French press review 2 September 2015

German Chancellor Angela Merkel grapples with the influx of refugees, and the controversy over the bonus being awarded to Alcatel-Lucent's outgoing CEO shows no signs of abating.

DR

We start with Le Monde’s special report on the immigration crisis rocking Europe. This as the stories of refugees crammed inside lorries, some dying in horrific conditions, are causing frictions in the 28-member European Union bloc.

The evening newspaper lends credence to a warning by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the future of the EU is in jeopardy due to the influx of refugees which has put to question the fundamentals of the EU’s construction.

The burden has been on the "frontline" nations where the migrants arrive by sea or land, with more than 350,000 people having made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe this year. More than 2,600 have died drowning or suffocating in packed or unseaworthy boats, according to fresh figures from the International Organisation for Migration.

An estimated 800,000 asylum seekers who streamed into the country from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Albania are crowded in Germany. As Le Monde points out, Angela Merkel is furious and that can be seen in a recent statement she made. “I don’t intend to bring out the instruments of torture yet," she said, adding that what the Germans intend to do is to find a solution like good European comrades.

With EU leaders set to discuss the migrant crisis at emergency talks scheduled on 14 September, Le Croix argues in an editorial that the solution lies in an equitable sharing of the burden. But as it points out Merkel’s appeal is addressed to the Balkan states which would rather have invisible walls on their borders than Syrians and Eritreans in their neighbourhoods.

According to the Catholic daily, she is right in her threat to exclude unwilling countries from the Schengen treaty enshrining the free movement of persons within the European Union.

Le Figaro dispatched an envoy to the Bavarian city of Passau where a recorded 3,500 refugees cross the border every 24 hours. The newspaper says that most of the families arrive on chartered trains from Hungary through Austria. Le Figaro claims that Budapest has taken a hard-line posture on the issue, refusing to accept any asylum seekers in defiance of the solidarity Berlin is clamouring for.

The controversy over the 13.4-million-euro golden handshake offered to the outgoing Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combe isn’t abating. Libération reports that even the business chiefs union MEDEF has expressed doubt at the regularity of Monsieur Combe’s paycheck, moreso as the electronics company shed 10,000 jobs during his three years in charge.

The left-leaning newspaper didn’t miss the opportunity to take on “these bosses who have a whole lot of nerve”. According to Libé, the Combe scandal is a consequence of President François Hollande’s failure to cap the mega bonuses of CEOs as he promised in his electoral manifesto.

Libération has an amazing account of Anthony Martial’s day as he prepared to join Manchester United on a four-year contract worth 50 million euros, with a additional bonus of 28 million euros. The paper reports that news about his mega contract hit the French camp at Clairefontaine where he had been training as a “neutron bomb”.

According to Libé, as he prepared to leave, someone in the kitchen staff realised that Martial hadn’t eaten and as the paper reports, Martial was armed with a simple, hastily-made tuna sandwich as he set out to conquer his millions.