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French press review 18 September 2017

Are President Macron's labour laws as doctored for the rich?   French youth demonstrate people power at the Fête de l'Humanité and what to expect from Donald Trump's maiden address to the United Nations. 

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We start with the findings of a new poll showing that up to 53% of French people consider the economic policies of President Emmanuel Macron's government as too favourable to the wealthy.

The survey by the Viavoice polling institute, carried out for Liberation, also found that up to 68 per cent of respondents believe that Macron's flagship reform of the labour code would facilitate the laying off of workers. Up to 65 per cent of respondents said that they expect the new labour laws to roll back the powers of the unions.

Libération also highlights disturbing findings in the poll that up to 60 per cent of the French fear that the reforms would increase job insecurity in the country.

According to Libération, the survey confirms that the French people don’t buy Macron’s tinkering with the labour code, but won’t repeat the massive protests staged against the labour laws of the previous government. These protests led to the disintegration of the left.

What that means, Libé concludes, is that citizens are resigned to their fate and now eyeing the reform as a done deal.  

 

With regard to the weakening anti-Macron revolt, L' Est Républicain says there is little to expect from unions.

According to the publication, however, social protests in French culture are like an “old diesel engine which needs to be heated up”.

The regional paper, describes last Tuesday's demostrations organized by the powerful General Workers Confederation the CGT as a “warm up ahead of serious things to come”.

L'Est Republicain says there is still a fair chance that the anti-Macron protest could still make its mark, arguing that “minorities sometimes are the ones who make history”.

 

L’Humanité leads with the demonstration of leftist power at this week-end's Fête de l'Humanité in Paris on Saturday and Sunday attended by more than 500,000 people.

The Communist daily says it was heart-warming to watch the beaming faces of the youthful crowds at the celebration of fraternity, facing the future together with unprecedented passion to acquire new knowledge.

L'Humanité suggests that the massive turnout at this year's event may blossom into greater awareness about the gravity of the current government's agenda to destroy the labour code and rights.

  

Some of today's French newspapers look forward to Tuesday's 75th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, where Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron are expected to address the world body for the very first time.

L'Alsace says that each of the freshmen's words and gestures will be scrutinized, as they are compelled to clarify their stance on pressing foreign policy issues.

Le Figaro says the pronouncements of the American President will be followed with great attention, as world leaders still wait to know what Trump's “doctrine” is all about.

According to the right-wing publication, it is unfortunate that international relations are not a matter of principles for the new American leader. Watching Trump at the rostrum of the United Nations, it claims, will be like “listening to a non-believer preaching at a church alter”.

Le Figaro also holds that it will be surprising for an "America First" apostle like Trump to develop a vision for the world at the temple of multilateralism.

Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace argues that since Donald Trump's arrival at the White House, his administration has been flying without instruments, complicating the work of global diplomacy. They say that this is especially true about the United Nations institutions for which he reserved his harshest tweets.

The Catholic daily La Croix makes a mockery of President Trump’s untenable position. It wonders how the same man, who once ridiculed the UN as a club where people gather to talk and have a good time, has finally decided just one year later to join the club himself.

 

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