French weekly magazines review

Putin, Putin and Putin is headlining this week’s French magazines as the Sochi Olympics approach. But there are also questions about the euro and a look at changing dating habits in the land of love.

“Putin superstar,” L’Express headlines and, if you have access to the weekly, you should to take a look at page 36. There’s a gorgeous photograph of Putin riding a horse, dressed in traditional Siberian clothes.

More seriously, the magazine does a good job of detailing the challenges facing the Russian president. The weekly is, it seems, quite fond of the head of state. He is ambitious, strong and never changes his mind, it says.

"Magical Russia" reads the cover of right-wing Le Figaro Magazine. And this time I'm not kidding, there are quite a few beautiful pictures of snowy Moscow inside the magazine.

Le Figaro Magazine is also talking about Putin. The weekly even calls him "his majesty". A majority of Russians still agree with Putin's policy, it says. Despite the international community condemning the recent law banning “gay propaganda”, Le Figaro Magazine explains that at least 80 per cent of Russians agree with their president. Refusing to do as he’s told, that's one of his best qualities, says the weekly.

Marianne is talking about money this week.

“The forbidden debate… Should we get rid of the euro?” asks the cover of the magazine According to a poll conducted by the weekly, three-quarters of the French population is in favour of going back to the franc.

The headline might seem a little bit out of character for the left-wing magazine but be reassured in its editorial, Marianne says exiting the eurozone would mean putting far-right Marine Le Pen in power.

And to that the magazine has a simple answer: “No thank you.”

There is an interesting little article in this week’s Le Point. It’s about the new law forbidding dual mandates for MPs. Despite most French press and French people being in favour of it, the weekly seems to thinks it’s not such a good idea. According to Le Point, an MP also being a mayor only costs 8,200 euros right now. But that number will rise to 11,000 euros in 2017, when such dual mandates will be forbidden. That’s because the French will need to pay two different people.

That’s a difference of almost 3,000 euros. For the right-wing magazine, that’s not a good thing.

Le Nouvel Observateur looks at how dating is changing in France. The idea behind Tinder is simple, explains the left-wing magazine - the app will show you profiles of potential matches, you can then press yes or no. If you both press yes, you can then start to chat, and decide to meet … or not. Apparently, a lot a young people use only this app to date now.

For the weekly, this could mean the end of traditional dating. And you now how important romance is in France … at least according to Le Nouvel Obs.