French press review 31 August 2012

Drug wars in Marseille, law and order, the Roma controversy in France and the European economic crisis all find their way onto the front pages today.

“State disarmed by drug barons in Marseille,” gloats Le Figaro.

The conservative newspaper urges the government to take Socialist Senator Samia Ghali's appeal to send in the army seriously.The port city has become the scene of murders, holdups and trafficking of all sorts by criminal gangs, according to Le Figaro.

“Marseille is not a place for the army,” free newspaper 20 Minutes reports President François Hollande’s rejection of the proposal.

Le Monde wonders if Interior Minister Manuel Valls and the ruling left-wing coalition can leave their mark on the perennial problem of insecurity.

The newspaper raises the question after Valls’s predecessor Claude Guéant slammed the government’s plan to set up so-called priority security zones across France. In a special column in today’s Le Monde, Guéant states that there is a big question mark hanging over the government’s action so far. Does it want to protect the victims of crime or the delinquents responsible for growing insecurity in French cities, he asks.
 

Metro examines the evictions of Romas from illegal camps across the country. The paper says the policy, which has been slammed by several rights groups, is causing divisions within the ruling coalition.

Libération it takes to task lawmakers who won’t respect the Socialist Party directive against holding multiple elected posts simultaneously.

In the wake of the tumbling poll ratings of the president, due to growing public impatience about government action, Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France urges Hollande to get off the fence and land somewhere. The paper says divisions within the ruling coalition have compounded the problem of political clarity over nuclear energy policy.

According to Libé, the public crave results and people are dying to see what Hollande will do to resolve problems that are sapping the morale of the French people.

It is disheartening says, l’Humanité, to watch the “elephants idling at the Elysée Palace” while workers from a France’s sole tea factory Fralib stage a protest march to Paris.
 

According to the Communist Party daily, the workers who barricaded themselves in the factory for 703 days are seeking guarantees from Hollande that the plant’s Anglo-Dutch owner Unilever, which violated labour laws, will not be allowed to close the factory.

“The European economic crisis is chipping into the income of the Cac 40 stars,” headlines Les Echos.  According to the economic newspaper, while the best-off companies registered a 20 per cent drop in accumulated profits, estimated at 37 billion euros, their turnover is more robust than expected. This could facilitate a reshuffle of the star index, according to Les Echos.

 
La Croix takes up the problem of corruption and inequalities in China following the release of a rare opinion poll carried out on the internet. According to the Catholic daily, the study records growing pessimism over the state of the giant economy with more and more people openly expressing disenchantment over their economic conditions.

Sports daily L’Equipe as it weighs the chances of French teams qualifying for this year’s Champions League.  Paris Saint German, it says, will be up against “approachable opponents” Lille on course for a second place and Montpellier narrowly avoids a “reunion with its former star striker Olivier Giroud”,  just transferred to Arsenal, according to L’Equipe.