French press review 14 January 2012

Yesterday, of course, was Friday the 13th. Unlucky for some, its seems. Including France.

As you will have heard in the news, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded France and several of her European neighbours. France has enjoyed triple-A status for 36 years. One senior official recently described the rating as "a national treasure."

"If France loses its triple-A, I'm dead," President Nicolas Sarkozy told aides in October, according to the weekly Le Canard Enchaîné.

France is now rated one rung lower - at double-A plus and the economic outlook is judged as "negative". Naturally, this morning's French papers are dominated by the news. And not only its likely impact on the forthcoming presidential election, due in 100 days.

Aujourd'hui en France calls the downgrading "a degradation", "a thunderclap," and "a blow for l'Elysée" - that's the Elysée Palace, HQ of the President. The paper explores the consequences on business and daily life. If the cost of borrowing in financial markets becomes more expensive, small companies will find it tougher to secure loans.

For individuals the cost of mortgage loans is likely to increase and taxes may rise. What's more, with the risk of economic recession government expenses will be higher even as state revenue falls.

Aujourd'hui anticipates a difficult balancing act - a puzzle, it says - of how to raise taxes and reduce the national debt without squeezing consumers and household spending. A puzzle indeed.

The conservative daily Le Figaro seeks to put a slightly less apocalyptic spin on the news which, truth be told, was not entirely unexpected.

"France loses its triple-A," declares the front page headline, adding "the euro crisis worsens". In what looks like an effort to spread the pain more thinly, the paper notes that in all nine European countries have been downgraded.

Le Figaro's front page editorial remarks that France was prepared for this news. Still, by weakening one of the pillars of the eurozone, the paper says, Standard & Poor's has further destabilised an already rickety edifice.

They'd have us believe they are simple thermometers of economic well being, the editorial complains.In fact their predictions are self-fulfilling. French Socialists are jubilant it notes. But there is no alternative to current policy, a drastic reduction of debt, according to Le Figaro. If Standard & Poor's have convinced all the candidates for president of this they have provided a small service.

The front page of left-leaning Libération lays the blame where it thinks it belongs. At the feet of the French president.

"France degraded," howls the headline. And beneath it one word : "S RKOZY" (that's Sarkozy minus the letter A. Tee Hee!). Libération calls it "a slap" for the president of the republic. Especially as Germany has kept its triple-A rating. Inside the paper says the Elysée Palace has been expecting this since November but hoping, at least, that Germany's downgrading would follow.

There will be a "domino effect", the paper says. Or, mixing its images, "a ricochet". The downgrading will rebound with multiple victims.

Needless to say, though Libération says it, the bad news will complicate the president's bid for reelection.

Le Monde follows up on yesterday's opinion poll findings that increasing numbers of French people agree with the ideas of the party of the far right, the Front National. The paper opines that  its leader, Marine Le Pen, a candidate for president, represents a serious menace. For the right, the left and ultimately for France. We shall see.

The Catholic daily La Croix, which often ploughs a lonely furrow, ignores the rating bombshell entirely. Instead, it applauds the progress of women in Afghanistan, where, the paper says, despite insecurity, women are finding their voice - going to school, within families, even in public life. Afghan women, it seems, are enjoying an upgrade. Let's hope Standard & Poor's don't poke their noses in there.