monde's editorial looks at the cost of alcohol- and tobacco-related illnesses on the day that the French upper house starts its second debate on proposed changes to health legislation. Doctors, the cigarette companies and the wine industry have all been noisy critics of the reforms.

The centrist newspaper asks the senators to remember that tobacco and drink cost the country 250 billion euros every year.

And it is simply not true that government taxes more than compensate for the cost of deaths, absences and treatment of those made ill by alcohol and smoking. Drink-related taxes, for example, bring in 37 per cent of the cost of looking after those suffering from drink-related illnesses.

Unfortunately, Le Monde's economics supplement notes that this month's wine fairs are getting under way and are likely to produce the usual bonanza for both producers and supermarkets.

There's an article on the editorial page of Le Monde which takes a surprisingly positive view of the current migrant crisis. It's an Afrcan view.

You'll know that alongside the more recent refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been no shortage of African candidates for the dangerous business of getting into Europe. Predominantly from Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, they've been drowning in the Mediterranean and off the Canary Islands for so long, most people have forgotten them. Especially their own rullers.

In April Guinean President Alpha Condé described the silence of his fellow continental heads of state as "a scandal". Two thousand deaths later, we're still waiting for the African Union to take an official position.

Benin's Prime Minister Lionel Zinzou is fed up with waiting. On Thursday he made his own announcement.

Africans have always been migrants, says Zinzou, with most of the movement internal to the continent. The real problem is that those who are leaving now are the best educated, the business brains, the leaders. They are completely underestimating the local potential in the search for an ever less likely welcome in the so-called developed world.

Africa's average economic growth rate is currently five times that of Europe. The new generation should refuse to see the lack of water, electricity and infrastructure as a problem, because providing these requirements for a rapidly growing population represents a huge opportunity.

Lionel Zinzou hopes that the current surge in the number of migrants from the Middle East will at least encourage a new attitude among African candidates for departure: they should stay at home, because the future of Africa is here and now.