Skip to main content
France

French press review 11 January 2011

It’s a mixed bag on the front pages of the papers on Tuesday morning.

Advertising

Right leaning Le Figaro chooses to put United States President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the top of the agenda following the meeting between the two presidents in Washington yesterday.

We're told that the menace of international terrorism was at the top of the menu. Sarkozy, who has taken over the rotating presidency of the G8 and G20, apparently told his US counterpart that "weakness in the face of the terrorists would be a crime".

This obviously comes as France tries to come to terms with the killing of the two Frenchmen in Niger. It is believed, although yet to be confirmed, that they were abducted by members of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Le Figaro says that the threat from this group is of growing concern for the French government.

Le Monde leads with the fallout. The paper says that France fully assumes responsibility for its military involvement with the Niger army in the failed rescue attempt.

Alain JuppΓ©, the French defence minister, said the decision to pursue the hostage takers was difficult, but the right one. Meanwhile an inquiry has been opened in France to clarify the exact circumstances of the kidnappings.

In a separate article the paper looks into the backgrounds of the two young men, Antoine de LΓ©ocour and Vincent Delory.

De LΓ©ocour, the paper says, was in love with Africa. Engaged to be wed to a Niger woman, he had extensively studied the roles of early missionaries in Gabon and Congo and also worked with various Non-Governmental Organisations in Niger.

His childhood friend Delory worked in Information Technology in the town of Toulouse. He was described by his sister as someone who had a profound respect for others.

Elsewhere communist l'HumanitΓ© says that 75 per cent of the French population supports the idea of a maximum salary. The idea had been mooted by various lefties during the height of the financial crisis as a way of curbing salaries although I can't see any government implementing rules that outlaw the super rich any time soon.

Catholic La Croix is looking at the average price of the French shopping basket. Surprisingly in 2010 it fell compared to 2009 figures, even if it was just by 70 cents out of 130 euros, or half a per cent. The price of bread in supermarkets marked one of the biggest drops, 7.3 per cent.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.