French press review 28 September 2017

Is France's 2018 budget doctored for the rich? What Europe stands to lose in Sunday's independence referendum in Spain's Catalonia. And PSG sends "here I come" message to Europe after Wednesday's 3-0 humiliation of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

The 2018 French budget tabled in in Parliament on Wednesday is on everyone's front page today, as President Emmanuel Macron kickstarts his drive to implement his business-friendly agenda for the French economy.

Le Figaro underlines Macron the new budget seeks to raise 16 billion euros in savings in 2018 through tax cuts for companies and families worth a total 10 billion euros.

In a key measure the draft social security budget will be subjected to a 5.5-billion-euro cut next year, with nearly 1,600 civil service jobs set to be axed, under his five-year plan to reduce the size of the public service workforce by 120,000 over five years.

But the paper underlines that Macron is walking a tight financial and political rope, the measures would leave his government with less cash to plug the shortfall between spending and revenue.
 

Le Figaro also observes that cuts to housing subsidies and defence spending announced this summer have already seen some voters sour on the new President, whose ratings have tumbled since he came to power in May.

The economic daily Les Echos relays the government's reassurance that the 7 billion euros in tax cuts, a 3 billion reduction in council tax, will benefit 80 percent of households.

The publication also welcomes President Macron's expressed readiness to take responsibility for the engagements he makes in the budget. This, despite mounting criticism from both the right and the left that the 2018 finance bill will not benefit the working class.

L'Humanité jumps on the opportunity to denounce what it brands as a "cornerstone of the labour law ordinances, asserting that it is "doctored for the wealthy and designed to destroy the French social welfare system".

The Communist daily says it is all about keeping the cost of labour down, instead of tackling the cost of capital and lowering compulsory levies, necessary for the funding of public services, this, "out of the obligation to please the German Bundesbank, Berlin and European Central Bank".

Libération looks forward to Sunday's referendum in Spain's Catalonia region where 75 percent of the population is now in support of the drive by the region's government and parliament for secession from the kingdom.

According to Libé, the people's vote will be a new stage in the long struggle that saw the tabling of 15 petitions for greater autonomy from Spain which the country's Supreme Court rejected.

Libération reports that 2.3 million Catalans representing 40 per cent of illegible voters took part in the last popular vote held without Madrid's blessing. The left-leaning publication also notes that the region is now led by sovereignist government backed by 48 per cent of the Catalonia's people.

It is the future of Europe which is being played out in Sunday's referendum in Catalonia, warns Libération, arguing that the region is not just one of the powerhouses of the Spanish economy, but the heartbeat of European industry, research and tourism.

Today's French papers kept their warmest words for Paris Saint Germain after their convincing 3-0 victory over Bayern Munich in their Champions League thriller at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

PSG now lead the five-time champions by three points in the race to finish top of Group B. It was a "masterpiece of football tactics", crow le Parisien.

The sports daily l'Equipe describes the emphatic win, "a statement of intent" addressed to the other giants of European football.