French press review 22 March 2013

A pretty unanimous French press today, as three main newspapers, left-wing Libération, right-wing Le Figaro and financial daily Les Echos all open on the French government’s fiscal nightmare.

The 75 per cent tax on individual annual income in excess of one million euros was the most important promise made by François Hollande during his presidential election campaign, seen as a symbol of the Socialist government's efforts to guarantee fiscal justice while restoring public finances to health.

In December 2012 the tax was rejected by the French Constitutional Court. Today, the  State Council is expected to recommend that the government’s future supertax, imposed on the country’s top income earners, be limited to no more than 66.66 per cent.

The government has reached the limits of its promises, states Le Figaro, promises that have turned from a challenge to a dead weight, according to the conservative daily.

Les Echos considers the tax plan moribund, about to be definitely buried by the State Council, leaving the government in a quagmire.

As for Libération, usually more supportive of the Socialists, the paper also recognises the obvious failure of the tax plan.

In the middle of a major unemployment crisis and after the forced departure of budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac, President François Hollande is faced with a difficult 10 days, says the paper, and will have to face the music next week in a television interview.

Another common topic on the French front pages of Libération and the daily Aujourd’hui en France is Nicolas Sarkozy’s indictment in the Bettencourt scandal.

The former French president is being charged with allegedly taking advantage of the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old heiress of the cosmetic firm L’Oréal, and taking millions of euros from her.

He will now face trial and possibly a prison sentence says the tabloid Aujourd’hui en France, after at least four of the billionairess’s former employees testified against him.

Although Sarkozy is officially retired from politics, this scandal is a game changer for the upcoming 2017 presidential elections, according to the newspaper Libération, as the financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign is at the heart of the scandal.

And finally this weekend’s mobilisation against the French gay marriage bill, by the "Manif Pour Tous" campaign is on the front page of Catholic newspaper La Croix.

The bill's opponents are planning yet another march on Sunday.

The bill, which has been approved by the National Assembly, now needs to be validated by the Senate, and the mobilisation against that is still strong. The newspaper takes a specific interest in the Socialist government’s conception of the family, saying it reflects an social trend rather than a sustainable and stable way of life.