French press review 12 November 2009

by Michael Fitzpatrick

Article published on the 2009-11-12 Latest update 2009-11-12 09:35 TU

Now that Europe finally has a new constitution, it's time for the 27 member nations to elect a new president. No easy task, especially when you look at the contenders, grimacing through their dental work on the front page of Le Figaro.

There's former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who couldn't give a euro for trans-national solidarity, the current Belgian leader Herman van Rompuy, whose country is falling apart at the seams, a fella from Luxembourg, and a frankly unpronounceable former Estonian president.

Business daily Les Echos looks at French government plans to borrow money with which to pay off the national debt. It's a cunning idea, involving 35 billion euros of investment to "prepare France for the challenges of tomorrow". Who will pay for the challenges of yesterday and today are other questions?

What I want to know is, where will the 35 billion euros come from? Who would loan money to a country already up to its 66 million necks in debt? Does France risk becoming part of the balance sheet of some Shanghai bank?

Catholic La Croix looks at the nation's reticence to get itself vaccinated against influenza A, the virus that was supposed to have reduced us all to shadows of our former selves months ago. Now that the vaccine is finally ready, the French have decided they don't want it. Typical.

Le Monde is very enthusiastic about tomorrow, Friday the 13th, which will, as announced on these very airwaves a few days ago, be World Politeness Day.

The paper wonders whether flights repatriating immigrants will be suspended for the day, whether banks will automatically grant loans to all comers, whether the French motorist will suddenly be transformed into something slightly less arrogant and dangerous. It's far from sure.

More seriously, Le Monde wonders just how many such World Days there currently are, from World Texas Prairie Chicken Day to Flat Earth Day. And the answer is, 211. Knocking off weekends, holidays and such like, that doesn't leave much room for newcomers.

In case the idea of World Politeness Day gets under your skin and makes you want to reach for your gun, I remind you that World Tolerance Day is coming up on Monday, November 16th.

Libération carries a story from the Vatican which is likely to upset that old heretic, Giordan Bruno. Bruno, you'll remember, was burned at the stake in Rome in the year 1600 for various utterances contrary to faith and morals, including the observation, remarkable for its time, that there might be intelligent life on other planets.

The Inquisition, sure that the earth was the centre of the Universe, didn't like that kind of talk. Well, times change. A Vatican conference has just concluded that there could well be intelligent life out there, also created by God, since He's responsible for the whole hill of beans. As for an apology to poor old baked Bruno, or an offer of a couple of euros in damages to his descendants, the Vatican remains resolutely silent.

The head of the World Food Programme will be on hunger strike on Saturday, according to today's edition of Libération. Jacques Diouf says he'll refuse food for 24 hours in protest at international indifference to the crisis conditions in several parts of Africa and Asia.