French press review 22 October 2011

Saturday’s French press is dominated by reactions to Franco-German efforts to save the euro, the death of Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and the implications of his downfall on the Arab revolution.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel are set to hold crunch talks in Brussels on Saturday to forge a solution to the eurozone debt after their finance ministers agreed to unlock much-needed aid for Greece.

It’s branded as the “summit of discord” by Le Figaro. The paper underlines continuing disagreement between the eurozone's top two economies over how best to use the EU's 440-billion-euro bailout fund.

The difference of views between Berlin and Paris is about the independence of the European Central Bank and parliaments' say in major decisions. That forced the bloc to call an additional summit on Wednesday to take remaining sticking points.

According to Le Figaro, the stakes will require serious concessions on sovereignty by the two parties. That, it says, will requires deeper reflection than before, which may frustrate impatience and crystallise further criticism about Europe’s inability to take bold decisions.

Le Figaro warns that the unprecedented marathon must guard against raising too much expectation, as it imposes on the Europeans, France and Germany especially, an obligation to obtain results. According to the right-wing newspaper, the Greek crisis is leading Europe to an impasse, threatens its integrity and the strength of the single currency, considering the current state of affairs and the risk of contagion that it poses.

Southern newspaper Le Midi Libre observes that Berlin and Paris also plan to hold another summit on Sunday. The regional paper notes that quite interestingly it’s two summits for the price of one, not forgetting the “meeting of last chance” on Wednesday.

It wonders… is it confusion, panic or lassitude? In the face of the continuing crisis, the Eurotechnocrats look confused and no one, not even the markets, understand where they are headed. Le Midi Libre says public opinion is lost and it’s been a long time since they threw away the sponge the baby and the bathwater.

Europe is sinking, the eurozone going down with it and sending a disastrous message to millions of its people. There is a divorce in the making behind the false smiles worn by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. Nothing works any more in the Franco-German entente cordiale as differences pile up. The paper says the confusion raises fresh questions about the viability of European governance, not to talk of the euro and the EU itself.

Le Progrès, comments that Europe is nothing more than a zone of turbulence, a monetary zone managed without conviction. The regional newspaper holds that the northern European countries won’t pay a dime to the poorly managed and debt-ridden southern countries. The “Latin” countries are wary of inflicting harsher austerity plans dictated by the “rigorous Saxons” on their people with indignation already dangerously spreading in the streets.

Eastern countries are determined to have their say, torn between tensions from the streets, pressure from the markets and the national interests of politicians.

It’s a “zone of turbulence” managed without conviction, the European leaders incapable of facing the magnitude and urgency of the crisis that is not just threatening stock markets but the whole future of the euro. Jobs will relocate, the funding of children’s education be jeopardized and social security and pensions will be threatened, sparking an explosion of anger if the current indecision persists, according to the newspaper.

Libération examines the new stakes of the Arab Spring after the elimination of Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and as Tunisia votes this weekend to elect a constituent assembly.

The left-leaning newspaper says Libya’s new leaders are under pressure to explain the circumstances surrounding the execution of Colonel Kadhafi after he was arrested alive in his hometown of Sirte. His mutilated body is currently on display under obscene conditions in Misrata by rebels who, Libé claims, have refused to hand it over to the authorities.

Libération also reports about growing controversy over Nato’s role in Kadhafi’s execution. The transatlantic alliance has issued a statement claiming it did not know Kadhafi was in the motorcade shelled by its aircraft.

The paper however sees Kadhafi’s death as a boon to popular revolts elsewhere in the Arab world.

Tunisians go to the polls to begin a delicate return to democratic rule this Sunday.

Libération comments that the process is threatened by Islamists who have seized the momentum for change that has taken hold of the country since the overthrow of long time dictator Zine el Abedine Ben Ali.