French press review 5 March 2016

Libération is headlining on sexual harassment this morning. "The right to travel without fear" reads the left-wing paper's headline.

DR

A reporter from the newspaper spent a day with a police squad tasked with arresting men who sexually harrass women in the Parisian subway. "It's rush hour, the trains are crowded and 'les frotteurs' are out: men who will benefit from the overcrowding to stick to their victims" writes the paper.

This is a common problem that has been aknowleged only recently explains Libé - a poll published last year said 100% of Parisian women didn't feel safe when taking the metro.

This is why the government launched the "national Plan against gender harassment and sexual violence in public transportion" a few months ago. But according to Libé not enough means have been put into this fight.

"Commuting with public transport in major cities, already tedious, is for many women a daily ordeal, infuriating and depressing" writes an editorial which calls for the authorities to do more on the subject.

Le Figaro devotes its front page to the ongoing European migrant crisis and how the European Union is relying on Turkey to help stem the flow of refugees.

EU President Donald Tusk visited Ankara Friday for talks with the Turks on the subject ahead of an official summit this Monday.

The good news, according to Le Figaro, is that the country has agreed to a "large-scale" deportation from Greece of economic migrants. The European Comission also unveiled a plan yesterday aimed at better coordinating the arrival of thousands of people.

"European democracies are now at the mercy of the Sultan" reads the right-wing paper's editorial. The Turkish cooperation will come at a high price argues the paper: "the re-start of the Turkish integration processus" and "the end of visas for Turkish citizens travelling in Europe".

Le Monde is running yet another long report on Calais. The newspaper, however, is not reporting from the "Jungle", the migrant camp that was partly torn down by the authorities at the beginning of the week.

Rather, the article focuses on how the inhabitants of Calais are doing, at a time where the name of their city is rarely associated with something positive.

"The inhumanity in which women, children and men are surviving broke the image of the city, the property market and imposed unwritten rules that govern the lives of Calaisiens" writes Le Monde.

The daily spoke to numerous inhabitants who, no matter what their thougts are on migrants, says they regret what the city was "before". The article explains how local shops had to find solutions "so everybody could get along".

The paper also paints a world where rumors are held as truth - there's for example this supermarket that locals are avoiding because someone said migrants where carrying diseases.

"What happened is that we created racism by not offering a decent solution to the refugees" explains a local politician.

But here's something that hasn't changed says Le Monde - the beautiful view on the English channel, something that everybody can still enjoy.