French press review 5 July 2014

The French press feels the blues of France’s early exit from the football World Cup. France’s narrow defeat at the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil is today’s front page story in all the national dailies.

"Dream of Blues broken by an efficient German side", mourns the sports daily L’Equipe. The paper however says the setback won’t put to question the “positive dynamics” created in Brazil.

"Adios Rio!" groans Libération. The left-leaning daily argues that even if Germany brought the French Brazilian adventure to a sudden end, the young team restored its image battered by the catastrophic South African campaign 4 years ago.

"Broken hopes", is also the headline Le Figaro chose to vent its frustrations about the German demolition of the French World Cup dream, posting a dejected Karim Benzema looking down in great disappointment as he walked off the pitch.

Ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s diatribe against the judiciary in the wake of a series of corruption cases against him continues to attract a rebuke from elderly conservative dignitaries.

Libération reports that the President of France’s Constitutional Court, Jean-Louis Debré condemned Sarkozy’s attempt to undermine the judicial system which remains the pillar stone of the French republic. According to the left-leaning newspaper the lesson on statesmanship given to Sarkozy by Alain Juppé and Jean-Louis Debré is absolutely justified.

Le Figaro argues that Sarkozy’s scathing attack against the judiciary and his projected return to the helm of the party calls for a redistribution of cards and undermines efforts to reunite the party before the UMP congress gets underway in November. The right-wing newspaper draws up a list of five factions or cliques which are in contention to chart a new course for the battered party.

You can find out about the rather bizarre alliance made up of Russia, Iran and the United States that is being set up to defend Iraq as a sweeping jihadist-led offensive by the Islamic Republic of Iraq and the Levant threatens to tear the country apart. The jihadist Islamic State (IS) now fully controls all of Syria's main oil and gas fields in Deir Ezzor province bordering Iraq, according to Le Monde, quoting an international monitoring group. It reports that the IS has declared an "Islamic caliphate" in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq, where it is spearheading an offensive against government forces.