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French press review 28 April 2017

The commentators watch in disbelief as French far right Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen engages front runner Emmanuel Macron in a "mano à mano" battle to become France's next President.

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Madame Le Pen paid an announced visit to a Whirlpool factory in northern France facing partial closure and outsourcing to Poland, forcing Macron, who was visiting the town, to hastily change his plans and also go to the site. This, as she tried to drag Macron into a tit-for-tat guerrilla campaign war.

But L'Humanité says Le Pen's selfies with workers at the doomed plant is nothing but political posturing and urges France's disappointed leftists to stop come the second round vote.

According to Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, despite the excitement and euphoria around the campaign, Macron should be victorious.

L'Alsace says the former finance minister "has no interest in exposing himself", pointing out that his plans will "depend largely on the size of his victory".

For la Charente Libre, a Macron victory will be good for everyone" since the major losers are already preparing their battle lines for the parliament elections that could revive their political fortunes.

La Montagne/Centre France, upholds the view that Marine Le Pen's objective is to score 40 percent of second round ballots cast and use the result as a springboard to boost the party's representation in Parliament.

An issue of grave concern to Libération is the abstention rate within the right-wing electorate which it claims is progressing steadily alongside a rise in the number of conservatives swelling the ranks of National Front voters.

For Sud-Ouest, such calculations are derisory, considering the stakes awaiting the country after the election of France's next President.

And talking about calculations, Libération comments about the unbelievable situation inside the French Republicans which just months ago was widely expected to sweep back to power in a landslide.

The Conservatives, it explains, have now run into a wall and on the brink of explosion, as Francois Fillon's electoral debacle has sparked a fight between progressives and conservatives for the soul of the party.

Meanwhile, as Donald Trump prepares to mark his First One Hundred Days in office, Le Figaro consecrates an editorial on how he is making his mark on the White House arguing that in terms of his approach to governance or his character, there is nothing to describe as Trump's style.

According to the right-wing publication, Trump swings from one end to the other, case by case and as things come his way, making decisions in an impulsive manner depending on the immediate interests at stake.

Le Figaro says that while this may look like a virtuous display of flexibility, Trump's style is lacking in coherence and an absence of vision. The publication urges EU leaders to move quickly to prepare the diplomatic response that's befitting to face the ways of the rather strange helmsman in the White House.

 

 

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