French press review 9 February 2012

The cordial handshake between Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, a warning over French public spending by the financial watchdog, the Cour des Comptes, the industrial espionage at the heart of French industry and the school for lottery winners are among the top stories in today’s French papers.

We start with the conservative Le Figaro. On its front page, it features the handshake between the Socialist candidate François Hollande and President Sarkozy during a dinner last night.

“A duel between Sarkozy and Hollande will definitely take place,” claims the weekly on its politics pages.

According to a pollster quoted by Le Figaro, it looks like public opinion is entering the “crystallisation stage”, where the two main candidates are leaving the rest of the competition behind.

The second round of the presidential election could become a pure referendum “for or against Sarkozy”, says the daily.

On its special reports page, the daily publishes a piece on Libya. “Tripoli under control of war lords”, reads the title.

The paper’s correspondent tells a riveting story of rivalry between former fighters from Misrata, Zentane or Nalut. Once revolutionaries who risked their lives in battles, they are now fighting for military and political control of the Libyan capital.

According to the journalist, the armed groups who helped to topple the Khadafi regime, are refusing the central government’s efforts to make them lay down their arms.

They claim they are protecting the “weak government “. There is also the armed group of Abdalhakim Beklhadj who became the “Chief of the Tripoli military council”. The rival groups suspect him of having a “hidden islamist agenda”.

Moustapha Abdeljalil, the head of the NTC tells the paper that most of the fighters will soon become part of the national army. But some of the armed groups plan on entering politics.

The article concludes by saying “Tomorrow’s Libya will have two kinds of political parties. Those with an armed wing and those without”.

“The financial watchdog asks for real austerity”, announces centrist Le Monde. In its annual 1,000-page report, la Cour des Comptes gives Sarkozy's government kudos for keeping spending in check - the most progress they say since 1994.

However the paper says that if the structural deficit stays at its 2011 level, French state debt could reach 100 per cent of GDP by 2015.

Le Figaro’s media pages reads “The incredible health of Time Warner”. The “Harry Potter magic” is still intact, reports the paper, since the group’s profits last year increased by 12 per cent.

The Harry Potter sequel has for the 10th consecutive time boosted the profits of the legendary Warner Bros studios.

But Harry Potter is not the only reason for the exceptional profits of the company. The group’s television assets, like CNN or the HBO cable channel are in great shape. Must be thanks to addictive HBO TV series like Boardwalk Empire or the Game of Thrones.

The popular Aujourd’hui en France features two fascinating stories on its front page. “The curious practices of our companies" is a special report on industrial espionage conducted in some of France’s leading companies. Spying on competitors, employees or potential rivals – the report reads like a true spy novel.

And finally, how can you overcome your shyness if your are a freshly minted multi-millionaire? Aujourd’hui en France invites us to follow a workshop organised by the national lottery.

We follow 27 winners of the French Loto, Euromillions or other lotteries as they discover the delights of the Parisian capital.

This time the workshop includes a tour of the l’Opera Garnier. The aim is to make them feel comfortable in an unfamiliar setting. And if by the end of the day, they are still not at ease, they shouldn’t worry – more workshops are planned at the famous Le Drouot auction house or a gastronomic discovery lesson with Michelin star winner, Guy Martin.

Probably, a good recipe to teach the nouveaux riches how to spend their money in style!