French press review 14 December 2012

Europe takes a first step towards banking union. Socialists get cosier with capitalists. Hollande tries to improve his public relations. How French MPs get through 150 million euros a year. Will we ever learn the truth about the 1957 death of a Communist mathematician in Algeria? Or the more recent killing of seven French monks?  And Catholics and right-wingers gather their loins for the fight against gay marriage.

Le Monde celebrates a great leap forward for the European Union - a deal which would see the eurozone's largest banks come under the aegis of the European Central Bank from March 2014.

According to the paper, it is not a simple political deal but a first step on the path to what EU leaders hope will become a fully fledged banking union. Le Monde believes it will pave the way for the European bailout funds to recapitalise directly struggling banks.

Le Monde has also been investigating the quite surprising rapprochement between two estranged bedfellows: the government and the business chiefs' union the Medef. The paper tells the fascinating inside story of a meticulous effort at dialogue and transparency by government negotiator Patrick Bernasconi. According to the paper, negotiations involving the two partners opened in October and could culminate in a deal by 20 December.

Les Echos has breaking news about the arrival in a matter of days of a presidential communications chief at the Elysée Palace. He is Claude Serillon a former television presenter. The paper says President François Hollande is anxious to recoup his standing and put an end to the gaffes that have marred his coming to office.

Aujourd’hui en France has revelations on the lavish spending going on at the National Assembly, publishing for the very first time the undisclosed goldmine placed at the disposal of lawmakers.

The total: 150 million euros annually.

The cash reserve is one of the best kept secrets of the republic, says the paper and it names five top lawmakers who took the lion’s share in 2010, Philippe Mariani, the rapporteur of the finance commission enjoying the right to spend four million euros all by himself.

 
Le Figaro is also stunned by the revelations and publishes a special supplement on the follies of French elected officials.  

As Hollande prepares for his historic state visit to Algeria next week, the Communist Party daily L’Humanité is urging him to lift the veil over the alleged murder of a young Communist mathematician by French colonial troops in Algiers in 1957.

Maurice Audin’s remains were never found but L’Huma believes he was tortured to death, basing its assumptions on the fact that none of Hollande’s predecessors felt a sense of urgency to investigate his disappearance.

La Croix publishes an open letter sent to Hollande by the lawyer of the families of the seven French monks massacred at a monastery in the Algerian neighbourhood of Tibhirine. The lawyer is urging the president to get Algerian officials to stop dragging their feet and speed up investigations into the gruesome killings.

 
Le Figaro's editorial looks at same-sex marriages and the controversial issue of medically assisted reproduction. The paper underlines the hardening resolve of opponents of the “marriage for all” reform being pushed by the government.

They are threatening massive demonstrations all over France on 13 January when the draft bill is due to be tabled in parliament.