French Press Review 9th December, 2017

France says farewell to Johnny, Trump sows discord (again!) and progress on Brexit, sort of.

It will come as a surprise to some readers that many of today's papers lede with what they're calling "Farewell to Johnny."

"Johnny who?" - you may well wonder.

It is Johnny Hallyday - born Jean-Philippe Léo Smet in Belgium - France's God of Rock and Roll. Indeed, it could be said that the Belgian born performer who died last week at the age of 74 was the country's only rock star - with an extraordinary career in national spotlight spanning 57 years.

Le Figaro tells readers that hundreds of thousand will follow his funeral cortège down the Champs Elysée this morning en route to a ceremony at la Madelaine church.

1,500 police and gendarmes will be deployed and President EmmanuelMacron is to join the tributes.

So are up to 700 bikers from throughout France who are to join the convoy.

They dubbed him the "French Elvis." Though Anglophone fans of "the King" continue to be mystified by the comparison.

Figaro spoke to Yves le Zallic, President of Johnny's fan club. "If you lost your father, would not you go to his funeral? Well for us, it's the same," he told the paper.

Reflecting on his life the paper muses "SEX, drugs and rock'n'roll? We know the style of Johnny, where rings with skulls and tattoos of Amerindians are harmonised with the cross of the thug: rock being as much God as the devil.

"For future historians who will study in serenity Emmanuel Macron's five-year term, the tribute that France is preparing to pay today to Johnny Hallyday will be very revealing of the values."

"LEGEND, myth, monument and often, very often, very simply," our Johnny ", the paper opines. "It's a passionate story that unites the political class to the rocker of the Republic.

Ah! Only in a land with Philosophy cafés and "Philisophe" - a monthly magazine devoted to

Meanwhile - most of the French national dailies continue to anguish over the escalating row over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.

For once - their views are largely the same.

"On the edge of the precipice" is left-leaning Libération's lede headline - accompanied by a picture of a tiny old Arab gentlemen with his hand on the hand of a tooled up Israeli soldier - whose own hand is on the barrel of an automatic rifle.

"Trump triggers a worldwide outcry," declares right-leaning le Figaro. "Donald Trump has chosen to unleash lightning in a sky already heavywith storms," the paper says.

Communist l'Humanité is more aggressive "A thuggish President defies the world."

Best selling daily Ouest-France states the obvious - "Israel-Palestine: extreme tension."

"Trump sows trouble" says DNA in Alsace.

As with much of what Trump has said and done during his first year in office - there's outrage mixed with incredulity.

Quite what's to be done about it remains as baffling as France devotion to Johnny Hallyday.

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The centrist paper le Monde sidesteps the Johnny lovefest with a story of rather more importance. Brexit: "It took more than a year to reach agreement on the least complicated cases.

"The UK and the EU reached a compromise Friday after several months of negotiations," is the paper's front page lede.

Le Monde calls it "the first steps towards divorce," and "the end of the first act."

The suggestion is - if you thought the first act was difficult – wait till you see the second.

What's more - the paper says - Friday's agreement lacked detail.

"The second phase of the talks - so hoped for by London - on the "future relationship" between the United Kingdom and the Twenty-Seven - will finally be able to begin - less than sixteen months from the theoretical date of the divorce on March 30, 2019

"But - European experts remain worried: with this last-minute agreement, they are only pushing the difficult issues to a later date."