French press review 25 February 2012

The two main themes of today’s papers are opinion polls and the rather more light-hearted theme of skiing. Senegal's upcoming elections also make headlines in the French press.

Both right-wing Le Figaro and Centrist Le Monde headline with news that Sarkozy is slowly edging up the polls, whilst tabloid Le Parisien and Catholic La Croix send their reporters to the ski slopes, in what Le Parisien calls a break from the crisis.

The other big news in France is that the agricultural fair opens today, inaugurated by president Sarkozy. This is a bigger deal in France than you might appreciate, even more so this year, as all of the presidential candidates are courting the farming community vote.

Left-wing Liberation uses the opportunity to take a look at the state of genetically modified organisms. In Europe, GMO still has a very bad reputation, and although decisions are made at the state level, very few countries have embraced this technology.

North American countries are still the largest growers of GMO crops, but Brazil, Argentina, China and India are catching up.

Oddly, Burkina Faso has also joined the group of countries expanding its GMO. This is mainly due to its cotton being at risk of blights.

Left-wing Liberation chooses to focus on the Senegalese presidential election tomorrow.
Their special envoy in Dakar reports on the social problems within the country: malnutrition, and lack of medical and educational resources.

She compares these deteriorating conditions to the grand projects incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade has in mind, such as building a nuclear power station.

Many of the Senegalese people Libé interview do not agree with these projects when the basics are not assured.

Who's who in 2012 Senegalese presidential election

In fact, some think that Wade running for a third term is a disgrace in one of Africa’s oldest democracies. These sentiments are echoed by other French dailies.

Le Monde chooses to focus on problems closer to home, or at least in the French Republic.

On their front page editorial, they take a look at the problems brewing on the island of Reunion, where there have been riots for the past three days.

This is not the first time there has been unrest in the island over the cost of living. In 1991 and 2009, there were similar demonstrations of anger.

Some of the issues include staple items being imported at a high cost and unemployment, which is sky-high at 30 percent. More than half of islanders live below the poverty line and the minimum wage is lower than on mainland France.

The situation is not really calming down, despite the price freeze on basic goods.

Le Monde is not very optimistic, saying that given these conditions, it is a question of survival.

Libération picks up on the story about the 30 North Koreans, who the Chinese authorities want to send back. They risk being imprisoned, sentenced to hard labour or worse, as they left North Korea illicitly.

China seems to be impervious to international pleas to allow the North Koreans to remain, including calls from Seoul and the UN.

Also in Libé’s international pages is a follow-up on the situation of the heavily-armed Touareg fighters returning to Mali.

Over 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting between these militia, who fought in the Libyan uprising and the Malian army. This is according to the UN office for humanitarian affairs.

The displaced people are dispersing into the calmer areas of Mali, but also into neighbouring Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Algeria.