French press review 9 June 2012

“The deal isn’t done", warns Libération, while pointing to voter turnout as one of the main keys to Sunday’s vote. 

Several questions are begging for answers, according to the left-leaning newspaper. What will be the extent of the Socialist victory? Will the outgoing centre-right coalition succeed in preventing a debacle? And will any Front National candidates qualify for the second round vote?

Parliamentary elections 2012

Aujourd’hui en France/Le Parisien names 50 personalities whose political careers are on the line. They include centrist leader François Bayrou, 25 cabinet ministers, and ex-presidential candidate Ségolène Royal who must beat a tough challenge from a Socialist dissident, as her eyes are set on the presidency of the National Assembly.

Le Figaro believes Sunday’s vote will be a duel between the left and the right. The conservative newspaper sees the vote as the third round of the French presidential election and a test of François Hollande and the leftist coalition’s right to govern.

For Le Figaro, “Monday will be too late”. Sunday, the paper says, is the ultimate opportunity for the UMP to stop President Hollande from implementing what it describes as a “disastrous” program for the French economy.

Le Monde examines moves by China to boost its slowing economy due to the fragile outlook caused by the euro financial crisis. China's central bank cut lending rates by 0.25 per cent, trimming the one-year deposit rate by the same amount.

Le Monde underlines that it is the first time in three and a half years that the world’s second economy is cutting interest rates to shore up slackening growth.

Dossier: Eurozone in crisis

There is a special issue of La Croix on the newstands this morning about the German Occupation of Paris in 1942. It is the result of an appeal for testimonies launched by the Catholic newspaper two years ago.

The seven-page supplement is a real historical document as it contains unpublished photographs of Parisian life in the 1940s and testimonies about the campaign of terror, arrests, detentions and deportations perpetrated by Nazi police.

These were times of great desperation for the people of France, comments the Catholic daily. There is a moving photograph on the cover page of an old man crossing a street in central Paris. He is wearing the 'Yellow Star' enforced on Jews by the Nazis during the occupation of France.