French press review 1 October 2015

The French press squares off in a battle over the government's offer of tax cuts to bring down budget deficit in 2016; Nicolas Sarkozy to sacrifice Nadine Morano, the advocate of "white man's France"; and the country files war crimes charges against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

DR

The 2016 financial bill unveiled after Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting at the Elysée comes under intense scrutiny from the papers.

The draft financial law lays out a plan to cap what the government calls natural increases in public spending and bets on robust economic growth to reduce the budget deficit from 73 billion euros in 2015 to 72 billion euros by next year. Finance Minister Michel Sapin pledged to bring the debt burden down to 3.3 per cent of France’s GDP in 2016 and then to 2.7 per cent in 2017.

Monsieur Sapin also got Cabinet approval for his plan for tax cuts on low-income families by 2 billion euros and the additional reduction of 9 billion euros in levies slapped on businesses, all funded by 16 billion euros obtained from spending cuts   based on projections of an economic growth rate to the tune of 1.5 per cent.

For the Catholic daily La Croix, it’s a budget without guarantees, promising to improve on the deficit while pursuing already-introduced cuts in taxes.

What we have will be “unending social and fiscal injustice”, grumbles the Communist party daily L’Humanité.

For Le Figaro the government’s lofty plans are nothing but wishful thinking. The conservative publication notes with regret that the number of civil servants will increase for the very first time in 14 years. It points to growing pessimism in the country, adding that the savings promised are not guaranteed with the debt burden set to reach 96 per cent of the GDP next year. Looking at the country with rose-tainted glasses will not be enough, concludes the conservative newspaper.

In its own front-page spread dedicated to the 2016 budget, Le Monde regrets that President Francois Hollande refused to choose between economic stimulus and austerity, even though this is the last "full" financial bill of his five-year term. According to the paper, by 2016, France will still not meet the Maastricht criteria, as the deficit will represent 3.3 per cent of the GDP and its debt standing at 96.5 per cent.

Several papers take another look at the Syrian crisis which took a new twist on Wednesday after Russian jets launched airstrikes on positions held by the Islamic State armed group. Le Figaro says the attacks on Homs and Hama are viewed by Western superpowers as being aimed at propping up the regime of his ally Bashar al-Assad, not to crush the Islamic insurgency.

Le Monde and Le Figaro also report that France has opened an investigation in Paris over possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime in Damascus. The respected publications note that it is the French foreign ministry which filed the case in Paris, claiming a "legitimate right to act against impunity".

Libération says it is an ex-Syrian military police photographer nicknamed Cesar who provided the evidence used by France to mount the law suit. César reportedly took along 54,000 pictures of crushed and mutilated bodies of 11,000 prisoners tortured to death in some 24 prisons in Damascus and other detention centres across the country between 2011 and 2013.

Nadine Morano, the French MEP who denounced the erosion of her “all white” fatherland and then dismissed the controversy as a storm in a tea cup, is battling for her political career. Right-wing Le Figaro reports that Nicolas Sarkozy, the leader of the Les Republicains party, has convened a meeting of the party investiture commission to discuss Morano's qualification to be on the party's list in the regional elections scheduled in December.

Morano had been set to stand for the party in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region prior to her controversial remarks which sparked calls by local chieftains for her expulsion. The commission is due to meet next Wednesday to decide on Morano’s fate, Le Figaro reporting that Sarkozy has decided to sacrifice her.

Libération says that many members of Les Republicains thought Morano would apologise to save her head, but she preferred instead to "sink with her right-wing derision".