French press review 29 December 2014

Major newspapers seem to think there is not much going on in France today, with headlines devoted to international stories - Afghanistan for Le Monde or Greece for Le Figaro. But there are still a few interesting stories involving François Hollande or the best artists of 2014.

We start with French President François Hollande and the communist daily l'Humanité who's taking a look at the president's strategy for 2015.

Apparently the Elysée, Hollande's team, is being quite optimistic when it comes to next year. 2014 was particularly bad for the head of state reminds l'Humanité.

Hollande is hoping the drop in the price of oil as well as the drop of the euro against the dollar might benefit the French economy. And it might actually work... the National Statistics Institute is forecasting a growth of 0.7 percent of the French exports for the first semester of 2015.

But that won't be enough explains l'Humanité. Hollande's austerity measures are still there and they'll keep suffocating the French economy.

Talking about François Hollande, he has become a heavy Twitter user...

There's an interesting article in today's Libération about Hollande’s strategy when it comes to social networks and the internet. There has been a shift, explains the left-leaning newspaper.

Just a year ago, the president would have laughed when asked why he wasn't on Twitter. But he changed. According to Libé, he now has an "internet meeting" every Wednesday. Hollande and his team are now very active on social networks, and hat includes Twitter, Facebook but also Vine.

This has a few advantages, it allows the president to react quickly to anything. His team of just seven people can share behind-the-scenes pictures and videos, and that helps to make him more humane.

Just to give you one example, last week the government's website offered crib sheet for Christmas dinner rows with a prepared set of answers to indignant questions about the state’s performance.

Finally Le Figaro has chosen the best artists of 2014. The newspaper's list is actually pretty nice.

They've chosen Adèle Haenel as one of the best actresses of the year. She starred
in one of the best French films of the year, Les Combattants, where her character decides to enrol in the army.

On the music side of things, Le Figaro is declaring its love to Christine and the Queens. And for once everybody will agree with that choice. The 26-year-old singer released her first album this year. The right leaning newspaper describes her live show as "astonishing" and her album as "graceful".