French press review 27 August 2016

The French papers are preoccupied, as is the rest of France, with the decision by the country's highest administrative court to ban the burkini ban. The decision for the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet has implications for all 31 mayors who have outlawed the Muslim swimsuit. Lucrative contracts for French trainmakers and rising prices of milk also make headlines.

In an editorial in the left-wing Libération, journalist Laurent Joffrin rejoices that "the law and common sense prevail".

As it turns out, he writes, criticism of the anti-burkini moves by "errant mayors" was not just a sign of a blindness to the ultra-conservative Islamic cause.

The Cuncil of State, the keeper of administrative law, has now highlighted the weak legal footing and political harmfulness of the ban on the Muslim swimsuit.

Those mayors who are defiantly sticking with their decisions are likely to stumble when their cases come to court, he writes.

When that happens no longer will "police be under the embarrassing obligation to patrol beaches and police swimsuits".

Even if there is still a case for arguing that the burkini is a symbol of an archaic interpretation of Islam, Joffrin writes, lawmakers have reminded France that civil liberties must be respected in a republic, and that there are safer ways to fight against the fundamentalist threat.

The "wise men of the Palais Royal" have shown that "Muslims, like other citizens, have the right to be protected by laws in a secular country," he says.

Valls sticks to his guns

Despite the decision, Manuel Valls continues to denounce the burkini, reports Le Monde.

In a Facebook post last night the prime minister declared that the court's overturning of the Villeneuve-Loubet burkini ban "does not exhaust the debate that has begun in our society".

Valls backed the decision by French mayors to ban the religious clothing on beaches, while ruling out legislating for a nationwide ban the paper notes.

On Facebook Valls said "denouncing the Burkini is not a way of undermining individual freedom".

"There is no freedom that traps women!" he exclaims. "The burkini is a deadly show of a retrograde Islamism."

It is also, he added, a show of religious militancy by a minority in the public space; something he is deeply opposed to.

Few burkini fines have been dished out

Meantime, Le Monde says it contacted the 31 mayors who have banned the swimsuit and found only four towns had fined women, with most fines handed out in Nice and Cannes. 

Muslims relieved

Conservative Le Figaro asks what risks those mayors who are sticking to the ban are now taking and says "the debate is far from over".

While the president of the French Council of Muslim Faith Anouar Kbibech tells the paper "What killed in Nice, is terrorism, not the burkini", referring to the July attack in the Mediterranean city.

Kbibech hails the decision made "far from political and media pressure" to protect fundamental freedoms and says there is a sense of relief in the Muslim community from the feeling of stigmatisation being generated by the ban.

Giant contract for trainmaker Alstom

The financial daily Les Echos says French engineering giant Alstom has won its biggest-ever US contract, for Amtrak's new generation of high-speed trains.

The 1.8 billion-euro contract will see Alstom deliver 28 trains which will link Boston and Washington.

Strife over milk prices

Bread has already sparked off a revolution in France and dairy products probably could too.

Catholic newspaper La Croix reports on the conflict between the world's number one dairy products company, Lactalis, and its suppliers.

The failure of negotiations between the two on milk prices threatens to cause havoc as farmers get ready to block operations at the Laval plant west of Paris "until they win victory".

The company has announced an increase of 15 euros per tonne from 1 September, bringing the price they pay dairy farmers per 1,000 litres of milk up to 272 euros.

But the farmers say it is not enough, pointing out that three other companies pay  290-300 euros per tonne.