French press review 01 July 2016

Brexit, and now "Boxit", feature in today's French press, along with coverage on the right-wing favourites for the 2017 French presidential elections, analysis of President François Hollande's interview in Les Echos yesterday and new paedophilia prevention measures by the diocese of Lyon.  

DR

The aftermath of Britian's decision to leave the European Union is being closely observed by the French press this morning.

Former mayor of London Boris Johnson has dropped his bid for the Conservative Party's leadership - a development which the left-wing Liberation calls a "Boxit".

The paper claims that Boris is a man without a plan - no plan for Brexit, no plan for the country and not even a plan to become prime minister.

"It makes you wonder," the Liberation editorial says, "how, as a dilettante, Boris has managed to plunge the UK into chaos with as yet unknown consequences." 

Brexit features prominently in Le Monde this morning.

The centrist paper takes a step back to look at the week that changed Europe.

It features a day-by-day diary of the key events since the 23 June referendum, beginning with a quote from the hard-right Ukip leader Nigel Farage who said: "I dare to dream now as dawn rises on an independent UK" following the Leave campaign's victory.

Le Monde ends its latest diary entry on what it terms "a new thunderclap" following Boris Johnson's departure from the race to succeed Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

Hollande's "hyprocrisies" called out by Le Monde

Elsewhere Le Monde takes apart an interview given by French President François Hollande to financial paper Les Echos yesterday.

Le Monde is keen to point out "François Hollande's hypocrisies" when talking about the economy.

The article highlights what it sees as inaccuracies in Hollande's Les Echos interview relating to France's unemployment curve, deficit, labour law reforms and economic competition.

Hollande is quoted in Le Monde as telling Les Echos that, "the cost of labour in industry has become less than in neighbouring Germany without the loss of purchasing power for employees".

Le Monde agrees that thanks to the effects of competitive employment tax credit, labour costs in industry are now lower in France than in Germany.

However, Le Monde says that, in all sectors, labour costs remain considerably higher on France's side of the Rhine and industry is therefore an exception.

Sarkozy and Juppé almost neck and neck

The right-wing Le Figaro features an exlcusive relating to a survey that apparently shows that the gap is narrowing between the two favourite right-wing candidates for the 2017 presidential elections.

In the first round Le Figaro puts the mayor of Bordeaux and former prime minister Alain Juppé seven points ahead of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Juppé, who, according to Le Figaro, seemed to have won the game before it had even begun, is not as far ahead as he was.

There is more drive in the Sarkozy camp, the paper says.

The director of the opinion poll, Emmanuel Riviere, is quoted as saying that the survey shows that the final result is not yet decided, even if Juppé is the real favourite. There is still great uncertainty about whom voters will choose.

Strengthening paedophilia prevention

The diocese of Lyon strengthening paedophilia prevention measures features as an article in the pages of La Croix today.

The Catholic paper reports that the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, has followed the advice of a panel of experts set up in late April. The paper calls the measures "strong and unequivocal".

After the establishment of a helpline and a panel of experts on 25 April, the diocese of Lyon yesterday completed its prevention system and fight against paedophilia by announcing a new series guidelines. These standards will be published in the handbook of the diocese on 1 September.

Barbarin has said that any priest who has committed sexual assault on a minor, "regardless of the date of the facts and the date of discovery of these facts" will be permanently removed from ministry.

Rent regulation outside Paris

Communist L'Humanité has an article on rent control being extended to the Paris suburbs.

The paper reports that rent regulation, which applied previously in Paris, will be extended to more than 400 municipalities in the Paris area from 2018.

This is according to an interview given by Housing Minister Emmanuelle Cosse to France Bleu radio.

Rent regulation is being extended because "there are areas in Ile-de-France [the Paris region] where rents are very high" and this measure will help "to restore purchasing power to households concerned", L'Humanité quotes Cosse as saying.