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French press review 7 February 2017

No surprise here this morning - right wing candidate Francois Fillon makes the front page almost everywhere after his speech Monday afternoon during which he apologised but refused to give up on the presidency

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Left leaning Libération headlines with “Fillon - the relentless” saying that in a very calculated communication operation Monday, the Les Republicains candidate tried to put an end to his many difficulties, and maintained he wouldn’t give up the race.

In its editorial, Libé says that the major problem with that speech is that it did not bring anything new to the table. Fillon persists on saying his wife was legally working alongside him, while she actually said she had never been her husband’s assistant.

Libé says his mea culpa seems genuine, but that the real message behind his speech was rather directed to his own camp, as if to say, “you can do whatever you want, say whatever you want, ask whatever you want - I will stay, and you know you don’t have a backup plan anyway” almost as if he was saying “you know it’s me or chaos, me or the Left”.

Libé says the reasoning is cynical but efficient, and concludes by saying that if the Right won some sort of hope for victory, democracy, once again, lost yet another battle.

Right leaning Le Figaro headlines with Fillon saying “I’m still standing”, with his apology to the French people putting him back on the campaign trail, all the while denouncing his “mediatic lynching”.

Quick side note, about that, Le Monde reports that Fillon even said that what the media did was over the top - nay, the democratic limit.

Le Figaro says he is determined to “set the country right” - which is quite ironic when you think about it.

The editorial says this is the moment of truth. We thought that Fillon was down, on the ground, knocked-out. But we were wrong, Le Figaro says.

And the main article seems to be leading the same way, since it says Fillon has chosen to strike back in the most unexpected manner, and the toughest one too: a press conference with 250 journalists.

That is what La Croix's editorial highlights as well, a press conference that was a brave and efficient response to all the attacks lead against him.

Le Figaro says that Fillon was delivered a violent blow, but that now, he was more determined than ever, especially since all the affairs brought up by the (mean, mean) press were all legal and he was completely clean.

La Croix argues that maybe he will benefit from a old French motto that roughly translates to “a fault confessed is half addressed”.

And if that may already be the case for his hardcore electorate, it might take more hard work to gain the forgiveness of the rest.

Le Monde, on its website, has an article that details the entire conference, so, it is quite useful if you did not tune in on time but want a thorough recap.

But within the paper's pages, there are several articles related to the follow up of the Fillon investigation.

And since we have highlighted several of Francois’ quotes from his speech yesterday, let’s get back to Mrs Fillon, Penelope’s best one so far: “I was preparing the notes for his speeches”, as if to say, “that’s all”. For 3,677 euros net per month. Yes, that seems really fair.

Only far-left leaning L’Humanité does not headline with Fillon - it does mention it of course, remaining ever so skeptical, saying that “he tried to apologise, and said it was one big conspiracy.”

The headline though takes another angle: “Will the Left be able to come together?”

It appears a turning point may have been reached yesterday, the paper says, and that far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon seem to be inclined to meet up, and who knows, join forces against the rest of the candidates.

Could the Fillon affair make this happen?

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