French press review 25 August 2016

Drops in unemployment rates preoccupy the French financial press while others look to the presidential bid by former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy and his tough stance on the Muslim burkini and immigration.

Financial daily Les Echos continues coverage of France's unemployment rates which are at their lowest since 2012 - below 10 percent.

In July the number of job seekers decreased by 19,100 over one month and nearly 74,000 since January, while long-term unemployment decreased for the fifth consecutive month .

The jobless rate fell further to 9.6 percent in the three months to the end of June while the number of unemployed people dropped to 2.8 million.

Despite the fall, the French unemployment rate remains high compared with some major economies. In the UK, it is 4.9 percent, in Germany 4.2 percent.

Call for more reforms

The Socialist mayor of the city of Lyon Gérard Collomb tells Les Echos "If the situation was better handled, job creation would accelerate more".

If President François Hollande does not rise in the polls and fails to gain the trust of some of the French, only the finance minister Emmanuel Macron and his tough proposals will help he says.

Sarko gets tough on swimsuits and migration

Le Figaro says that, in an exclusive interview to be published Friday in its illustrated magazine, Nicolas Sarkozy claims the French Republic has taken "too big a backward step".

The would-be right-wing candidate for the 2017 presidential election denounces the wearing of the burkini on beaches and talks again of his desire to do away with the "family reunion" law which allows foreigners who have lived in France for at least 18 months to bring their spouse and children with them.

The wearing of the burkini is "a political act, militant and provocative" according to the former president.

Those women who insist on wearing it "are testing the resistance of the republic".

In his new book Tout pour la France (All for France) Sarkozy proposes a law which bans "all conspicuous religious symbols" in schools, universities and government and private offices.

"If the Constitutional Council opposes it, we can reform the constitution or even directly ask the French" he adds, alluding perhaps to a referendum.

Camm for 'assimilation'

On top of that, Sarkozy proposes a "new and far more demanding policy on access to French nationality", based on assimilation.

An end to the family reunion policy he says is necessary, for as long as in Europe there is no "genuine and concerted common migration policy and protected European borders".

Prolific experimental author dies

Libération carries an obituary on the writer Michel Butor, one of the leading figures of the experimental 1950s Nouveau Roman literary movement, who died yesterday aged 89.

A prolific author who tested the boundaries of traditional narrative structures, Butor was best known for his 1957 book La Modification (Second Thoughts), a staple of French literature classes.

Peace be with us

And finally a bit of good will feeling in these days of mounting insecurity and fear.

Left-wing daily L'Humanité talks about its upcoming Fête de l'Humanité.

A few days before the annual festival begins at the park at La Courneuve just north of Paris, "for three days of concerts, debates, meetings and discoveries", Fabien Gay its director talks of "the urgency to come together".

At a time when some people "are inciting fear and social reclusion" due to the terrorist threat, he says, it’s important to talk up common interests and convivial get-togethers.

Nevertheless, he points out, all security measures have been taken "to ensure people can come to the event in total confidence".

His hopes to make the festival "an area of freedom, a laboratory of a world of peace, of emancipation and brotherhood that we want to build together."