French press review 7 November 2013

Iran, human bones found in the Mediterranean and the new centre-right block on the French political scene are the subjects today...

"Iran is ready for a deal with the West". That's the main headline in centrist daily, Le Monde, and it's based on a long interview with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

All that's required to secure the deal, says Zarif, is a change of approach by the western powers who have been pressurising Teheran for the past decade to stop enriching uranium because the West is convinced Iran wants to produce atomic weapons.

An end to sanctions and the establishment of trust on both sides of the negotiating table are all that is required, according to the Foreign Minister, who adds that the June election of moderate reformer, Hassan Rohani, as president is an indication of Iran's new openness. But Teheran won't be bullied.

The Iranian top diplomat says the world order is changing, and that the West is no longer such a big deal. The centre of power has pivoted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the West is losing its status, he says. As for Europe, it's just one financial crisis after another. "Iran can survive without the West," says Foreign Minister Zarif.

You can bet the negotiations which open today in Geneva are going to be a barrel of laughs.

The main headline in tabloid paper Aujourd'hui en France is worthy of Agatha Christie, or possibly Stephen King. "The mystery of the bay of skeletons" concerns the recent discovery of bones from four, possibly five, different human bodies underwater at the foot of cliffs in the very posh south of France resort of Cap d'Antibes.

One of remains, an arm, has been identified by DNA testing as belonging to a young man who disappeared in Paris nearly 20 years ago.

A skull, belonging to a different male body, carries the inscription "death to paedophiles" and has a target painted on the forehead in indelible ink, ink which forensic scientists hope will provide some clues to the identity of the killers, if not the victim. The two other bodies are those of women, both under the age of 30 at the time of death.

The Le Monde editorial is devoted to this week's launch of a new political platform by the centrist François Bayrou and Jean-Louis Borloo. This is not a new party, more a convergence of interests of two groups who feel they have enough in common to offer a credible alternative to the classic left-right divide.

But there are three points worth emphasising, says Le Monde.

First, the emergence of this new entity is conclusive proof of the failure of the conservative project as embodied by the right-wing UMP.

Secondly, the unification of the centre will create a voting bloc representing between 10 and 15 per cent of the electorate, and that could be a crucial margin in a close run presidential race.

Finally, and tragically, the centrist union is likely to come undone on the rocks of the French electoral system, which, despite presidential promises to move towards some form of proportional representation, remains based on the winner-takes-all principle which favours big parties. The lack of proportional representation hasn't hindered the rise of the extreme right National Front, but that's a different story.