French press review 9 January 2017

It is a bit of a mix between the upcoming Socialist Party primaries and US politics that make the headlines, which might carry on for another ten days or so when they both come to an end.

Le Figaro leads with exclusive results of yet another poll about who is going to win or not the Socialist ticket.

And it headlines, “Can Manuel Valls loose the primaries?” because, according to the survey, the former Prime Minister could be beaten at the second round by Arnaud Montebourg, and would tie with Benoit Hamon in case they both made it to round two.

Granted, Le Figaro takes it with a pinch of salt by underlining the fact that polls tend to get it wrong, but still, it begs the question, can this reveal a serious turn in the campaign? The paper says, if anything, this should serve as a warning to Valls.

Le Figaro says that on the other hand, this should brighten Montebourg’s day, who might have been worried these past days with Hamon’s positive dynamic. The paper’s editorial simply states that Valls has become the Socialist Party’s dead-end, and French people just do not want him anymore.

But this should also please former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who believes that socialists who don’t believe in Valls' kind of politics might join his ranks.

And speaking of Macron, Le Monde has him on its cover this morning as well, with the headline “Macron’s buble isn’t bursting, and that worries his rivals.”

Four months ago, political figures all said pretty much the same thing, the paper reports: Macron is “a hologram” said Democratic Movement François Bayrou; “he is the media’s candidate” according to Socialist Montebourg; “He’s surfing on wind, he’s only fashionable right now” said Far-right Front National Marine Le Pen; “the French will never trust someone with no experience” said Les Républicains’ François Fillon.

And whether they like it or not… he’s still here Le Monde says.

And again, this passion for Macron can be found in polls where he is making slow but sure progress. And that definitely makes the left candidates edgy, because they fear, the paper says, that their main argument against Macron, which was 'tactical voting', might collapse. What will happen if Macron scores twice as much as the Socialist candidate? the paper wonders.

Libération leads with this headline “Goodbye Obama” saying that the outgoing president only has a few more days to reinforce his legacy.

The paper gives a lengthy article on President Barack Obama, saying that after his last address tomorrow, he will only have ten days to defend his four main political moves, before Donald Trump destroys everything when he gets to the White House.

One: the environment. Since Trump has clearly little concern for it, the paper says, citing the fact that he wanted to get rid of the Paris agreement, then he said that maybe not. But then he appointed ExxonMobil’s ex-CEO and a climate change skeptic to his government. So Obama took action by protecting even more land, to make sure it was beyond the reach of Trump.

Two: Russia. Now that it seems clear, the paper says, that President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of the election, Obama made sure this would make the headlines for the past weeks. And he finally took action against Russia.

Three: Israel. By choosing not to vote in the last UN Security Council ruling late December, the move enhanced the already quite rotten relations between the two countries. Trump already said things would change. No doubt, the paper says, since his next appointed ambassador to Israel is completely against a Palestinian State.

And finally, number four, protect the Muslims. Obama decided to dismantle the programme that checks on men who are mainly arab and muslim, which enabled to put on file over 80 000 so far.

This echoes Le Monde’s editorial which headlines “the inconsistencies of the president elect” and which comes back to what was said right after the elections: that the handover would be smooth when obviously, the paper says, it is not the case.

This is regrettable, says Le Monde, since this conflict puts the US in an more vulnerable position towards Russia, but also China. The paper concludes that, from a European perspective this can only be bad news.