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French press review 20 April 2015

Possible flaws in a new law governing negotiations between employers and staff, the misspending of World Bank funds by independent investors and another immigrant disaster in the Mediterranen. These are some of this morning's main stories.

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Le Monde's main story suggests that the new law on what the French call "social dialogue", basically the talks between workers and employers that lead to strike action, is intended to offend nobody. Which sounds like a bad basis for a law and means that the final text will probably please nobody, either.

The last big employer-union meeting, in January, was a complete fiasco. Labour Minister François Rebsamen claims that his new proposals will mark a major step forward, ensuring constructive communication between bosses and workers and supporting workers' rights.

Le Monde concludes that the text is relatively balanced, taking account of trade union demands while respecting the requirements of the bosses. How the bill will fare under parliamentary debate is another question.

The main story in L'Humanité looks at how World Bank money is being used to rip off the poor, the very people the World Bank is supposed to be helping.

According to the communist daily, the bank turns money over to speculative funds and then closes its eyes to the social, economic and environmental side-effects of investments that are too frequently judged for their cash return to the investing funds, rather than the long-term benefits to struggling populations.

The World Bank loaned 36 billion dollars to financial intermediaries between 2009 and 2013, says L'Huma, 50 per cent more than the bank spent on health or education over the same period.

According to the British charity Oxfam, many of the projects supported by World Bank money have led to human rights abuses and social and environmental destruction.

Under the ringing headline "The end of the testosterone tyranny,' Le Monde looks at the emergence of Hillary Clinton as the most serious Democratic contender for next year's US presidential battle.

Whether she eventually makes it all the way to the White House is not the crucial question, according to Le Monde. Her rise to real political influence marks a change in the US psyche, with women shaking off the trappings of a crucial but secondary force.

The centrist daily illustrates the change with a story concerning a car trip made by Hillary and Bill Clinton near Little Rock, Arkansas, when Bill was the US president.

When they stopped for petrol, Bill watched the poor pump attendant struggle in his sweaty overall, before saying to his wife: "Think how lucky you are. You could have ended up married to that guy instead of me." To which Hillary replied: "No, Bill, if I'd married him, he'd now be president of the United States."

Le Monde compares the Clinton couple to the Obamas, where legal genius Michelle, gradute of Princeton and Harvard, has taken her "proper" place in the shadow of her husband. Le Monde wonders how long it will be before Michelle Obama decides to launch her own political career.

If Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and Christina Kirchner of Argentina both felt obliged to make visits to the cosmetic surgeon, Hillary is adamant that women politicians should not be judged on their looks.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown the way forward for her contemporaries. Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir and Indira Gandhi played hardball with their male colleagues. But that era is, more or less, past.

The macho struttings of George Bush, Silvio Berlusconi and Nicolas Sarkozy now seem worse than ridiculous. We just have to get rid of testosterone trooper Vladimir Putin and Bob's your aunty.

Libération, Le Figaro and La Croix all give prime coverage to the latest immigrant tragedy in the Mediterranean, with as many as 700 people feared drowned in the latest disaster involving refugees desperate to reach the gleaming towers of Europe.

The Italian government wants the European partners to meet urgently. Because it is clear that the old continent currently has nothing like a humane and workable policy to deal with the refugees and the traffickers who take advantage of them.

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