French press review 17 October 2015

French President Francois Hollande is under presure to roll back special pension schemes after corporate chiefs cut a deal with the unions on extending retirement age of business managers; scandals will wreck ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy's political return according to new poll; and France prays for a major upset as "Les Bleus" face the "All Blacks" in the quarter finals of the Rubgy World Cup.

DR

We start with reactions to the last minute deal hatched by MEDEF, the corporate chief’s federation with the unions on a supplementary pension scheme for business executives and middle income managers during crunch talks lasting late into Friday evening.

Le Parisien says that MEDEF reached an agreement of principle with three "moderate" unions, the CFE-CGC, the CFDT and the CFTC, on an additional year of service for retiring company managers to facilitate the replenishing of their pension accounts.

Le Figaro says that what the employers' union wanted was to put in place a “bonus and penalty” mechanism enabling managers to retire at 63 with full pension instead of 62 as prescribed under the provisions of current labour laws.

The right-wing publication underlines that the hardliner unions CGT and FO rejected the project but according to the publication, the signature of three out of the five workers' syndicates is necessary for the government to validate the accord.

The breakthrough inspired Le Figaro’s editorial about courage and contagion. According to the right-wing publication, President Francois Hollande, who is often quick at appealing for responsible citizenship, should face up to his – use the new sacrifices made by the private sector as justification to terminate the exorbitant special status pension schemes reserved for some categories of civil servants.

The judicial woes of ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy starting with the so-called Bygmalion affair about the illegal funding of his 2012 re-election campaign could cost him an awful lot, according to Le Parisien.

The paper publishes a new poll showing that two out of three French voters believe the conservative Les Republicains’ leader’s prospects of returning to the Elysée are very bleak due to the series of scandals dogging him.

The national dailies all look ahead to tonight’s battle between France and New Zealand in the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup in England. Le Parisien prays to the French Gods to revive the warrior spirit unleashed by 'Les Bleus' in 1994 when Philippe Saint-André, now the French coach, conjured “the try from the end of the world".

During the game in Auckland, a Saint-André counter-attack from inside his 22 sent the ball moving through nine pairs of hands, in a length-of-the-field sweep resulting in Jean-Luc Sadourny’s sensational try. It ended and 20 -23 for France.

That was 25 years ago. Now the “Blues are at the foot of a black wall” conjectures Libération, intimidated by the Haka war chant of the All Blacks.

For Le Figaro, facing the “untouchable” World champions is an immense if not an impossible challenge for the Blues.

The Sports daily l’Equipe would rather concentrate on 'Les Bleus' dream of pulling an blinder tonight at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.