French press review 12 May 2016

It's all about politics in today's French Press review. While Libé  worries about the right wings econimic proposals, Le Figaro says the left has finally imploded. Meanwhile, La Croix takes a step back to take a look at how European countries have managed to pass their own labour market reforms.

DR

Libération headlines on the French right's presidential primaries.The left-wing daily had a look at the four main candidates' economic proposals.

It says that Alain Juppé, François Fillon, Bruno Le Maire and Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals go much further "than the already controversial government's labour law reform".

The paper outlines three main ideas shared by the presidential hopefuls: scrapping the 35 hours work week, less power for the unions and more flexibility for long term contracts.

Those are very liberal proposals and Libé argues that the French won't accept them. Jérôme Fourquet, a director at polling institute Ifop, says "the French have not yet become perfect liberals".

Fourquet argues that President François Hollande might even benefit from the right's candidates competing to see who's the most liberal. "Once Juppé, or someone else, is elected, reducing the number of public servants by 250.000 or cuting public spending by 100 billion euros will prove another story" he says.

La Croix wonders how other European countries managed to reform their labour market. The French government is getting ready to force the passage of the controversial bill, which promises to liberalise the labour market.

La Croix takes a look at what methods other European governements used when they adopted similar reforms.

In the Netherlands for example, dialogue between the unions and the employers, help write reform in a major way.

Looking at Spain, the UK or Germany, it seems that the key for success is rapidity. In the case of David Cameron in the UK, or Mariano Rajoy in Spain, measures where voted on very quickly after their elections.

You could also, like Italian President Matteo Renzi, use your political capital and popularity to facilitate the passage of a bill, explains La Croix.

It's hard to see, however, what François Hollande can learn from this, he's been in power for four years and his approval rating is at an all time low.

Right-wing Le Figaro is headlining on the no-confidence vote the government is facing. This one was brought by the right opposition but has little chance to succeed.

Le Figaro however, is focusing on the fact Left-wing critics in Hollande's socialist party failed by just two votes to bring their own vote of no confidence. For the paper it's the sign that, just one year away of the next presidential election, the left has split into two completly irreconcilable camps.

"It's the first time a party in power attemps to censor its own government" writes the paper's editorial.

And this is Hollande's own fault argues the right-wing paper.

"There nothing more in the National Assembly than a fractured socialist group" it says. "Hollande says that "France is doing better," while he is doing worse.