French press review 4 October 2013

The deaths of scores of African immigrants off the Italian island of Lampedusa takes the spotlight with several dailies, underlining Europe's failure to deal with the influx of boat people taking to the high seas in search of an Eldorado.

Libération puts the number of victims whose bodies washed up off the coast of the Italian island on Thursday at 130, with 250 others declared missing.

Survivors told the paper that the boat loaded with immigrants mainly from the Horn of Africa left Libya two days earlier. One of them explained that as many as 500 passengers were on board. A fire lit to attract the attention of passing vessels spread, forcing many to jump into the sea. He also said that several fishing boats saw the fire lit to attract their attention but didn’t come to their rescue.

The blaze ended up consuming the whole vessel. A fisherman who took part in the rescue mission told Libé, he saw an ocean of heads adding that it took them half an hour to bring their diesel-oiled bodies on board.

More than 25,000 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean in the last 20 years, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration.

La Croix says that the influx of immigrants into Europe is a reflection of the geopolitical situation on its doorstep. According to the Catholic daily, EU member countries are banking on bilateral accords with the immigrants’ home countries to stem the tide. La Croix argues that, by piling pressure on such countries to police their borders, the policy forces boats transporting immigrants to take to the seas in dangerous conditions to avoid being spotted.

Italy is under a state of shock according to Aujourd’hui en France as it stand at akimbo watching an open-sky mortuary in front of a pile of bodies in the small fishing port of Lampedusa. The paper notes that the government has declared a national mourning after police ruled out any hopes of finding the 200 passengers still missing including women and under-aged children.

Le Figaro also comments on the drama off the coast of Lampedusa. The right-wing newspaper speaks about the anguish of the island’s mayor, Favarolo Giusi Niccolini, who, according to the paper, couldn’t hold back tears as Italian coastguards kept offloading the body bags. Le Figaro says its head count of survivors stands at 151, mostly Somalis fleeing the war there.

Le Figaro reports Italy’s call on Thursday for more assistance from the European Union to deal with the sharp increase in refugee numbers. It notes that under EU rules it is up to the nation that is a refugee's first port of call to consider their request for asylum and to house them in the meantime. Le Figaro also recalls Pope Francis’s visit to Lampedusa in July when he spoke of shame and denounced the indifference of globalisation in the face of  recurring tragedy.

Aujourd'hui en France investigates the lynching of French nationals in northern Madagascar on Thursday because they were suspected if killing a nine-year-old boy.

The paper reports that the trio was burnt alive by hundreds of angry villagers in the coastal resort of Nossi-bé, after a rumour spread that they were trafficking in human body parts. Summary executions have become a way of life in Madagascar in recent years according to Le Parisien, with individuals turning into blood-thirsty executioners and inflicting people's justice on suspected criminals.

Les Echos confirms improvements in the French economy, after the public statistics agency Insee forecast a clear speeding up of growth indicators by the end of 2013. According to the economic newspaper, while French GDP is set to stagnate at the current 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, it will progress by 0.4 per cent in the fourth. This is despite jobless figures still hovering around 11 per cent.