Skip to main content

French press review 30 June 2014

French footballers in the World Cup,  recent decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and the French school-leaving exam, dominate the front pages of the French dailies.

Advertising

You have to wonder about the lads at sports daily, L'Equipe. Their main headline this morning reads "Heaven's Gate," that inspired by the fact that the French footballers this evening take on the Nigerian Super Eagles at the World Cup, a place in the quarter-finals going to the winners. In the first place, it's only a football match. In the second, it's only a last-sixteen clash. What are they going to do for a headline if France make it to the final?

While the Nigerian press in counting on the playing experience of national coach Stephen Kessi in France to make the tactical difference, L'Equipe thinks the afternoon temperature will pose the greatest threat to French hopes. It's expected to reach 30° in the shade in the National Stadium in Brasilia by kick-off time. Senegal's coach, Alain Giresse, says it won't be decided by the weather. For Giresse, the Nigerian defence is suspect, but he warns that the Eagles are extremely efficient on the counter-attack. He expects to see a quarter-final between France and Germany.

Le Monde looks back two days and one century, to the Sarajevo assassination of the Austrian arch-duke, François-Ferdinand, the event which most historians accept as the final straw which made the First World War inevitable. The problem, says Le Monde, is that the debate about responsibility for the conflict remains unresolved. In Sarajevo itself, remembering the older conflict has stirred up memories of more recent battles.

Catholic La Croix looks at how judges judge French law, noting recent decisions by the European Court of Human Rights, by the Appeals Court, and the State Council, which have either reversed or questioned the wisdom of some recent legislation.

Both left-wing Libération and conservative Le Figaro look at education, the right-wing paper suggesting that the French school-leaving exam has ceased to be a real evaluation of student capacities, and is now a political weapon wielded by ministers to prove the efficiency of their policies.

Libé looks at the performance of the Education Minister, Benoit Hamon, and finds that he has rounded the edges of some earlier, and unpopular, reforms, but could do better on a serious overhaul of a system which produces too many failures.

Communist L'Humanité looks to Tunisia, three years after the uprising which ousted president Ben Ali, and finds a country still ravaged by poverty and unemployment. In the area close to the border with Algeria, illegal export-import businesses are the only functioning economic activities. But the area is also a fertile territory for a variety of armed islamic groups.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.