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French press review 02 July 2016

After days of Brexit news featuring heavily in the French press, the nationals take a look at matters closer to home today, including pollution prevention measures in Paris, the death of "the most famous of contemporary French poets" and the UN's take on the proposed French labour law reforms. There is also discussion about which city will replace London as the next world financial capital.

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One of the big stories in Libération today is a tribute to Yves Bonnefoy, whom it hails as the "great poet and translator", following his death at the age of 93 yesterday. The left-wing paper describes Bonnefoy as the "most famous of contemporary French poets".

Born in 1923 to a schoolteacher mother and a construction worker father, Bonnefoy's childhood was divided between the Tours family home and, during the summer holidays, the Toirac home of his maternal grandfather.

Liberation says that all the imposing dialectic developed in Bonnefoy's poetic writings and criticism is rooted in these two places. He was also a tireless translator of Shakespeare, Yeats, John Donne, Keats and Leopardi, as well as critical works, notably his interpretation of the representation of women in Shakespearean theatre.

Preventing pollution in Paris

Le Monde
this morning is reporting on pollution control measures. The centrist paper reports that the plan of the city of Paris to make the capital a "limited traffic zone" in order to improve air quality entered a new phase yesterday.

After old buses and heavy good vehicles were banished from the capital last year, it was the turn of cars and utility vehicles made before 1997 to be banned from circulation on weekdays.

Paris may be the first French city to establish a "low emission zone", according to the paper, but 230 European cities have already taken such steps, some of them 20 years ago.

Le Monde features an interview with Antoine Montenon, a researcher at the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks. He reassures readers that the low emission zone has a very limited impact on economic activity in the French capital.

Will London lose its place as world financial capital?

The financial paper, Les Echos, asks which city will succeed London as the global financial capital in Europe, evidently deciding that Brexit spells financial disaster for the British capital.

According to the article, The New York Times ranked the European cities best placed to become the next world capital of finance.

Dublin, Frankfurt, Vienna and Amsterdam all scored highly in the poll, with Amsterdam topping the chart - a city where 90 percent of the population speak English and where schools are considered among the best in Europe. Amsterdam is also near Brussels, which Les Echos describes as the capital of the European Union.

Paris, Luxemburg, Milan and Barcelona feature in the poll, too, but with lower scores. Paris, Les Echos says, is already a major financial centre and is the most attractive city in the EU culturally.

But its drawbacks include the fact that only 39 percent of the French speak English fluently and that Paris harbours a "hostility towards the rich", according to James B Stewart in The New York Times.

You might not think that if you go shopping in Le Bon Marché or dine in Place des Vosges, however.

Post-Brexit Conservative leadership race

Le Figaro this morning looks at the British Conservative ministers lining up to take over from David Cameron following his defeat in the Brexit referendum.

The right-wing paper profiles four contendors: Michael Gove, Theresa May, Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb.

Le Figaro dubbs May the "new Thatcher" and the "big favourite". Conservative in the areas of crime and immigration, she is described as being the "first elected female general secretary of the Tory Party in 2002", who is regularly compared to Margaret Thatcher for her charisma and experience of the country's politics.

UN concern over French labour law reform

Communist L'Humanité looks at a UN committee report stating its "concern" about employees' rights.

The committee, based in Geneva, "is concerned about the protections regarding working conditions proposed in the labour law reforms, including efforts to increase the flexibility of the labour market, without it being demonstrated that the state has considered all alternatives".

Young people call for a more equal society

Catholic La Croix tells us young people want to live in a more enterprising and less unequal society.

This is according to the findings of a competiton organised by the French thinktank, Le Cercle des économistes (the Circle of Economists), which asked students about their vision of France.

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