French press review 20 November 2013

This morning's front pages are divided between celebration of the national football team's qualification for the World Cup and lamentation that the prime minister's promise to review the taxation system won't lead to any immediate reduction in individual tax payments.

First the football.

Libération wins the headline competition for "Rio, Bravo!", a variation on the title of the 1959 John Wayne classic tough-guy movie. Tough the guys certainly were last night, coming back from a two-nil defeat in Kiev last week to beat Ukraine by three goals and book their places in next year's Brazillian football festival.

Sports daily L'Equipe calls for "Respect", with an editorial saying this team which has, for years, been the victim of its own relentless search for the limits of mediocrity, managed in 90 magical minutes of passion, skill and cohesion to set the record straight and offer the nation something to cheer about. They won't solve the financial crisis, accepts L'Equipe, but at least they've given us something to dream about, a distraction from the everyday miseries.

Speaking of which, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault  has promised to overhaul the entire taxation system. Right-wing Le Figaro says it's just another attempt to defuse growing discontent among the paying classes and it won't work.

It won't work because there are already signs that increased taxation is boosting the black economy, actually reducing the tax take by something like 10 billion euros.

And what the country needs, says Le Figaro, is not more fiscal punishment but an environment which encourages investment, savings and innovation. If there's going to be a national debate about taxation, let the central topic be how to reduce the amount we pay. The rest is just window-dressing.

Business daily Les Echos notes that the prime minister's initiative has been welcomed by most people on the left of the political spectrum, criticised by the right and by the bosses union, Medef.

The real problem, according to Les Echos' specialists, is that the proposed overhaul is so ambitious as to be virtually unrealistic.

The government will have to consider not just individual income tax and the various levies on companies but also the way in which social protection is financed, the cost of labour and the level of local taxes. Each one of those areas is a minefield, each requiring the support of different social partners. Ayrault is to start meeting interested parties later this month.

It's not going to be easy.

Communist L'Humanité claims that one of the chief economists at the European Commission has now admitted that austerity has been bad for the European economy. Presented at the start of the crisis as the only way to get the trading bloc's finances in correct working order, austerity is now blamed for massive falls in the levels of gross domestic product.

A report by Jan In't Veld, described as the chief architect of the commission's economic policy, says that austerity lost France nearly 5.0 per cent of expected GDP growth over the past two years. Greece did even worse, losing 8.0 per cent.

Austerity has also boosted unemployment figures.

Le Figaro reports on research that seems to prove that a single cup of coffee after 5.00pm will reduce your night's sleep by one hour.

The caffeine causes a slowing of the pre-sleep mental processes and also disrupts certain phases of sleep. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that participants in the experiment that led to these conclusions felt they were getting as much sleep as usual. The research has nothing to say about the effects of a bucket of coffee consumed at 5.00am and that's probably just as well.