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French press review 27 March 2014

Ukraine and Sunday's second round of the French local elections are the main topics today ...

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Catholic La Croix continues to give front page prominence to the situation in Ukraine, or rather to the international paralysis in the face of Russian moves towards regional expansion. The catholic paper says Barack Obama wants Europe to stand firm against perky Putin, but he might as well be asking a bunch of drunks to dance Swan Lake.

The La Croix editorial points to the fact that this week sees the presidents of the United States and of the People's Republic of China both visiting Europe, an indication that the old continent remains globally important. But that status is slipping. The European elections in May will be an occasion to set things right, says La Croix, or at least to start adapting Europe to the new, global realities.

Before we get to the bright new dawn of those European elections, we have to survive the French local equivalent, still rated as the top story by four of the nation's dailies.

Le Monde's main headline says the Green Party is in a position of strength relative to the struggling Socialists. Paris, Nantes, Toulouse and Grenoble are four of the cities where the ruling party could do with a second-round boost from their ecological allies. But that sort of help comes at a price in policies, and it's hard to see any serious narrowing of the gulf between the Greens and the Socialists.

In more prosaic terms, communist L'Humanité warns readers what it will cost them in hard cash and fewer services if they elect a conservative UMP mayor next Sunday.

L'Huma says all UMP candidates have signed the party charter, which is basically a beefed-up version of Sarkozyism. A vote for them will mean the return, says L'Huma, of social apartheid, fewer public services and more pressure on the most fragile . . . the poor, the homeless and those on the dole.

There could be some surprising direct impacts too. Le Monde reports reaction to the declaration by Olivier Py, director of the Avignon Theatre Festival, that the southern French city would lose the annual thespian fest if an extreme right mayor gets elected. The National Front candidate goes into the second round narrowly leading the socialist contender.

Local voices have been raised to protect the future of the festival, synonomous with Avignon since 1947. But there are conflicting artistic and commercial pressures. Local businesses have an interest in the well-heeled visitors the theatre festival attracts, and the profile it gives the city in the global arts and culture landscape. A consortium of local artists has, however, warned that the precedents in cities directed by extreme right mayors are not inspiring. They have, says the group, killed off innovative projects and damaged the local contemporary arts scene, in order to promote parts of the artistic heritage that can best be described as dormant.
 

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