French press review 8 February 2017

The Affaire Fillon, the gift that keeps on giving, makes the headlines or finds its way into several editorials this morning.

Le Monde, on its website, leads with the latest findings from satitrical paper Le Canard Enchaîné that - on top of everything else she may or may not have done and been paid for - François Fillon's wife Penelope apparently received 45,000 euros layoff pay from the National Assembly. Laid off what, one might ask? It is still unclear whether she was working or not. And if she was, it is still unclear what she was doing.

Left-leaning Libération says that, despite the bright-wing presidential candidate's speech and sort of explanations yesterday, Le Canard is closing in on the former prime minister. It seems that when Fillon appears to be moving one step forward, something automatically sets him two steps back.

Although, to his benefit - yes, there might be a good side to this for François - while the first week of revelations was all about damage control, during the second he simply seemed “tetanised” says the paper and this time around he is retaliating almost immediately.

For his party's MPs, it is not so much whether they agree with Fillon fighting on or not - hey have spent the entire weekend being insulted by voters in their constituencies, Libé points out - it is just that they hardly have a choice any more, according to the paper. 

Defence and attack

Le Monde’s editorial starts off by saying that “in politics, as in war, attack is often the best defence.”Granted, Fillon tried to make amends with his PR operation on Monday, Le Monde says, but there was still a good deal of bad faith there.

The paper concludes by saying that maybe this bought him some extra time but it certainly did not clear up the doubt over the gap between what he says and what he does.

Right-wing Le Figaro brushes aside the topic of Penelope’s money, saying these are still allegations. The paper says the right should get its ducks in a row and stand behind François.

After his “sorry” speech on Monday, he spoke to his camp yesterday, saying that there was “no Plan B, there’s only a Plan A, A as in Attack.”

La Croix’s editorial asks how politics, “a noble profession", can become such a mess.

Macron mocks gay allegations

It is referring to Fillon, of course, but also to centrist and former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who had to reply to online rumours that he leads a homosexual double life. To be fair, La Croix points out, he did it with humour and gusto.

Speaking of Macron, he makes the front page of Libération, along with three other left-wing candidates, Socialist Benoît Hamon, far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Green Party Yannick Jadot, with this headline “If the left wanted…”

The paper says that, by extending a friendly hand to Mélenchon and Jadot, Hamon brings back memories of a successful left-wing coalition in 1997, la gauche plurielle (the plural left).

But, the paper says Hamon has yet to address the Macron.

Sarkozy faces more legal troubles

Le Monde, Libération, Le Figaro all mention this morning that Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial on charges of illegally financing his failed 2012 reelection bid.

The prosecution claims Sarkozy spent nearly double the legal limit of 22.5m euros on his lavish campaign, using false billing from a public relations firm called Bygmalion.

This should prevent him thinking he could be one of the Repûlicans' Plan Bs if Fillon has to stand down.

But La Croix’s frontpage headlines with “Yemen, the forgotten war.” The paper has a full article on the civil war raging in the country, with one of their journalists reporting from a refugee camp in Djibouti.

The article highlights how this conflict became a regional one, with Saudi-led bombings happening almost on a daily basis. Let’s not forget that Saudi Arabia gets the backing on the United States in this conflict.