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French press review 18 October 2011

The Socialist Party candidate François Hollande, more on the saga of L'Oréal's Bettencourt family, and allegations of spying on journalists all feature on the pages of the French press today.

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Much of the French left-wing press continues to lead with stories of François Hollande's victory in the second round of the Socialist Party primaries on Sunday.

Centrist Le Monde's front-page headline reminds Hollande of the challenge ahead -  uniting the left and widening his appeal to voters.

On page three of the paper, the PS are showing a united front, particularly with the supporters of Martine Aubry, beaten by Hollande in the second round, giving him their full support.

In Le Monde's editorial, Erik Izraelwicz argues that, in fact, the main winner of the primary elections is the primary elections themselves.

He claims that they are a great innovation, which attracted scepticism from the right, but that the six-month process has proved that objections to this experiment in participative democracy have been swept away.

However, he remarks wryly, it is curious that this innovation should come from an American model.

The communist paper L'Humanité endorses what it sees as the new prestige of the left with the headline: "Our choice, the Left front.'

In its editorial, it hails the what it calls the eruption of leftist aspirations on the Socialist Party scene. It also encourages the left to work closely with trade unionists, activists and those it terms "progressives".

Libération, another left-wing newspaper, is quick to pick up on the slow response of the right to Hollande's victory. It cites disunity in President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, the UMP, as a reason for the lack of a coherent response.

Le Figaro wonders if Sarkozy expected Aubry to win as it is 'institutionally logical', referring to the fact that Aubry has more experience in government than Hollande.

The Right-wing daily also reports on its front page that current President Sarkozy's UMP is 'launching its offensive against Hollande.'

It points to Hollande's inexperience in government, despite being party secretary for ten years, and inconsistencies in the Socialist Party agenda.

Still on the primaries, Aujourd'hui en France looks to the future, with the headline Sarkozy-Hollande: le match a commencé (the match has begun).

In its two-page spread, it compares the two men, who know each other very well, as both have been in politics for decades. The daily claims that there is no real animosity between the two but they have very different ways of working.

Aujourd'hui en France leads with the story that billionaire Liliane Bettencourt has been, as they put it, 'dispossessed of her fortune.' The story is that the 88-year-old has been put under the guardianship of her daughter.

The daughter, Françoise Meyers-Bettencourt, accused one of her mother's friends of swindling her out of money and she believes that her mother is no longer capable of managing even her daily finances.

On a two-page spread the paper displays a timeline and graphics showing how the family amassed its fortune in the first place.

Linked to the saga of the Bettencourt mother and daughter is the Woerth-Bettencourt affair. Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign manager, Eric Woerth, is alleged to have received illicit campaign payments from Liliane Bettencourt.

Woerth resigned over the affair, though he denies any wrongdoing. But another person is now under the spotlight. Bernard Squarcini, head of the French intelligence service, is facing questions about alleged snooping on journalists at Le Monde who were investigating the story.

Liberation's front page reads 'Sarkozy's cop is being questioned'. Whilst the left-wing paper stops short of calling for Squarcini to step down, it pointedly mentions an earlier  interview with Interior minister Claude Guéant who said that the day that there is a ruling, he will take action.

 

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