French press review 27 April 2016

France's submarine jackpot made the headlines this morning, as the country's newspapers grapple with the morals of the defence deal. The Up All Night protests in Paris and Barack Obama's European tour continue to attract attention.

DR

Libération has taken a look behind the scenes of France's massive 34-billion-euro submarine contract with Australia.

Its government sources say that acquiring the contract, which should create up to 4,000 jobs in France, was no walk in the park.

France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had to engage in lengthy diplomatic flirtations with Australia, to see off fierce competition from German and Japanese contractors.

According to Libération, France's cooperation with the US and Australia in Iraq also came in handy.

But the left-wing paper is far from exuberant.

It says that a Socialist government selling arms on a massive scale is nothing less than a paradox.

"If we had the choice, we would prefer to see France excelling in the exports of products more useful to humanity", its editorial reads, even if selling weapons to a democratic country concerned about China's expansion in the South Pacific might not count as a diplomatic scandal.

Libération is keen to underline France's less scrupulous contracts with countries such as Egypt, Qatar, and Lebanon, which reveals France's increasingly cynical approach to the global arms trade.

 La Croix on the other hand says the deal shows France's influence in the South Pacific, which harbours 90 percent of the country's exclusive economic zones and should be celebrated accordingly.

The paper points to the fact that French is now the first foreign language taught in Australian schools and that, for once, France is making the most of globalisation.

Conservatives fed up with Up All Night protests

Le Figaro is lambasting government over its handling of the Up All Night protesters, who have been occupying the Place de La République in Paris for over a month now.

Worse still for France's conservative paper, some of the activists are now mingling with the disgruntled entertainment workers occupying the Odéon Theatre in Paris.

Le Figaro is venting its frustration across four pages, in a rant aimed at what it considers to be vandalism, anarchism and, at best, utopianism.

In its editorial it says the government has been caught in a trap ever since some of its members expressed sympathy for the movement.

The paper also has a go at the protesters themselves, saying they lack the spontaneity and the numbers of France's famous 1968 student uprising.

Le Figaro says “the Nuit Debout movement is being inflated with media helium".

Obama praises EU accomplishments

Le Monde is rather excited about US President Barack Obama's speech in defence of the European project.

He was speaking at the opening of the Hanover industrial fair in Germany yesterday.

The paper says he deployed all his oratorical talent to boast the European Union's accomplishments, in a speech reminiscent of the US President’s early days in office.

On a farewell visit to Germany as president, Obama is trying to rekindle talks about a trans-Atlantic free trade deal, which could unleash billions of euros in trade between the EU and the US.

He said the European Union was one of the greatest political enterprises of the 20th century, and that it sets an example of democracy for the rest of the world.

Le Monde returned the compliment with a flattering headline: "Obama's lesson on Europe".