French press review 10 December 2015

Today in the French papers it's all about the Front National agenda. Libération reports on cities governed by the far-right while L'Humanité worries over possible cuts if the FN wins next Sunday's elections.

DR

"The real agenda of the Front National" headlines newspaper Libération. The left-leaning newspaper decided to have a look at how towns governed by far-right mayors have been faring since last year’s municipal elections.

Reporters from Libération went to three different spots. In Beaucaire, a small town in the South East of France, locals seems to be happy about the policies of their mayor. “He cleaned everything up, and as a result, the people are not the same, if you know what I mean” said Tintin, a local, to the newspaper.

In Hayange, a city located in eastern France, not far from Germany, the results couldn’t be more different. The lack of preparation shown by Fabien Engelmann was made evident by various scandals, says Libération. "I want to remind those who might be tempted to vote for the Front National, that living under the FN is living under a little dictatorship” explains one local. The newspaper describes the "climate of terror" that has gripped the small city.

The problem, concludes its editorial, is that the Front National is trying to avoid drawing too much attention to what it is doing. It is, however, still doing a lot of hurt, it says.

Communist L’Humanité also takes a look at the French far right political project. According to the daily, "the FN taking over several regions would translate into great drawbacks in terms of democracy and social rights".

L’Humanité worries about the promise by Marion Maréchal-Le Pen to cut funding to Family Planning and local NGOs in the south east region. Local museums and theatres also have a lot to lose, with Maréchal-Le Pen saying she’s in favor of "a mass culture that would showcase our traditions".

Today’s Le Figaro wonders if people who didn’t vote in the first round of polls might change the outcome of the second round. "Mobilising the people who didn’t go to the polls will be one of the keys to [winning] the second round” explains the right-wing newspaper. The first round saw about half of the registered voters staying at home

On page two of the paper, Céline Braconnier, a Science Po Paris Professor, says it’s unlikely more people will turn out to vote. But, she says, “some citizens consider that voting in the first round of an election makes no sense”. This usually results, adds Braconnier, in a spike in the number of voters in the second round.

Finally, let’s talk about this morning’s headline on website Le Huffington Post. “Captain Hook, the Cop21 draft agreement contains 367 brackets instead of 939 (and that’s a good sign)” reads the headline.

See in French, Hook and square bracket are the same thing (Capitaine Crochet and crochets), hence this funny play on word. Clever, non?

More seriously, Le Huffington Post notes there’s still a lot of work to be done, with just 24 hours left before diplomats and negotiators have to turn in the final version of the Cop21 agreement.

Still, since last Saturday, the text has gone from 59 to 29 pages, and "the number of brackets and options has also decreased, indicating that a paragraph does not draw unanimous agreement from the 195 participating States", indicates the website. A sign that this year’s climate conference might end with a success concludes, Le Huffington Post.