French press review 17 June 2016

The French press this morning reacts to the murder of  a British MP opposed to Brexit as President Francois Hollande comes under fire for a "suicidal head-long rush" to ban violence-marred union rallies".

DR

There is an outpouring of emotions in today's papers following the murder in a street attack of a leading British Member of parliament supporting the "Remain" camp as she campaigned for next week's in-out referendum on EU membership.

Labour MP Jo Cox was shot dead in Birstall near Leeds on Thursday reportedly by an assailant who shouted the name of a far-right, anti-immigration group as he fired at her.

L'Humanité

The Communist daily continues its ranting about President Francois Hollande's threat  to ban all union protests against the labour laws if they continue to be marred by violence and attacks on the police by trouble makers.

For the Communist newspaper, this is clearly an attempt to manipulate public opinion orchestrated at the highest level of the state and that is just as visible Pinocchio's nose.

According to l'Huma, who believes that there is anything common between thousands of demonstrators and the thugs who have gone to the extent of attacking a children's hospital in Paris, the paper asks.

Hollande's ploy won't work,  the Communist paper claims, explaining that there are hard-won rights in France which can't be tampered with in a so-called vicious undignified operation which can only bring dishonour to its authors.

For the Communist daily "such a suicidal headlong rush to ban the unions from demonstrating will bounce back in the face of the cabinet like a boomerang".

Le Figaro

The conservative publication's front page splash is a new survey which it claims shows that the rejction of President Francois Hollande's by left-leaning voters is amplifying".

According to Le Figaro, the study carried out by the TNS Sofres OnePoint polling institute shows that "only 19 percent of leftist supporters beleive the head of state will be the best candidate to face the conservatives in the 2017 presidential elections".

Le Figaro also underlines findings in the survey showing that up to 87 percent of Socialists party sympathizers favour the organization of party primaries to pick their presidential candidate.

The right-wing paper satirize Hollande's catch phrase that "things are getting better", noting that it hasn't earned him the facelift he expected.

It also holds that "from survey after survey, he has disappeared from the screens with nothing in perpective that is likely to change the course of events", adding that "the President's fate appears to be a done deal.

According to Le Figaro, Francois Hollande now stands faces a dilemma. He can decide to forego his candidacy , which will make him the first President since 1958 who dis not seek re-election which will be a spectacular admission of failure.

For the conservative publication, he could also choose the option of contesting the elections and coming third on the evening of the first round ballot, which will also be unprecedented for a French head of state.

 Les Echos

It's worth observing that President Hollande has staked his political future on his record to tackle French unemployment. President Hollande will certainly find solace in the "things are getting better and better" front-page headline from the economic newspaper.

The daily states that "unemployment has dropped", pointing to the latest figures released the National Statistics Agency (INSEE) showing that" France's jobless rate could drop to 9.5 percent by the end of the year".

According to Les Echos, that would be more that one percentage point below the national peak for 2014 and 2015.

For the economic newspaper, the forecast means that the overall unemployment rate for the mainland and the overseas territories will drop below 10 percent for the first time in 4 years, adding that "the trend of growing unempoyment has finally been reversed".

The publication argues that "without the difficult foreign trade outlook, the economy's growth rate could have cheerfully exceeded 2 percent this year".

Libération

The left-leaning publication says is impossible to impose laws on an enemy who doesn't operate by the rules.

Thi,  as it contemplates the war of attrition taking place in Syria and Irak. As Libé observes, "the overwhelming air power of the coalition has become a double-headed lethal weapon".

L'Equipe

The sports daily takes up the alleged "bras d'honneur" brandished by midfielder star Paul Pogba as "Les Bleus' last-gasp 2-0 victory over Albania in Marseille on Wednesday.

Despite Pogba's claims that the gesture was his "usual dance " to his friends and family, L'Equipe says his defence was clumpsy.

"Pogba was clearly on the edge, and failed to contain his emotions", argues the paper. It holds that the"raised arm and fist gesture " which is a common gesture of defiance in the Latin world, was probably a response to media criticism of two underwhelming performances at Euro 2016 from a player tipped to be one of the tournament's stars.

The controversy started growing after beIN Sports television refused to broadcast images of the incident. The channel's chief editor, Florent Houzot, told L'Equipe newspaper that   it is not the time to create an unhelpful controversy".