French press review 23 June 2012

The deal reached in Rome Friday by the leaders of Europe’s four biggest economies on a 130-billion-euro stimulus plan for the eurozone and preparations for next week’s decisive European summit in Brussels attract most comments in the French papers.

Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France welcomes the accord as a commendable step towards boosting growth, tackling the bloc’s relentless debt crisis and soothing global worries about the hobbled single currency area.

Le Figaro argues that the deal is no victory for President François Hollande, who is campaigning for the redirection of some unspent EU regional funds and "project bonds" to finance infrastructure works.

According to the conservative newspaper, the Germans are deeply irritated by Hollande’s attempts to set the mutualisation of the eurozone’s sovereign debt and greater solidarity as a precondition for political integration, an idea strongly opposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti raised the stakes before the summit, warning that the Franco-German stand-off would leave the bloc vulnerable to attack by financial market speculators.

In an interview published by Le Monde this Saturday, Monti seems to be leaning towards the French position, as he urges the European council to act quickly to relaunch of growth, investments and job creation before financial and political integration.

Libération also headlines on the lines of demarcation separating Europe’s big four.

"The federal taboo" is splashed across Libé’s cover page, as the paper measures the height of the "federated wall" facing Hollande’s insistence that financial solidarity be a precondition for political integration. The left-leaning paper says the divisions underline the continuing difficulties encountered by Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid in agreeing a common objective.

Le Figaro also examines the political crisis that has broken out in Franc'es Green party, EELV, after Thursday’s cabinet reshuffle. It reports deep frustration and feelings of redundancy sweeping through the party after it failed to win the environment portfolio in the government, despite party member Jean-Vincent Placé lobbying intensely for it.

The post went to Socialist MP Delphine Batho who replaces Nicole Bricq, who goes to foreign trade. Libération reports that she was called to other duties after launching an offensive against ongoing oil exploration off the coast of French Guyana, leaving the Greens with the impression that the Socialists were caving in to pressure from the oil lobby.

Maverick European Member of Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who is one of EELV's co-founders, told Le Figaro that the movement has lost its soul as its leaders go chasing cabinet positions.

As the party holds a national council this week to elect a new leader to replace Cécile Duflot, who is now a minister, Le Figaro argues that the Greens are facing an unprecedented situation. The Socialist Party, which holds an absolute majority in the new parliament, won’t need them to implement its policies, the paper points out.