French press review 24 July 2015

What next for French farmers blocking holiday roads in demand for increased food prices? The French press also focuses on US President Barack Obama restoring the broken pride of Kenyans as he visits the land of his ancestors, and the bitter tug-of-war over the life or death of quadriplegic Frenchman Vincent Lambert sees more drama.

The papers are all about the blockade of major arteries between Paris and northern France by crisis-hit farmers enraged by falling food prices and increased competition which has worsened the traditional French summer heat wave not just for holiday makers but also for the government.

Farmers blocked access roads and motorways and hindered tourists from reaching their destinations, especially Mont Saint-Michel in northern France, one of the country's most visited sites.

L’Humanité blames the exasperation and anger on a combination of changing dietary habits here in France where consumers are eating less meat and foreign competition drives down the prices for pork, beef and milk.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll has said that around 10 per cent of farms in France, or about 22,000 operations, are on the brink of bankruptcy with a combined debt of 1 billion euros, according to the conservative FNSEA farming union. More so, pledges made by retailers and food industry chiefs to raise prices on meat and dairy after meeting farmers in June have yet to filter down to them.

Le Monde examines the 24 measures offered by the government to nip in the bud what appears to be snowballing into a crisis similar to the “bonnets rouges” or “Red Caps” toll gate revolt staged in Brittany in 2012. The emergency package includes a plan to waive around 100 million euros in taxes, a 500-million-euros guarantee for loans contracted at France's public investment bank by farmers and a 500-million-euro scheme to grant farm owners more time to pay their debts and taxes.

According to the Communist party newspaper the report submitted by the mediator to the minister of agriculture on the application of the accord, destined to raise meat prices by 5 cents per kilo in a fazed-out process over 10 weeks, was nothing more than a cut of rum steak.

This is after President François Hollande rushed to Dijon in eastern France to meet officials from the agricultural industry on Thursday. For Le Figaro the government is in a state of panic, terrified by the prospects of a long-drawn battle with the farmers. After the meeting Hollande appeared helpless, insisting instead that consumers play their role by “eating French-produced food as much as possible."

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, from the centre-right Les Républicains party, dismissed the government's emergency proposal as "not up to the task", visibly eager to exploit the crisis for political gain. The group's parliamentary leader Christian Jacob   a former right-wing agricultural union leader   said the crisis plan was "an exercise in spin-doctoring."

La Croix, says there are no signs of the mobilisation slowing down. That’s an issue of grave concern to the government according to the Catholic daily, especially as it could spread into the holiday season, a few months away from regional elections.

US President Barack Obama’s maiden visit to his father’s homeland comes under the scrutiny of Libération. According to the paper, the visit made was made possible after the International Criminal Court lifted the indictment of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto for crimes against humanity committed during the post-election violence in 2007. Obama, it says, is the only man capable of reuniting Kenyans divided by the wounds of the cycle of political clashes in which 1,300 people were killed.

More so, according to the journal, the United States and Kenya are key allies in the war on terror waged against ,Somalia’s al-Shebab Islamists. Notwithstanding Washington’s irritation with Nairobi’s poor record on corruption, Libération argues that pride may be the most important gift Obama takes to the land of his ancestors.

Libération pitched its front page story on the mysterious bacteria decimating thousands of olive trees in southern Italy, following its discovery of the Xylella fastidiosa virus in the French Riviera area of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The bacteria which have no cure are easily transported by insects, according to Le Monde, which speaks about a delirious situation. The left-leaning paper sounds warnings by olive farmers that there won’t be a single drop of the highly-priced olive oil in 10 years if nothing is done to eradicate the virus.

The surprise posting of 513,000 jobs by the Spanish economy draws contrasting reactions from some of Friday’s French papers. Le Monde says the country’s growth rate is expected to reach 3.3 per cent in 2015 even though unemployment is forecast to remain at a 22.37 per cent high.

And the case of the severely brain-damaged Frenchman Vincent Lambert took a surprising turn Thursday as doctors refrained from stopping the intravenous feeding that is keeping him alive. The doctors instead suspended the decision pending a court ruling on who qualifiez to be his legal guardian.

According to Le Figaro, the doctors’ declaration that the decision to stop treatment could not be taken medically due to the threats and pressures bring a new twist to the marathon legal battle that has gone all the way to the European rights court. The right-wing publication says that pro-life activists have called for Lambert or members of his medical team to be kidnapped in a blog circulating online.

The case has pitted Lambert’s wife Rachel and six of his siblings   who insist the 38-year-old former psychiatric nurse would never have wanted to be kept alive artificially   against his devout Catholic parents in a bitter legal tug-of-war.

Lambert’s case ignited a fierce debate around euthanasia in France where it remains illegal despite recent efforts to ease legislation dealing with the terminally ill   a campaign promise by President François Hollande. In March, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of a law allowing medics to place terminally ill patients in a deep sleep until they die. Hence Libération’s question: “Will fundamentalism be allowed to carry the day over French law?”