French weekly magazines review

The weeklies are dominated by the continuing Annus horribilis of President François Hollande, political tensions in Algeria ahead of Presidential elections on Aptil 17, and the changing face of France's relationship with Africa.

It is poverty-stricken Niger which has sounded the wake up call by asking the true price of its highly treasured uranium. Le Nouvel Observateur reports the French giant Areva is not dictating the terms anymore as Niamey is bent on renegotiating the terms of an accord signed 40 years ago granting France 87 percent of Niger’s uranium deposits.

According to Le Nouvel Observateur, President Mahamadou Issoufou says Niger will accept nothing below a shoulder to shoulder partnership, as he remains under pressure from his countrymen to claim fiscal reparations from the former colonial master. Areva has refused to submit itself to the articles of Niger’s new mining code passed in 2006 raising mining taxes from 5.5 percent of exploited resources to 12 percent. The trump card remains in the hands of the Niger leader, says the magazine, as he has the discretion to sell exploitation rights to other bidding countries such as China.

Le Point is monitoring the settling of scores in Algeria where it claims part of the military is opposed to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plans to seek a fourth five- year term of office in the April 17 presidential elections.

The man leading the opposition to Bouteflika’s candidacy is retired army General Hocine Benhadid. He granted a long interview to Algeria’s largest circulated newspaper El Watan in which he describes another Bouteflika term as a risk for the country. Claiming to speak for his brothers in arms, General Benhadid stated that another term for the 77 year-old Bouteflika - who can’t speak or stand after suffering a cardio vascular accident in May - would make Algeria the laughing stock of the world. Le Point says Bouteflika’s cronies in the army have brought their daggers out getting ready to face the inevitable.

Did foreign corporate chiefs fall in love with President Hollande after the seduction operation he hosted at the Elysée? They probably did, says the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné. It found the move 'daring', particularly for a self-declared enemy of the rich who invented the 75 percent wealth tax. According to the weekly, the offer was mouth watering by all dimensions, a pledge to loosen the fiscal noose on the neck of business, lowering the cost of labour and creating a more flexible environment for business.

For the weekly, Hollande is putting up an honest effort to succeed despite being dwarfed by a 19 percent popularity rating and staggering unemployment. If courage is an asset Monsieur Hollande can bet on, Le Canard says he faces a daunting task – that of enlisting the support of his electorate – which is not very enthusiastic about his new social democratic clothes a few weeks to perilous local elections.

Le Nouvel Observateur believes the President is a very solitary man abandoned by a burnt out government and a majority that has ran out of steam.

Marianne points to an element of injustice in the abyssal unpopularity hitting President Hollande, the absence of results in his fight against unemployment. It argues that he is paying for himself and for all his predecessors as 40 years of laxity, recklessness and sidestepping cannot be rectified in 18 months.

L’Express doubts that François Hollande can make France more attractive after trying to woo businesses with kind words.

 
As President Hollande launches the hunt for the 50 billion euros he needs to implement his responsibility pact, Le Point slams the written pledge civil servants got from Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault that their wages will not be frozen.The magazine notes the public sector work force has jumped from 3.9 million in 1980 to 5.3 million today.

Le Point looks at the absentee rate of public service employees across the country, calling it a "plague". A new study of French city councils found public servants in Montpellier took the most days off - 39.16 days on average per worker - putting the absontee rate at over 17%. Grenoble came second with an absentee rate of 16%. In contrast, the average absentee rates at private companies such as telecoms provider Bouygues and banking giant BNP Paribas were 3.8% and 2.15% respectively. The authors attribute the trend in Montpellier to low pay, lack of motivation and "the pull of the beach", since the city is by the sea. Le Point advises the Ministry of Health launch a vaccination campaign for French workers scared of falling sick to contain the problem.

Watch out for narcissistic perverts at your job sites. It's a warning delivered by L’Express after it uncovers the faces of a new breed of tyrannical service chiefs who harass, manipulate and humiliate their staff without remorse. It tells the story of an IT worker on the brink of depression after his “dream boss” transformed into a bully in a matter of weeks, later reverting to his earlier self as if nothing had happened. Such characters need a relation under influence to prey on, says L’Express. Doctors and lawyers consulted for the problem advice victims to run away and do whatever it takes to save their lives.