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posted by JB CADIER at 7:11 PM
La France vue par ... la presse anglo-saxonne
Comment les journaux américains et anglais voient la France et les Français. Transcription de la revue de presse de Jean-Bernard Cadier diffusée le samedi (6H12 et 8H49) et le dimanche (19H20) sur Europe 1
Réécoutez la revue de presse
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29.9.06
30.7.06
Eté 2006
La revue de presse reprendra début septembre.
Bon été, bonnes vacances.
JBC
posted by JB CADIER at 10:08 AM
Joie incrédule 08/07
Inutile de dire que l’essentiel des commentaires sur la France cette semaine dans la presse anglo-saxonne sont des commentaires sur l’équipe de France à la veille de la finale.
Le correspondant du Times de Londres (02/07) décrit « une semaine folle » pendant laquelle « la France qui avait le cafard a été saisie par une joie incrédule... Même les Parisiens, écrit le journaliste anglais, les Parisiens qui sont habituellement revêches et impatients, même les Parisiens ont commencé à se sourire les uns aux autres ». « Depuis un an la France allait mal continue le journaliste du Times et il paraissait évident que l’équipe de France allait honteusement se faire sortir de la Coupe du Monde. La France ne croyait plus en son équipe, la France ne croyait plus en elle-même ».
Puis il y a eu les matches contre l’Espagne contre le Brésil contre le Portugal . « C’est exactement le remède dont la France avait besoin continue le journaliste du Times. Avec un message qui n’a échappé à personne la plupart des joueurs français sont noirs ou maghrébins. C’est un message pour la France blanche écrit le Times qui doit se rappeler tout ce qu’elle doit à ses immigrés et à leurs descendants qui sont pourtant maintenus à la marge de la société ».
- L'homme le plus cool de la planète
Zinédine Zidane est évidemment encensé par la presse anglo-saxonne. Pour le New York Times « c’est l’homme le plus cool de la planète ». Pour le Times (03/07) « le plus grand joueur de sa génération… il est en train de franchir les quelques pas qui le séparent de l’immortalité ».
Le Daily Telegraph (02/07) : « il a un touché de velours et une vision ahurissante ». Pour le Financial Times (03/07) c’est « le virtuose comparable à un chaton qui jongle avec une pelote de laine ». Pour The Independent, « Zinédine Zidane est un héros du sport sans pareil ».
Et il n’y a pas que Zidane. « Tous les médias attendent et observent Zidane écrit le Herald Tribune (02/07) mais contre le Portugal c’est Thuram qui a le mieux résisté. Lilian Thuram qui selon le journal américain est la preuve que l’on peut être à la fois un grand footballeur et un être humain accompli ».
Et l’on n’oubliera pas Thierry Henry que le Sunday Times (02/04) appelle « le Superbe Henry qui a enfin fait mentir tous ceux qui disaient qu’il jouait moins bien pour son pays que pour son club ».
Enfin le Guardian (05/07) de Londres a été surpris de voir le premier ministre Dominique de Villepin commenter à chaud et en direct la victoire contre le Portugal. « Le premier ministre de plus impopulaire depuis la guerre écrit le Guardian espère clairement que les Français vont établir un parallèle entre leur équipe nationale revenue de loin et leur Premier Ministre. Mais les Français ne sont pas idiots écrit le Guardian ils savent que Chirac et De Villepin ne sont pour rien dans les exploits de Zidane et Thierry Henry ».
- Un mariage royal pour la République
Ce qui nous amène à la campagne présidentielle. Le Times (01/07) sourit des perspectives de mariage de Ségolène Royal et François Hollande. « Un mariage royal pour la république » écrit le Times. « La France écrit ce journal n’a jamais élu une femme présidente et même jamais élu de célibataire. Si Ségolène Royal se marie cet été ce sera peut être pour rassurer la France rurale et catholique ».
Ségolène Royal qualifiée cette semaine dans le Daily Telegraph (02/07) de « socialiste chic et charismatique » et présentée dans le Christian Science Monitor américain comme « un tourbillon d’air frais dans la politique française ». Le Wall Street Journal (03/07) parle de « la campagne théâtrale de Ségolène Royal et de Nicolas Sarkozy, une campagne qui met fin à des décennies de vie politique coincée dominée par une élite qui a rarement essayé de s’adresser directement aux électeurs ».
Une devinette dans le Financial Times (04/07) quel est le pays qui va le mieux réussir économiquement cette année : la France ou l’Allemagne ? C’est la France qui aura une meilleure croissance parce que les Français consomment plus et épargnent moins que les Allemands. Ce que le Financial Times résume ainsi : « le pays prodigue s’en sort mieux que le pays prudent ».
Enfin un plaidoyer magnifique pour le vin français et c’est dans le New York Times (05/07) le plus influent des journaux américains. « On nous dit que le secteur du vin français est vieux et fatigué qu’il est rigide, bureaucratique, en manque de créativité et qu’il ne peut plus lutter contre les vins du nouveau monde. C’est peut être vrai dans le domaine des vins de basses qualité écrit le journal américain mais pour le reste c’est totalement faux. Le nouveau monde ne doit pas prendre ses rêves pour
posted by JB CADIER at 9:56 AM
Copies des articles cités le 8 juillet 06
Zid What a difference a week makes. Until last Wednesday,
Then the old guys beat
Half a million people poured into the Champs Elysées to celebrate the quarter-final victory and the national mood has swung from gloom to a sort of disbelieving joy. The cheering erupted from balconies in my street in the demure 17th arrondissement. Police cars drove by honking their horns with tricolour flags flying from their windows. A couple of cars were torched by youths on the nearby Champs, but otherwise the night was a pure celebration of "black, white and Arab"
A victory would be a dose of medicine that
And no-one will be able to escape the message. Most of the team members are black or of Arab origin, so white
Posted by Charles Bremner on
Sports of The Times
French in the Final, as a Spirit Moves Them
By GEORGE VECSEY
HE is younger than he used to be. He has lost that brooding, tired look of four years ago or even of two weeks ago. The final days of his career are agreeing with Zinédine Zidane, giving him a purpose.
The television caught him bounding out of the runway for the second half of
Contrast this to the weary man who reported for duty in the 2002 World Cup in
Now Zidane is conducting a seminar on how to go out on top. At the age of 34, he is the coolest man on the planet. Yesterday he delivered a textbook example of a penalty kick that, come to think of it, the French national federation could sell to
Head down. No visible emotion. No elbows flapping. No knees knocking. Deliberate but not timid-looking. Just whack the ball into a corner.
In this case, the corner to Zidane's left, giving
After all the prematch jockeying about which team dived the most, the referee, Jorge Larrionda of Uruguay, mostly waved off the blatant dives, sometimes with a glare, sometimes just by turning his back on the posturing.
Not that the lads didn't try. When Figo went down in the vicinity of Patrick
Whoever said there are no hands in soccer? When Cristiano Ronaldo performed a flop in the 29th minute, Domenech made an elaborate diving motion with both hands.
Still, it was a quivering body hitting the ground that led to the French goal. Thierry Henry and
Zidane took it. There was never any doubt.
•When a player is fouled in the penalty area, the real question is why he was loose near the ball in the first place. The answer in this case was that
As France protected its lead, Zidane was the ringmaster of this fast-moving circus, sometimes waving his hand and calling for the ball, other times materializing in the flow, occasionally even rushing back on defense to harass Portugal's offense. After watching Zidane plod through his final days with Real Madrid last season, it was hard to believe this wraith.
He and Figo were once expensive members of the Galacticos, the overpriced, over-age stars that Real Madrid continues to collect. Together they helped win the Champions League in 2002, but then the pair, each a former World Footballer of the Year, retired from international play. Figo was persuaded to return by the national coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, while Zidane was persuaded to come back — either by a spirit or by his very living brother; he has told the tale both ways.
•The two old Galacticos sometimes collided like wayward meteorites yesterday, casting glances at each other. Figo had the hair; Zidane, who has shaved his head to hide the extent of his hair loss, had the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euro titles. Once
The extra factor was the French goalkeeper, Fabien Barthez, who was wobbly in 1998, wobbly for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and wobbly again yesterday, juggling balls and deflecting one rocket with a two-handed volleyball return to set up Figo's header high above the crossbar.
The rest of the match consisted of Zidane collecting the ball and distributing it, with stutter steps and back heel passes and deft no-look flicks. When it was over, the old Galacticos sought each other out on the field, first exchanging their captains' arm bands, then exchanging jerseys, after first embracing, bare sweaty chest to bare sweaty chest.
There has been a drop-off in the disgusting ritual of players putting on the sweaty jerseys of their opponents. This time, in a show of respect, Zidane pulled on Figo's maroon jersey before going to the sideline to salute the French fans. They would recognize Zidane even in Figo's jersey. He was the 34-year-old with exactly one more soccer match in his career, but still able to run with the young ones. It's the best way to go out of the World Cup.
E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Times Online July 03, 2006
Zidane in twilight zone
By Matt Hughes
IT IS ONE OF THE TRAGEDIES of life — or should that be death? — that a person’s real value is often only appreciated as they are slipping away. Thank heavens, then, that Zinédine Zidane is taking the few small steps remaining towards achieving immortality.
As they stumbled through the group stage, France’s squad of ageing superstars appeared intent on recreating the twilight of the gods, but Zidane has managed to turn back time. This monkish figure may well be able to live forever. In bewitching
*
If he can somehow conjure up more magic in
The transformation from the frail figure whose legs appeared to have failed him has been simply extraordinary, although Raymond Domenech, the
“You may be surprised, but I am not surprised at all,” Domenech said. “That’s Zidane. We know exactly what he is capable of doing. I think it’s precisely because he is retiring, because he is ending his career, that he is fully focused on the game. He doesn’t have to calculate anything. He can play with freedom and expression because he knows every game could be his last. That is the reason why he is able to play so well.”
The turning point may well have been Zidane’s angry confrontation with Domenech as he was substituted towards the end of his team’s second match, against
Emboldened by knocking out the holders, it has become possible to see France reclaiming their crown, with the equally energised Patrick Vieira pointing to parallels with 1998: a steadily-improving team, the sublime form of Zidane and another chance for their rainbow line-up to embarrass right-wing politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen who said last week that he would like to see more white players in the team.
“I know few players have ever won two World Cups, but we are capable of it,” Vieira said. “We’ve beaten the favourites, a great side people thought might win the World Cup, which means a lot and confirms that we have the potential to go much further in this tournament. We’re strong and all believe in each other, are working for each other and can achieve great things. We believe more and more in ourselves and are improving every game, like in 1998.”
A beautiful match
By :
Age before beauty? No chance. This
"I don't have the words to express how I feel right now," said
When the French were labouring through the group stages - - needing victory over
Last night they burst back into full light. After laying on the goal for Henry with a deep free-kick, Zidane seemed to grow in stature. His graceful calm spread to his team-mates -and suddenly the whole team was playing with guile.
"We played an attractive game of football," said Thierry Henry, who scored the only goal of the game. "We just kept going and going and going.
"We played the way we knew we could. It was the sort of match you dream of playing in and now to be going to the semi-final, well, it's incredible." After the violence that marred the aftermath of
Every game for Zidane could be his last: he retires from football after this tournament. Thankfully he is playing like he knows it, warding off the threat of an anticlimactic end to one of the great careers. This was a masterful display, a vintage of that velvet touch and astonishing vision. Even Brazilian fans were raised to their feet in rapture by some of Zizou's audacious passes. Time and again he sent Henry and Franck Ribery scampering clear down the flanks, repeatedly looking to exploit the space behind the marauding Cafu and Roberto Carlos. Even the trademark double drag-back was given an outing. "We got the victory we wanted, we just never stopped," Zidane said. "This was a beautiful match".
There were sublime moments of exceptional skill: Zidane killing an awkward looping ball stone-dead, Kaka pirouetting 180 degrees with the ball glued to his right boot, Henry skipping nonchalantly past Cafu and Lucio.
Yet the heart of this contest was the duel between the two spoilers: Claude Makelele of
The whole structure of these two sides rested upon their keystone players: if they cracked the rest would crumble. Faced with the rotating trio of Kaka, Ronaldinho and Juninho, Makelele was magnificent. His interceptions seemed prescient, his tackles remarkable in their anticipation. By contrast with Makelele's zip and zest, Ronaldo was back to his sluggish worst: he was clearly carrying more than just water. It was eight years since Ronaldo took to the pitch after having had a fit in his hotel the night before the 1998 final. His performance in that one-sided game was repeated here in Frankfurt with equal vapidity until a late cameo of that old acceleration won a free-kick right on the edge of the area.
Ronaldinho could not keep the free-kick down and the Samba smile was replaced with a rare grimace. He will get another chance to advertise his brilliance. For Zidane this tournament is a last, exhilarating roll of the dice.
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Features
Zidane's puff for freedom
Terence Blacker
127 words
The Independent
38
English
(c) 2006 Independent Newspapers (
Bald, ageing, un-beautiful and yet mesmerisingly brilliant, Zinedine Zidane is a sports hero like no other. In footballing terms he is a pensioner but, for game after game this summer, the French captain has run rings around the poutingpretty boys and dying-swan divas of other teams, before sending them, blubbing, back to their dressing-rooms.
Now this great man has won more sporting glory by apparently being photographed, shortly before the semifinal against
Document IND0000020060707e27700024
Zidane delays his retirement party once again
Peter Berlin International Herald Tribune
Published:
FRANKFURT Everyone in the world of soccer knows that Zinédine Zidane is near the end. But, despite promises from his last two opponents, no one at the World Cup has been able to drive him into retirement.
On Saturday night, in the last World Cup quarterfinal, Zidane out-tricked the tricksters of
This was the 54th time
Zidane swung a free kick into the goal mouth. The pass may not have been aimed at Henry, but after all his team- mates missed it with their heads, Henry arrived unnoticed beyond the far post and volleyed the ball into the roof of the net. With
In the 1998 final, Zidane scored twice as
Zizou turned 34 on June 23, and much of that hair is now gone. He has announced he will retire from soccer after the World Cup. Robinho, a clubmate at Real Madrid, was unwise enough to echo the Spaniards before the previous match and promise to send Zidane off into the sunset. Robinho, who is 22, was not fit enough to start. Zidane was.
In the very first minute, Zizou showed he meant business. He twice rolled the ball under the sole of his boot, suddenly spun and squirmed between two Brazilians and into space. He looked up and clipped the ball over the defense but too far even for the speedy Henry to reach.
A few minutes later, he wriggled into space again. This time his sliced pass would probably have been too long for Henry even if the speedy striker had been running, which he was not. Zidane gave Henry a stare, then walked toward him and shouted a few words.
When Zidane's next pass floated too long, Henry held his head in his hands and looked across the field at Zidane. All night Zidane's passing to everyone else was uncannily accurate, but for Zidane, as for so many defenders, it is a mystery where Henry will be.
Zidane, never the fastest, looked painfully slow again Saturday. In contrast, Cafú, a 36-year-old fullback, surged up and down the Brazilian right all evening. Yet Zidane dominated the game. His mastery of the ball remains absolute and mesmerizing. The Brazilians could catch him but not dispossess him. His juggling and trickery drew standing ovations just before halftime.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazilian coach, had rested the less celebrated of his overweight strikers, Adriano, choosing instead to support the other, Ronaldo, with two attacking midfielders, Kaká and Ronaldinho. Behind them, Juninho Pernambucano, who plays his club soccer for
Perhaps the idea was to try to outmaneuver the massed French defense. The creativity of Zidane and the dash of Henry may be the image of the French team, but its heart is its back four and the two veteran midfielders who screen it: Claude Makelele and Patrick Vieira.
"The priority was to combat
Zidane was behind all the problems
Juan's yellow card came right at the end of the half. Zidane slalomed away from two Brazilians in his own half. Henry pulled wide, and Vieira burst through the middle and onto Zidane's precise pass. As he neared the penalty area, Juan hacked him down. The French screamed for a yellow card and were rewarded.
The second half started with Zidane curling in a free kick from the right. Vieira headed wide, with Henry lurking dangerously just behind him.
Then in the 57th minute, a free kick from the other flank produced the goal. This time Vieira missed his header. Henry, for once anticipating correctly where Zidane would put the ball, did not have to break stride as he charged in and ripped a shot into the goal.
While teammates raced to congratulate Henry, Zidane saved his energy. He raised his arms, then turned and trudged back to the center circle, where he waited. There had been speculation that his differences with Henry had been personal as well as tactical. When Henry finally arrived they hugged hard like long-lost brothers - the star of the team and the would-be star of the team in harmony at last.
Zidane and Vieira, despite their occasional ill temper, and the serene central defender Lilian Thuram, offer constant reminders that it is possible to be a great soccer player and a mature human being. Henry, meanwhile, pouts and postures; nothing is ever his fault.
Still, this was Zidane's night. Four minutes after Henry scored, he almost had the goal that would have sealed the game and crowned his evening. As Franck Ribéry surged down the left, Zidane, seeing his chance, galloped into the center. Juan lunged at Ribéry's low pass, deflecting the ball just past his own post but preventing a tap-in for Zidane.
At the other end,
"There were some hot moments at the end," Domenech said. "The oldies are still here."
The elimination of
"It's a difficult moment to be eliminated when we were so close to the semifinals," Parreira said. "I did not prepare for this, and no one in our delegation prepared for this."
For Zidane, retirement must wait.
"We don't want to stop here," he said in a television interview after the game. "It's so great that we want to carry on."
FRANKFURT Everyone in the world of soccer knows that Zinédine Zidane is near the end. But, despite promises from his last two opponents, no one at the World Cup has been able to drive him into retirement.
On Saturday night, in the last World Cup quarterfinal, Zidane out-tricked the tricksters of
This was the 54th time
Zidane swung a free kick into the goal mouth. The pass may not have been aimed at Henry, but after all his team- mates missed it with their heads, Henry arrived unnoticed beyond the far post and volleyed the ball into the roof of the net. With
In the 1998 final, Zidane scored twice as
Zizou turned 34 on June 23, and much of that hair is now gone. He has announced he will retire from soccer after the World Cup. Robinho, a clubmate at Real Madrid, was unwise enough to echo the Spaniards before the previous match and promise to send Zidane off into the sunset. Robinho, who is 22, was not fit enough to start. Zidane was.
In the very first minute, Zizou showed he meant business. He twice rolled the ball under the sole of his boot, suddenly spun and squirmed between two Brazilians and into space. He looked up and clipped the ball over the defense but too far even for the speedy Henry to reach.
A few minutes later, he wriggled into space again. This time his sliced pass would probably have been too long for Henry even if the speedy striker had been running, which he was not. Zidane gave Henry a stare, then walked toward him and shouted a few words.
When Zidane's next pass floated too long, Henry held his head in his hands and looked across the field at Zidane. All night Zidane's passing to everyone else was uncannily accurate, but for Zidane, as for so many defenders, it is a mystery where Henry will be.
Zidane, never the fastest, looked painfully slow again Saturday. In contrast, Cafú, a 36-year-old fullback, surged up and down the Brazilian right all evening. Yet Zidane dominated the game. His mastery of the ball remains absolute and mesmerizing. The Brazilians could catch him but not dispossess him. His juggling and trickery drew standing ovations just before halftime.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazilian coach, had rested the less celebrated of his overweight strikers, Adriano, choosing instead to support the other, Ronaldo, with two attacking midfielders, Kaká and Ronaldinho. Behind them, Juninho Pernambucano, who plays his club soccer for
Perhaps the idea was to try to outmaneuver the massed French defense. The creativity of Zidane and the dash of Henry may be the image of the French team, but its heart is its back four and the two veteran midfielders who screen it: Claude Makelele and Patrick Vieira.
"The priority was to combat
Zidane was behind all the problems
Juan's yellow card came right at the end of the half. Zidane slalomed away from two Brazilians in his own half. Henry pulled wide, and Vieira burst through the middle and onto Zidane's precise pass. As he neared the penalty area, Juan hacked him down. The French screamed for a yellow card and were rewarded.
The second half started with Zidane curling in a free kick from the right. Vieira headed wide, with Henry lurking dangerously just behind him.
Then in the 57th minute, a free kick from the other flank produced the goal. This time Vieira missed his header. Henry, for once anticipating correctly where Zidane would put the ball, did not have to break stride as he charged in and ripped a shot into the goal.
While teammates raced to congratulate Henry, Zidane saved his energy. He raised his arms, then turned and trudged back to the center circle, where he waited. There had been speculation that his differences with Henry had been personal as well as tactical. When Henry finally arrived they hugged hard like long-lost brothers - the star of the team and the would-be star of the team in harmony at last.
Zidane and Vieira, despite their occasional ill temper, and the serene central defender Lilian Thuram, offer constant reminders that it is possible to be a great soccer player and a mature human being. Henry, meanwhile, pouts and postures; nothing is ever his fault.
Still, this was Zidane's night. Four minutes after Henry scored, he almost had the goal that would have sealed the game and crowned his evening. As Franck Ribéry surged down the left, Zidane, seeing his chance, galloped into the center. Juan lunged at Ribéry's low pass, deflecting the ball just past his own post but preventing a tap-in for Zidane.
At the other end,
"There were some hot moments at the end," Domenech said. "The oldies are still here."
The elimination of
"It's a difficult moment to be eliminated when we were so close to the semifinals," Parreira said. "I did not prepare for this, and no one in our delegation prepared for this."
For Zidane, retirement must wait.
"We don't want to stop here," he said in a television interview after the game. "It's so great that we want to carry on."
The Sunday Times
Superb Henry answers critics
BRIAN GLANVILLE
The
THE wonderful goal with which Thierry Henry knocked out Brazil, moving with perfect power and technique on the right on to the long free kick sent over by the irrepressible Zinedine Zidane, surely established Henry beyond doubt as one of the major international players of his time.
That there was doubt has to be conceded. After his dazzling exhibitions for
*
In common with the rest of the French team, he had a deeply disappointing World Cup, when so much was expected of them, as the holders, in
Four years earlier, he had only a bits-and-pieces role when
At Highbury, he has indeed been a centre-forward par excellence, a marvel of speed of feet and thought, adept at moving out to the left flank, and doing incisive damage.
Yet for all his virtuosity at Highbury, he had another poor international tournament, despite a goal or two, for
It looked initially in
Indeed, when Zidane was suspended from the third French qualifying group game against
But when the next game against
Certainly he had his moments in a game which, for the French, was largely dominated by the extraordinary Zidane, abetted by the lively forays of the new French star, Franck Ribery.
Though Henry, in the first half against
Yesterday, nothing more could have been asked of Henry, who selflessly immersed himself in this demanding position. Perhaps the measure of the trouble he caused the Brazilian defence was shown when he was so spitefully chopped down in the second half by the centre-back, Lucio.
Having scored his astonishing goal, Henry remained a danger. On 70 minutes, he almost set up a second goal, with a dangerous cross from the right that forced the Brazilian keeper, Dida, to dive desperately at the feet of Ribery. When Henry was eventually replaced on 85 minutes by Louis Saha, it was to deserved and rapturous applause.
Now, a second World Cup is surely within the possibilities of a French team which started so uneasily.
This time, if they do reach the final in
Jon Henley
The Guardian
So les Bleus, as you might have noticed had you been in Paris on Wednesday night, are through to the final, despite the best efforts of Dominique de Villepin, whose very presence at the match was widely deemed to augur disaster. The country's most unpopular prime minister since the war was doubtless hoping his post-match TV appearance would help the French electorate grasp the obvious parallels between the position of their national team (barely 10 days ago, 76% of the population felt les Bleus were incapable of beating Togo) and that of their PM (barely 10 days ago, 84% of the population felt Dominique de Villepin was incapable of running France). Sadly, the French electorate appeared little interested in such pleasing conceits, preferring largely to get drunk and chant "Italie serre les fesses, on arrive à toute vitesse", which we will not translate because it is rude.
Will
Marcel Berlins
Guardian
Within less than two days, I watched
The combined soccer-and-painting contest was an emphatic 2-0 triumph for France, the football for obvious reasons, the art because, apart from the obvious difference between a painter of genius and one of minor excellence, the Constable exhibition was such an unsatisfying event, for one particular reason. It was, admittedly, the first time that his large canvasses - his six-footers - had been shown next to the equally vast sketches he had made in preparation. As a result, the accompanying labelling was obsessed with pointing out how the final product had developed from the sketches. I felt, after a while, that I was not there to appreciate the artist, merely to spot the differences. At the Cezanne show, one just looked and marvelled. No explanations were needed.
Tony Blair, it was said, was fervently hoping for an English victory to reverse his, and the government's, growing unpopularity. How would it have done that, assuming
Will the lack of success finally dash Blair's chances of being well thought of, or even give an electoral advantage to David Cameron? A ludicrous thought. Besides, I've seen no signs of a deep slump in national morale. Fed up, yes; cross with Eriksson or Rooney, yes. That's about it.
People keep battering me with the example that Harold Wilson lost the 1970 general election to Edward Heath just four days after
Angela Merkel and Romano Prodi are alleged to be using their countries' successful World Cup campaigns to do more than just boost their own popularity. Each is accused of smuggling through unpopular laws while the attention of parliamentarians and the people is elsewhere. Not much of a tribute to democracy, that.
What a great fuss was made over the fact that the difficult Romanian diva Angela Gheorghiu was coming to the Royal Opera House to sing Tosca in a brand new production. And what a disappointment she turned out to be. I wasn't too surprised. I have seen her perform live in the past, not to my satisfaction. I didn't expect her Tosca to be wonderful, took no steps to see it, and was comforted by the near unanimity, among newspaper critics and opera-goers alike, that she wasn't quite up to it. The pre-opening hype that Gheorghiu was somehow about to inherit Maria Callas's mantle of Tosca greatness was shown to be absurd within a few notes of her opening her lungs.
But I'm fond of the Puccini opera, and last week went to the same, superb production - with not a Gheorghiu in sight. Instead, there was a "second cast", insultingly known in the trade as the B-cast, with Tosca sung by an American, Catherine Nagelstad, of whom I had not previously heard. She was terrific in every way.
I overheard a chap who had seen Gheorghiu the week before tell his companion that Nagelstad had been far better. But I did not read any reviews of her outstanding performance in the papers. There weren't any. The Romanian had captured not only all the anticipatory publicity, but all the review space as well. She sang in only five of the 12 performances, but received near enough 100% of the attention. Even had she delivered satisfaction - which she didn't - it would have been unfair.
My question is: how does the public get to know that Nagelstad is good? Obviously, the insiders are aware of her, or she would not have been asked to sing Tosca at all; and her CV shows that she has performed in many opera houses all over the world. That's not the point. The British opera-loving public, other than those who happened to be present at
The basic difficulty is that newspaper critics these days rarely cover second casts. I'm not criticising them. It's not their fault. It used to be different, I'm told. Philip Hope-Wallace, for instance, one of the foremost opera critics of the 60s, always did so - and the Guardian always gave him the space. And it is space that is at the heart of the problem today. Few arts editors of newspapers would countenance two reviews of the same opera within a couple of weeks. As it is, many worthy opera and concert performances (which tend to fight for the same space) don't get reviewed at all. The move to tabloid-size papers has exacerbated the shortage of space for critics.
At the same time, critics are faced with a choice of more productions than ever before. How can they justify writing about the same one twice? Some try, but rarely succeed. I don't have an answer, but I do know that Catherine Nagelstad deserves better. So does the public.
· This week Marcel re-read, as he does every summer, The Leopard, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa: "One of the most evocative, poignant, elegaic and melancholic portrayals of lost love and lost values, and much shorter than Anna Karenina." He listened to a compilation of George Gershwin playing his compositions: "He's not always the best interpreter of his own music."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
The Times
Why republic could see a Royal marriage
By Adam Sage
Having spurned the 'bourgeois institution',
AFTER 25 years of unwedded bliss, Ségolène Royal, the leading Socialist contender for the French presidential election, may enter the “bourgeois institution” of marriage.
Mme Royal said that she is considering a civil wedding with the father of her four children, François Hollande, who is head of the Socialist Party and himself an outsider for the presidency next year. The ceremony would be “strictly for family members”, she added in an attempt to distance herself from her biggest challenger, Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right Interior Minister who goes out of his way to be seen in public with his wife, Cécilia.
Mme Royal was questioned about her marital plans after the President of the French overseas
M Hollande, who appears increasingly irritated by the rise of his “partenaire”, has made no comment. Mme Royal’s remark on a train to
The couple, who are both 52, have lived together since they were students at the prestigious higher education institution L’Ecole Nationale d’Administration, in 1980, but, like 15 per cent of French couples, they have never tied the knot. Until recently, Mme Royal said that she never would.
Asked in 2004 whether she intended to marry M Hollande if she ran for the presidency, she replied: “Certainly not. I need my freedom and my autonomy.” Two weeks ago, in an interview with the French gay magazine, Têtu, she dismissed marriage as a bourgeois institution.
But an old French political adage what says “Hors mariage, point de suffrages (Outside marriage, no votes)” is perhaps playing on her mind.
Not only has
Mme Royal argues that French society is changing faster than most politicians realise and has become open and tolerant.
But although that is true of
A wedding this summer could serve to calm concerns in the Catholic countryside about her candidacy.
French 'elephants’ muster to trample Royal
By Kim Willsher in
(Filed:
Ségolène Royal, the chic and charismatic Socialist politician who is battling to become
Miss Royal, who has electrified politics since making clear her desire to run for the highest office in next year's election, already faces opposition from a string of fellow Socialists, who accuse her of moving too far to the Right.
Ségolène Royal
Ségolène Royal
Now Lionel Jospin, the powerful former Socialist prime minister who was humiliated in the first round of the 2002 presidential election by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front leader, has hinted heavily that he, too, is prepared to do battle with Miss Royal.
His attempt to move back into the political limelight, after years of self-imposed exile, is seen as an attempt by one of the so-called "elephants" of the Socialist Party (PS) to thwart Miss Royal's hopes of winning the party nomination. Mr Jospin, 68, made his declaration on French television, saying he was "open" to the possibility of standing next year.
"If it appears that I am the best placed to bring together the Left, to reunite and take charge of the country, to exercise the office of president in the difficult situation France is in today, and to propose to the French people a way out of the crisis we are in, then I will ask myself the question," he said. Asked about Miss Royal, whom he is said to dislike, he described her as one of the "multiple talents" of the Socialist Party.
Faced with yet another competitor for her party's nomination, 52-year-old Miss Royal said the announcement "changed nothing".
"I'm not going to talk about the other candidates, I'm not going to criticise, I'm not going to comment. I respect their identity and their intentions," she said.
During a visit to
Pressed on Mr Jospin's possible candidature, she stuck to the line that she would stand if the party decided she was in the best position to succeed.
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
"Things are less complicated than you think," she added. "We'll see in September what the citizens think and what party members think." About 200,000 PS members will make the final decision on who should be their candidate in a vote in November.
Mr Jospin would join a line-up of at least four other members of the Socialist Party to have announced their intention to stand as would-be candidates, such as Jack Lang, the former minister of culture. Some, including another former prime minister, Laurent Fabius, have made little secret of their dislike of Miss Royal. Many object that policy pronouncements that have won her support among voters - including sending persistent young offenders to "boot camps" and criticising the mandatory 35-hour working week - pander to the centre ground and are a betrayal of the party's principles.
If Mr Jospin stands, it will lead to a head-on clash between a man who represents the party's chequered past and the woman who is widely considered the Left's brightest hope.
Recent opinion polls put Miss Royal well ahead of rivals in her own camp and edging in front of her main opponent, Nicolas Sarkozy, of the ruling Right-of-centre UMP party. Among voters as a whole, 42 per cent of those surveyed by Ipsos said they preferred Miss Royal to Mr Jospin, who gained just 22 per cent.
Robert Schneider, a political commentator at the Nouvel Observateur magazine said: "Clearly he thinks he's more capable than Ségolène Royal of resolving the issues in 2007. The question is, will the party members who will choose the Socialist candidate think the same way?"
Pierre Moscovici, a former Socialist government minister who supports Dominique Strauss-Kahn, another Left-wing candidate, said: "[Jospin] explained that he could be a candidate if circumstances required but I can't see what circumstances he's talking about."
Jean-Marc Ayrault, the president of the Socialist group in the French National Assembly and mayor of
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Chic, brash Ségol�ne stirs up French race
As
By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Into the closed, gray, and overwhelmingly male world of French politics, a bombshell has dropped.
Topping the opinion polls for next year's presidential elections is a chic, 52-year-old mother of four who is bringing a whirlwind of fresh air to the ruling class in Paris and promising a new style of politics to voters tired of their scandal-ridden leaders.
Ségolène Royal, bidding to be the Socialist party's presidential candidate, has stirred up almost as much opposition from fellow Socialist leaders as she has among the governing party. But she has also struck a chord with ordinary people that could resound all the way to the
Ms. Royal "is different," says Stéphane Rozès, director of French polling group l'Institut CSA. "She doesn't seem trapped by doctrinal questions and people believe she addresses their problems."
To start with, she listens - a rare trait among French politicians whose lofty distance from everyday affairs is one reason why 76 percent of voters distrust them, according to a recent poll. Royal has made her website a forum for "internauts" to express their opinions on a range of issues, and she is incorporating the ideas she likes best in the online book she is publishing chapter by chapter to set out her platform.
"That's what modern politics is," she said in a recent radio interview. "It is citizens coming to grips with a vision of society, rolling up their sleeves, and trying to fulfill it."
Nor is she afraid to veer away from traditional Socialist policies. Last month, she struck out at the 35-hour workweek, the Socialist party's proudest achievement of the past decade. She also raised howls of criticism from her party colleagues by proposing that delinquent youths be sent to military boot camp, and that their parents be sent to parenting school.
"We need a return to the heavy hand," she declared, to "firmly reestablish a just order and long-lasting security." This is the sort of language used by the tough-talking Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the likely presidential candidate for the center-right UMP party.
But while Royal's rhetoric may make her the only leftist politician capable of beating Sarkozy, it has also earned her a reputation for being authoritarian - a tendency perhaps inherited from her military father. She seems to have turned that trait into an advantage, however, with her views on law and order. The Socialists lost the last elections largely because they were seen as soft on that front, and that issue has exploded onto the political scene again following the riots that shook
Royal's foray into unfamiliar territory for a Socialist has paid off. Sixty-nine percent of the electorate supported the boot camp idea.
But this sort of heresy has raised the hackles of traditional party leaders, known as "elephants." (The elegant and slim Royal pointedly refers to herself as a "gazelle.") But it offers the prospect that Royal might modernize the French Socialist party à la Tony Blair and his reform of the British Labour Party.
The "Ségolène effect" may already be taking hold: since March, her party's membership has grown 60 percent and attracted more women than usual.
"She pulverizes the elephants," says Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist minister of health. "She makes them look out of date, old, obsolete, and sometimes ridiculous."
But though Royal cultivates the appearance of a newcomer, she is in fact a product of the French political system. She was educated at the elite "National School of Administration" (ENA), which trains the country's political cream; she worked as an aide to former president François Mitterrand, her mentor; she served in three cabinet posts, as minister for schools, the family, and the environment; and she is president of the Poitou-Charentes region - a post she won in 2004 by beating the protégé of then-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
Accusations from fellow party leaders that Royal is politically incoherent seem to carry little weight with voters. "Her pragmatism is seen as a promise," says Mr. Rozès. "Her talk of authority and standards is reassuring. In the midst of economic and political insecurity, people want moral security."
Nor is anyone holding it against her yet that she has steered clear of expressing opinions on big political, economic, or diplomatic issues, preferring to concentrate on the sort of social questions that touch peoples' lives directly.
"She is clear; she is direct, surprising, and represents another way of doing politics," says Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a former revolutionary firebrand and now a Green Party member of the European parliament. "She is a stroke of luck for the left because for the moment she is the only person capable of beating Sarkozy."
But she will have to fight off Socialist rivals first, including her partner (by civil union) and father of her four children, François Hollande, the party leader, who has presidential ambitions himself.
Before the party's 200,000 members vote in a primary next November, those rivals will likely do all they can to undermine her image as a fresh and distinctive voice by pointing out that she has followed a traditional career path for a politician.
"At the moment she is a romantic figure," says Rozès. "Everybody sees what they want to see in her. The campaign, when she will have to address the big issues, will be her moment of truth."
Madame La Président?
• Born in
• Mother of four and partner (bound by civil union) of French Socialist Party leader François Hollande, who also has his eye on the presidency
• Graduated with honors from
• Served as Minister of the Environment (1992-1997); Minister for Education (1997-2000); Minister of Employment (2000-2002)
• Author of four books, including "Le ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs" (roughly translated as "The Dissatisfaction of the Channel-surfing Generation")
Sources: French Embassy; The Guardian, wikipedia
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Politics & Economics: French Presidential Hopefuls Play to Disaffection on Campaign Trail
By Leila Abboud and Christina Passariello
1108 words
The Wall Street Journal
A4
English
(Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
As french presidential hopeful Segolene Royal addressed 400 people at a public gym in Paris in late June, a supporter gushed that the petite brunette was even more beautiful in person than on television.
"You don't look so bad yourself," Ms. Royal flirted back, prompting cheers from the crowd of Socialist Party supporters.
At a rally in the southern city of
The theatrics of Ms. Royal and Mr. Sarkozy, who both harbor hopes of succeeding President Jacques Chirac in April elections, mark a sea change in the staid world of French politics, dominated for decades by an elite that rarely tried to appeal directly to voters. Owing in part to its aloofness and a reluctance to force through difficult overhauls, the political establishment now must contend with problems such as unemployment and ballooning spending on social programs like pensions, education, and health care.
Trouble in
The unemployment rate in
When violent riots exploded in France's impoverished suburbs last year, the government promised new housing and jobs for the mostly immigrant and Muslim population. Seven months later, little has been done. The need for an overhaul is called "urgent" by 93% of French adults surveyed by research firm IFOP. Those surveyed cited cited labor, education and the justice system as most in need of repair.
This disaffection has led candidates to cast themselves as a break with the past. "Either we change nothing and we continue this way, or we change everything in the way we conceive of politics and we really build a new France," Mr. Sarkozy shouted in Agen.
Neither Mr. Sarkozy nor Ms. Royal is a newcomer. Mr. Sarkozy, 51 years old, heads the ruling center-right
At rallies, on television and in interviews, both are tossing out provocative policy ideas that put them at odds with their parties' traditional ideology.
At Agen, Mr. Sarkozy slammed chief executives who received huge paychecks even as their companies tanked, and he called for stock options for all workers -- pitting himself against the business community, some of the center-right's staunchest supporters. Ms. Royal has criticized
Both drive their messages to voters. Ms. Royal holds weekly chats with supporters in hip Parisian cafes -- a ritual she calls "Cafe Segolene" -- and graces fashion-magazine covers.
Mr. Sarkozy shuns big cities for such smaller locales as
"They are integrating political marketing that they've imported from the
The maneuvering by Mr. Sarkozy and Ms. Royal is forcing another dozen presidential hopefuls -- including former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin -- to start campaigning as well, though elections are nearly a year away.
In the past two years, Mr. Sarkozy has gained popular support with high-profile crackdowns on crime and a tough stance on immigration, two issues at the top of French concerns. He wants
"To those who don't love
Mr. Sarkozy's blunt manner attracts many of his supporters. Last week, for example, he reiterated his controversial criticism of violent youth in Parisian suburbs, calling them "scum." "He dares to say more than other politicians," said Julien Gauthey, a 20-year-old student.
Ms. Royal has a warmer approach with her audiences and is focusing on education, family policies and the environment. In the eastern French region she represents in Parliament, she allowed high-school students to debate and vote on school budgets. Earlier in her career, as the minister dedicated to families and children, she made it possible for single parents to adopt. She has spoken in favor of allowing gay people to adopt and marry. As Ms. Royal told her crowd of admirers at the gym rally, "I think people are the best judges of their own situations."
---
What Voters Want
After a year of crises in France, political candidates including
presidential hopefuls Nicholas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal have begun
reaching out to voters on issues such as:
-- Jobs:
highest, and reaches 21.9% for people under 25. Efforts to loosen laws
protecting workers have met with massive protests.
-- Justice: A botched case -- in which seven people accused of
sexually abusing children were jailed for three years before trial and
then acquitted -- has led to calls for justice system reform.
-- Education:
and too few resources, leaving graduates unprepared for the job market.
-- Security and immigration: Riots broke out last year in
impoverished suburbs populated largely by immigrants and minorities,
but promises of jobs and better housing have yet to be fulfilled. Some
voters want tougher restrictions on immigration.
In a tale of two economies, prudence lags behind the prodigal
By Ralph Atkins in
Published:
Which economy will perform better this year - the French or the German?
The answer, surely, is obvious.
ADVERTISEMENT
There is just one problem with this eminently rational analysis. This year and next, French economic growth is expected to outpace that of its larger rival across the
Élie Cohen, a member of the French prime minister's independent economic advisory panel, argues that
"
Mr Cohen says there is no reason why
There is little sign that French consumer spending growth will dry up soon. Joblessness remains high but the unemployment rate is on a clear downward trend. "What is important for the climate is the dynamic - whether it is increasing or decreasing," says Christian de Boissieu, president of the prime minister's economic advisers. French house prices, meanwhile, continue to rise. Policymakers in
In another contrast with
How much longer can
The country tends to sell to slower-growing European markets, rather than fast-expanding emerging ones, while a lack of competitiveness and the failure of the French to think as internationally as their German neighbours are also cited as obstacles.
A more fundamental point, argues Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in
In contrast to Mr Cohen and others in
Exports as a share of gross domestic product have reached about 40 per cent (compared with less than 30 per cent in
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the rich countries' think-tank, is similarly dubious about France's reliance on consumer spending.It believes the country should improve the functioning of labour markets, show more fiscal discipline and boost competition, especially in service sectors.
Whether seemingly indefatigable French shoppers will heed such warnings is another matter.
Ralph Atkins
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
July 5, 2006
The Pour
In the World of Fine Wine, There'll Always Be a France
By ERIC ASIMOV
PERMIT me to speak briefly in praise of France.
Yes, France, the greatest wine producing nation in the world.
Don't look so shocked. I've heard about the Judgment of Paris, the famous blind tasting in which French and American wines went glass-to-glass in 1976, and the French lost. I know all about the greatness of California cabernets and shiraz from Australia, and I understand that the French lag in the clever global marketing of instantly recognizable brands of wine.
Nonetheless, no country comes close to matching France, either in setting demanding standards for its wine industry or in producing such a variety of consistently excellent wine. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhone go without saying, but those famous regions are simply the most visible. From Jurançon in the southwest to Jura in the east, from Nantes on the Atlantic to Alsace on the German border, France makes wines that are endlessly compelling and should be endlessly inspiring.
Why is it necessary for me to state what should be obvious? Because a prevailing attitude toward France and its wines, in the New World at least, seems stuck somewhere between pity and glee for an industry supposedly rotting from within.
New World producers and journalists like to jeer at the sacred French notion of terroir as a myth constructed to preserve French status in the industry, and they laugh at the rigidity of the French appellation rules, which dictate what French growers can plant, where they can plant it, and how they should tend the vines. The European Union's recent decision to spend millions of dollars in an effort to diminish a European wine glut by digging up vineyards and turning excess wine into ethanol contributed to a confused perception of industry-wide crisis. The perception springs from an oversimplification of the French wine business, and no doubt a bit of wishful thinking.
The latest chorus of American gloating was heard around the time of the 30th anniversary celebration of the Paris tasting, even as many of these same gloaters were lining up to pay record prices for the heralded 2005 vintage of Bordeaux. When French winemakers were understandably reluctant to participate in yet another re-enactment in May, American wine writers were quick to play the cowardice card. And when the event feebly played out, and the Americans won again, writers exulted.
"Sacré bleu! Make that red, white and blue," Linda Murphy wrote in The San Francisco Chronicle, which can perhaps be forgiven for boosterish support of an industry in its backyard. In maybe the unkindest blow of all, Hollywood is apparently considering a movie version of the original event, based on the book "Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine" (Scribner, 2005), by George M. Taber.
Maybe it's payback for years of supercilious French sneering at the American wine industry. Or maybe Americans just need to lash out to pump themselves up with competitive energy, like football players pounding their lockers in an adrenalin-fueled frenzy. Any way you look at it, American wine partisans have got themselves a punching bag and they call it France.
Business-oriented types look at the French wine industry as old and tired. Through rigidity, bureaucracy and lack of creativity, they say, once-dominant France clings to old and outdated ways, and can no longer compete with modern wine powers like Australia, the United States, Chile and South Africa.
Those sympathetic to France heave a sigh, shrug their shoulders and say, What can you do? Meanwhile, some of the harshest critics are among the French themselves, particularly growers and winemakers in less prestigious areas, or entrepreneurs who feel hamstrung by French wine laws.
Make no mistake. France's troubles, as far as the wine business goes, are many. Consumption at home has dropped precipitously as the culture that once prized the long lunch and the arduous construction of a meal has taken a route toward convenience foods, quickly gobbled. The quest for productivity in a globalized economy, no doubt, has also taken its toll on daytime consumption, while stricter drunken-driving laws have also had an effect. Troubled fortunes in the wine economies of Bordeaux and the Languedoc are well known, if not well understood. And France's share of the wine export market has tumbled as well.
What's crucial to understand is that France has two entirely different wine economies, and one should not be confused with the other. The first produces oceans of cheap, occasionally palatable wine, sold for immediate consumption under lowly appellations, like plain Bordeaux or Beaujolais, for example, rather than the more prestigious and more specific St.-Julien or Juliénas. This industry is indeed in a deep crisis, with many growers hurting badly. Historically, much of this wine was for domestic consumption, and this segment has taken the biggest hit as the market has shrunk. Producers who would like to sell these wines overseas say they feel hampered because they cannot compete against the cleverly branded bottles of New World producers, who often use winemaking techniques unavailable to French producers.
The other industry makes the middle to high-end wines, those sold around the world, consumed in restaurants and reviewed in publications like Wine Spectator. Producers like Sylvain Pitiot, who makes the seductive, voluptuous Clos de Tart, a grand cru Burgundy, are doing exceptionally well, regardless of how many gallons of French wine the European Union wishes to convert to fuel. Like Clos de Tart, much of the high-quality end of the business is prospering.
In many ways, the French A.O.C. laws, for appellation d'origine contrôlée, which protect quality at the top, are simultaneously responsible for the demise of the low end. In other words, the law that insures the meaning of St.-Julien by dictating what the wine is made of and how it is labeled can stifle the producer of ordinary Bordeaux, who might want to legally blend some syrah into the cabernet sauvignon, or call the wine by a cute, memorable brand name — not Yellow Tail, but maybe Red Head. But while a producer in the Languedoc might wish he could pull out all his grenache and replace it with syrah, a Burgundy producer like Mr. Pitiot would be appalled at the idea of somebody wasting precious pinot noir territory by replacing it with merlot.
It may be that both ends of the French wine industry can only work at cross purposes, with the Old World tradition of exalting specific place names struggling against the New World merchandising power of the brand name. For France to try to accommodate the low end by compromising the standards that have insured its high-end dominance might in the end be catastrophic for the whole industry.
"Europeans should realize they can't play that New World game," said Neal Rosenthal, an American wine importer who is devoted to the concept of terroir. "They're better off protecting what they have and making sure people better understand the reasons behind it."
Not that the standards can't be beneficially modified. In a recent column in Decanter, a British consumer magazine, Michel Bettane, the French wine critic, suggested that St.-Émilion would be a fine place to plant chardonnay, which is currently not permitted under A.O.C. rules. Maybe so. And as in any bureaucracy, a stultifying rigidity often makes rational decision making difficult. But on the whole, the A.O.C. rules do far more to protect greatness than to prevent it.
While a further decline on the bottom end of the industry will have a tremendous social and human cost in France, it won't undermine the greatness of French wines. It's possible to imagine that France will be joined at the top by countries like Italy and Spain, which produce distinguished, singular wines like Barolo and Rioja, and are working hard to improve the quality in distinctive regions that have long been ignored.
It's harder to imagine New World countries like the United States and Australia reaching the same pinnacle. Their leading wines, whether made of cabernet, chardonnay, shiraz or pinot noir, will always be measured against the French, and regardless of the blind tasting here or there, few people really take seriously the notion that the New World wines will surpass the French reference points on a large scale. What's more important about New World wines is how they have improved their quality on the low-to-middle ranks, to the point where today it is possible to say that very few bad wines are produced.
No, France will always set a standard, barring some sort of colossal, self-destructive move, like gutting its appellation rules. Should that happen, Americans and the rest of the world would then have great cause to jeer.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
posted by JB CADIER at 9:55 AM
La renaissance des Bleus 01/07
Beaucoup de commentaires élogieux cette semaine dans la presse anglo-saxonne pour l’équipe de France de football. Après le match France Espagne et avant le match France Brésil
Pour le New York Times (28/06) "les vieux Français ont retrouvé tout leur ressort dans un match qui a enfin rendu à cette Coupe du Monde sa beauté".
Le Guardian (28/06) parle de "la renaissance des Bleus". Le Times (28/06) estime que "Zidane est le footballeur le plus éminent de son époque".
Pour le Herald Tribune (28/06) c’est "Zidane la classe... Il a montré sa majesté".
Le Wall Street Journal (29/06) essaie d’aller au-delà de l’événement sportif proprement dit. "Ces derniers temps l’équipe de France n’allait pas bien écrit le Wall Street Journal comme la France elle-même affectée par la faiblesse de son économie et les divisions de son personnel politique"..."Mais on a vu là une autre France… une France confiante, ethniquement mélangée énergique et créative".
L’enthousiasme est un peu plus mesuré sur l’intervention télévisée de Jacques Chirac lundi soir. Le Daily Telegraph (27/06) parle d’une "intervention légèrement inutile". Le Financial Times (27/06) a été surpris par la tonalité des commentaires en France après l’intervention présidentielle. "Ce qui peut arriver de pire à un chef d’état écrit le journal des milieux financiers c’est le ridicule". Le titre du Financial Times "pour Chirac ridiculisé par les médias le cauchemar ne fait que commencer".
- Aucune consistance idéologique
Dans ce même Financial Times (26/06) une réflexion sur le système politique français. Une réflexion qui part du dossier Gaz de France et de la décision de repousser la privatisation. "Dominique de Villepin est peut-être encore aux affaires écrit le Financial Times, mais il n’est plus au pouvoir. Et ce qui étonne ce journal c’est que ce soit l’UMP qui se soit opposée à la privatisation... C’est le grand défaut du système politique français écrit le Financial Times, les partis politiques n’ont aucune consistance idéologique. Ils ne sont que le véhicule personnel des candidats à la présidentielle. C’est particulièrement vrai de l’UMP écrit le Financial Times qui semble incapable de se positionner de manière durable sur l’éventail gauche droite et paraît toujours à la dérive. Ségolène Royal poursuit le journal est en train de dépasser Nicolas Sarkozy par la droite sur les questions de sécurité. De tels glissements pourraient être considérés comme du pragmatisme bienvenu. Hélas ils sont seulement le fruit d’un opportunisme personnel manifeste".
Le correspondant du Times (26/06) Charles Bremmer estime lui que Nicolas Sarkozy est en train de se repositionner en vue de son duel avec Ségolène Royal. "Après s’être présenté comme un libéral Monsieur Sarkozy a adopté une ligne plus modérée et un langage plus social le même que celui qui a porté Monsieur Chirac à la présidence".
"Lionel Jospin a une image de pasteur protestant austère", c’est comme cela que l’a vu le Financial Times (29/06) lors de sont intervention télévisée sur TF1. Le journal annonce qu’il va y avoir "une bataille entre Monsieur Jospin (virgule) un ancien trotskiste et Madame Royal la présidente de la région Poitou Charente et que ce sera la bataille entre un homme qui représente le passé du parti socialiste et une femme qui veut être l’avenir de la gauche française".
- La gauche autodestructrice
Un article sur l’extrême gauche en France dans le Sunday Times (25/06) qui n’en revient pas que des millions de Français soutienne une extrême gauche qui "aussi pittoresque que cela paraisse prône encore la dictature du prolétariat". Le Sunday Times écrit : "depuis quelques années l’attrait du léninisme est de plus en plus grand au pays de Louis Vuitton". Le journal anglais pense même que l’extrême gauche peut "ruiner la candidature de Ségolène Royal" et pose la question : "la gauche française sera-t-elle autodestructrice au point de commettre les mêmes erreurs qu’en 2002 ?" Quant à savoir pourquoi la France est le seul pays d’Europe à avoir une extrême gauche puissante le Sunday Times écrit que "la France est tout simplement un pays plus à gauche que les autres un pays où même les gens de droites sont plus à gauche que les travaillistes britanniques".
Newsweek (27/06) propose un dossier sur les villes en plein boom dans le monde. Et il y a deux villes en plein boom en France. Montpellier "un modèle de décentralisation urbaine" et Toulouse qualifiée par Newsweek de "cité ancienne devenue la ville multinationale".
Enfin les départs en vacances. Le correspondant du Daily Telegraph (26/06) donne quelques conseils pour les Anglais qui viennent en vacances en France. "Si vous devez dormir en route ne réservez pas. Choisissez un hôtel dans une petite ville le long de l’autoroute et commencez à chercher à 18H. Allez seulement dans les restaurants qui vous ont été recommandés par des amis ou par un guide et n’oubliez pas que les péages d’autoroute en France sont horriblement chers ".
posted by JB CADIER at 9:05 AM
Copies des articles cités le 1er juillet 06
By NATHANIEL VINTON
On Tuesday, a good deal of the action that took place in the center of the field consisted of elegant dodges, inventive passes and crafty steals.
Then, in the last 10 minutes,
In the 83rd minute, Zidane lofted a free kick that found midfielder Patrick Vieira, whose header off the body of
Zidane sealed the victory with a rush into the penalty area two minutes into injury time, putting the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
"It was a remarkable match in every way," said Raymond Domenech, the French coach. "We may have a team of old men, but we know how to be patient. Younger people run out of breath."
It was a painfully sudden deceleration for
Older players were certainly doing their part, but
"There are very young players in this team who must learn lessons from matches such as these," said
At that point several French players jeered at Aragonés, who in 2004 was caught on camera making a racist remark about
With their emphasis on midfield control and generous passing, the Spaniards were the revelation of the first round, weaving through their opponents. As a team, the Spaniards seemed closer than any of the European teams to emulating the Brazilians' playful style.
But it was
"The adventure continues," said Zidane, the 34-year-old star of French soccer.
The son of Algerian immigrants, Zidane found high-paid stardom for clubs in
After Tuesday's game, his teammates and coach mentioned July 9, the date of this year's final in
"We haven't set ourselves a limit," Vieira said. "We're improving every game, and I'm sure that we can improve against
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Vantage Point: Zidane shows his majesty in leading
Rob Hughes International Herald Tribune
Published:
Every match for which Zinedine Zidane lines up at this World Cup is potentially his last, and there are inevitable signs that age really does weary even a sporting genius. A newspaper in
But not here and not now, they haven't. Zidane had the last laugh, scoring the last goal in a 3-1 victory and demonstrating that experience is not so easily shouldered aside by impertinent youth.
"We were admirable on all levels, courageous, reactive, solid, intelligent, lucid and patient," said Raymond Domenech, the French coach. "Patrick Vieira was written off, Zizou ought not to be playing - but our little team of oldies is still in there. They may be old, but they are patient."
The defiance was clear in the first quarter, although later the vigor of
At first, and then in the end, it didn't look that way. Zidane, his jaw set as the Spanish supporters whistled down the Marseillaise, moved right, left and center to try to impose his will and his fabulous skill.
There must be one last, big performance left in a player of such greatness, and as he worked to put himself at the heart of his team, we wondered, could this be the night?
Gradually, however, the Spanish young bloods put their blades into
It was tight, it was intense, but never dull, and a world away from the insane brawling between
Here were men using legitimate force and respect for the talents of fellow pros.
But in the 27th minute, the deadlock broke. Mariano Pernia, the recently discovered Spanish left back, delivered a corner kick, Pablo went down in the crowded goalmouth, and Roberto Rosetti, the Italian referee, unhesitatingly pointed to the penalty spot.
Replays showed that there was a nudge, barely enough to send a big defender like Pablo sprawling to the ground the way he did, but a shove in the back nevertheless.
The French howled, the referee ignored them, and David Villa drove his penalty low beneath the despairing French goalkeeper, Fabien Barthez.
After that,
It was a delusion. A momentary lapse in Spanish concentration just before halftime brought the equalizer. Thierry Henry had been caught offside five times in the first half, but in the 41st minute he intelligently moved wide to the left, creating space for somebody else.
That somebody was Frank Ribery, the winger seeking to use this World Cup as a platform to free himself from Marseille. He found the right moment, playing the ball to Vieira, running for the return - and running on and on, around the advancing goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, and, as two defenders urgently arrived, Ribery coolly struck the ball past them into the net.
The second half was no mirror to the first.
Now Luis Aragonés, the wily fox of
Still, the contest remained even, toe to toe, until the 78th minute, when Joaquín cut in from the right and used his left foot to drive the ball wide of the near post.
The clock was ticking, with extra time on the horizon, when a controversial decision helped give
Henry had run into the back of Puyol.
"That goal came from a free kick that wasn't a foul, and we were punished by a refereeing error," Aragonés lamented.
Protest was not the only thing in the air. Zidane chipped the free kick toward the goal, it took a deflection off a defender's head, and when Vieira met the ball by the far post there was another deflection, off the inner thigh of Sergio Ramos, before the ball trickled over the line.
The Spaniards, never fulfilled at the World Cup level, had arrived in
But no matter that they dominated the ball, and that their most famous supporter, Manolo, beat the drum with a frenzy. There still was the matter of the class of Zidane.
On the stroke of time, still on the field and still hungry, the old-timer dodged Puyol, swiveled away and thrashed the ball with his right foot low into the net.
The great man had, after all, shown his majesty. It took
Every match for which Zinedine Zidane lines up at this World Cup is potentially his last, and there are inevitable signs that age really does weary even a sporting genius. A newspaper in
But not here and not now, they haven't. Zidane had the last laugh, scoring the last goal in a 3-1 victory and demonstrating that experience is not so easily shouldered aside by impertinent youth.
"We were admirable on all levels, courageous, reactive, solid, intelligent, lucid and patient," said Raymond Domenech, the French coach. "Patrick Vieira was written off, Zizou ought not to be playing - but our little team of oldies is still in there. They may be old, but they are patient."
The defiance was clear in the first quarter, although later the vigor of
At first, and then in the end, it didn't look that way. Zidane, his jaw set as the Spanish supporters whistled down the Marseillaise, moved right, left and center to try to impose his will and his fabulous skill.
There must be one last, big performance left in a player of such greatness, and as he worked to put himself at the heart of his team, we wondered, could this be the night?
Gradually, however, the Spanish young bloods put their blades into
It was tight, it was intense, but never dull, and a world away from the insane brawling between
Here were men using legitimate force and respect for the talents of fellow pros.
But in the 27th minute, the deadlock broke. Mariano Pernia, the recently discovered Spanish left back, delivered a corner kick, Pablo went down in the crowded goalmouth, and Roberto Rosetti, the Italian referee, unhesitatingly pointed to the penalty spot.
Replays showed that there was a nudge, barely enough to send a big defender like Pablo sprawling to the ground the way he did, but a shove in the back nevertheless.
The French howled, the referee ignored them, and David Villa drove his penalty low beneath the despairing French goalkeeper, Fabien Barthez.
After that,
It was a delusion. A momentary lapse in Spanish concentration just before halftime brought the equalizer. Thierry Henry had been caught offside five times in the first half, but in the 41st minute he intelligently moved wide to the left, creating space for somebody else.
That somebody was Frank Ribery, the winger seeking to use this World Cup as a platform to free himself from Marseille. He found the right moment, playing the ball to Vieira, running for the return - and running on and on, around the advancing goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, and, as two defenders urgently arrived, Ribery coolly struck the ball past them into the net.
The second half was no mirror to the first.
Now Luis Aragonés, the wily fox of
Still, the contest remained even, toe to toe, until the 78th minute, when Joaquín cut in from the right and used his left foot to drive the ball wide of the near post.
The clock was ticking, with extra time on the horizon, when a controversial decision helped give
Henry had run into the back of Puyol.
"That goal came from a free kick that wasn't a foul, and we were punished by a refereeing error," Aragonés lamented.
Protest was not the only thing in the air. Zidane chipped the free kick toward the goal, it took a deflection off a defender's head, and when Vieira met the ball by the far post there was another deflection, off the inner thigh of Sergio Ramos, before the ball trickled over the line.
The Spaniards, never fulfilled at the World Cup level, had arrived in
But no matter that they dominated the ball, and that their most famous supporter, Manolo, beat the drum with a frenzy. There still was the matter of the class of Zidane.
On the stroke of time, still on the field and still hungry, the old-timer dodged Puyol, swiveled away and thrashed the ball with his right foot low into the net.
The great man had, after all, shown his majesty. It took
_
374 words
The Wall Street Journal
11
English
(Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
The day after glory at the World Cup, Parisians had a bounce in their step rarely seen of late, in spite of a late night of street parties and car honking. "We won! we won!" a young lady enthusiastically told random shoppers at a pastry shop yesterday morning, as if they didn't know. "Giant" roared the cover of Le Parisien, the capital's most popular tabloid, over a picture of football great Zinedine Zidane, or Zizou as everyone calls him.
Imagine the ecstasy if Les Bleus manage to get past
Yet
So all of
FT.com site : Media ridicule tells Chirac the nightmare has just begun.
Martin Arnold in
526 words
Financial Times (FT.Com)
English
(c) 2006 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved
Jacques Chirac woke up on Tuesday morning to face one of the worst fates that can befall a head of state: widespread ridicule.
Instead, his speech was greeted by resounding boos from the media, reinforcing the atmosphere of fin de regne that has dogged his second term in office.
"You don't change a losing team," said Liberation's front page, a sarcastic reference to Mr Chirac's repeated support for Dominique de Villepin, his enfeebled and unpopular prime minister.
Pierre Giacometti, analyst at Ipsos, said Mr Chirac "never stood a chance" of regaining public confidence with his plea that Mr de Villepin and his government had been judged unfairly.
The press mercilessly poked fun at the president's gaffes, such as his reference to the Airbus A370, which does not exist, and his prediction that
"Cut off from the rest of the world in the Elysee palace, he has created a virtual world that he believes to be more real than reality," mocked Liberation's editorial, in an irreverent tone rarely used when discussing the head of state, even by his fiercest critics.
Le Figaro, the conservative broadsheet usually supportive of the government, drew an unflattering comparison between Mr Chirac and Zinedine Zidane, the ageing and much-criticised captain of France's struggling football team.
"His foot is no longer as sure, his glance no longer as quick: like Zinedine Zidane, Jacques Chirac has won every competition, but that was all long ago," said Le Figaro's editorial. "Like Zidane, as we all know, he will soon be forced to hang up his boots."
The regional press were equally damning. La Republique des
Le Monde criticised "an exercise in self-satisfaction, which was, at the least, surreal". The brickbats have built up after an annus horribilis for Mr Chirac. In May 2005, he lost a referendum on
Soon afterwards, came the loss of the 2012 Olympic games to
Mr Chirac on Monday attempted to leave the door open to him running for a third term in next year's election. But analysts judged that the president had no choice but to maintain the possibility of running again, or he would have become even more of a lame duck leader.
LEADER
De Villepin in office but hardly in power The prime minister has lost all confidence, except Chirac's.
520 words
Financial Times
Page 18
English
(c) 2006 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved
As was once said of John Major but is even more apt of Dominique de Villepin,
The strain is showing in Mr de Villepin. Last week he lost his temper with the Socialist opposition leader in parliament and sued the journalist authors of two recent books about his involvement in the Clearstream affair.
In his latest setback, Mr de Villepin has been forced by his own UMP party to postpone until autumn legislation to privatise Gaz de France. This is required under the prime minister's plan to bolt the state-controlled utility on to
But Mr de Villepin had no choice. The bulk of the UMP party, led by his rival Nicolas Sarkozy, have had their fill of a prime minister who was sprung on them a year ago by Mr Chirac and who in turn has sprung unwelcome legislative ideas on them.
Compounding
Some of the anti-Villepin group in the UMP are also starting to complain about the fifth republic's subordination of parliament to the monarchical presidency. Unfortunately, such gripes are mainly the result of the war within the UMP to succeed Mr Chirac, and are most unlikely to lead to any necessary recasting of
LEADER
De Villepin in office but hardly in power The prime minister has lost all confidence, except Chirac's.
520 words
Financial Times
Page 18
English
(c) 2006 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved
As was once said of John Major but is even more apt of Dominique de Villepin,
The strain is showing in Mr de Villepin. Last week he lost his temper with the Socialist opposition leader in parliament and sued the journalist authors of two recent books about his involvement in the Clearstream affair.
In his latest setback, Mr de Villepin has been forced by his own UMP party to postpone until autumn legislation to privatise Gaz de France. This is required under the prime minister's plan to bolt the state-controlled utility on to
But Mr de Villepin had no choice. The bulk of the UMP party, led by his rival Nicolas Sarkozy, have had their fill of a prime minister who was sprung on them a year ago by Mr Chirac and who in turn has sprung unwelcome legislative ideas on them.
Compounding
Some of the anti-Villepin group in the UMP are also starting to complain about the fifth republic's subordination of parliament to the monarchical presidency. Unfortunately, such gripes are mainly the result of the war within the UMP to succeed Mr Chirac, and are most unlikely to lead to any necessary recasting of
Jospin ponders challenge to Socialist frontrunner
By Martin Arnold
Published:
Lionel Jospin,
It will be a battle between a man who represents the party’s past and a woman who has cast herself as the future of the French left.
ADVERTISEMENT
Four years after his humiliating defeat in the 2002 presidential election and his subsequent self-imposed exile from politics, Mr Jospin thrust himself back into the limelight this week, declaring he was considering entering the race for next year’s ballot.
Supporters say Mr Jospin’s return was prompted by his view that Ms Royal, who has shot to a clear lead in opinion polls over the party’s other presidential pretenders, does not have the experience or the policies to win next year’s election.
However, analysts say it will be tough to dislodge Ms Royal from her position as favourite before the party’s nomination in November. They also say Mr Jospin’s comeback will be hampered by the fact that many Socialists have still not forgiven him for abandoning the party after its crushing defeat in 2002.
The battle between Mr Jospin, a former Trotskyist, and Ms Royal, president of the Poitou-Charente region, will be critical in deciding whether French voters will be offered a Socialist candidate representing a break with the past or a familiar old face next April.
One of Mr Jospin’s close friends and advisers said: “His analysis is that no one has really emerged on the left, except Ségolène, who he does not approve of, as he does not trust her ability to manage the government and thinks she is all marketing hype.”
The 68-year-old made a carefully staged return to the political arena, writing a column in Wednesday’s Le Monde newspaper setting out what he felt should be the main issues of the presidential campaign, followed by an interview on prime-time television.
True to his austere Protestant pastor image while prime minister from 1997 to 2002, he answered a direct question on whether he was a presidential candidate with typical stiff-backed cautiousness.
“If it appears that I am the best placed to bring together the left, to re-unite and take charge of the country, to exercise the office of president in the difficult situation of France today, and to propose to French people a way out of the crisis we are in, then I will ask myself the question,” he said.
“A few months before the decision must be taken, well, this is an open question,” he admitted. When pressed on whether he was backtracking on a promise definitively to quit politics after his defeat in 2002, he corrected the interviewer, saying he had never used the adjective “definitive”.
Marc Abélès, director of research at CNRS, said: “I think Ségolène is doing some good work within the party and Jospin has waited too long in the shadows. He will appear as an old man, as well as a loser, and a bad loser at that.”
The latest opinion poll, published on Wednesday by Le Figaro Magazine, showed Mr Jospin still had a long way to go to convince Socialist party members that he was their best hope of beating Nicolas Sarkozy, interior minister and favourite to be the right’s main presidential candidate.
Ms Royal had a 57 per cent approval rating, against only 27 per cent for Mr Jospin, based on interviews of 1,000 people before the ex-premier made his public declarations this week.
Pierre Moscovici, former Socialist minister, said: “Jospin has positioned himself as a rescuer… but I don’t see under what circumstances that could happen.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
The Sunday Times
Comrades threaten to overthrow Royal
Matthew Campbell, Paris
THEY looked like extras in a remake of Doctor Zhivago, but the people waving red flags and handing out leaflets about “class struggle” were not acting. They were attending a rally in support of one of
In some European countries, parties of the extreme left are clinging, at best, to the political rock face, but in
Her millions of fans refer to her simply as Arlette and, quaint as it may sound, this 67-year-old former typist with cropped hair and an elfin smile is preaching the “dictatorship of the proletariat” as a solution to
“The rich live from the exploitation of workers; they get all the benefits,” she said, adopting rhetoric not heard in most developed countries since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Laguiller may belong in a political museum, but the appeal of Leninism in the
She and those like her claim credit for
It would not be the first time a Socialist candidate has been torpedoed by the extreme left. Lionel Jospin lost so many votes to the “loony left” in 2002, when it became fashionable among the “intellos” to vote for the likes of Laguiller, that the extreme rightwinger Jean-Marie Le Pen went through to round two instead of the former Socialist prime minister.
The Socialists were forced to “hold their noses” and vote for President Jacques Chirac, who was re-elected. Could the French left be self-destructive enough to make the same mistake twice?
Some polls suggest that a smattering of far-left parties could score up to 20%, splitting the left-wing vote in favour of the far right.
Although hugely popular with the public, Royal is struggling to win the hearts and minds of party militants who are upset with what they suspect might be her “Blairite” agenda. She needs their support to win her party’s nomination to stand for president.
Already she has been pressed into ditching social conservatism in favour of gay adoption and marriage. But nothing she can do, short of announcing that capitalism is evil, will satisfy the heirs of Trotsky and Lenin. “She’s a supporter of big business,” said Henriette Mauthey, a spokeswoman for Workers’ Struggle. “We cannot submit to capitalist interests.”
The same is heard from Olivier Besancenot, 30, presidential candidate of the Revolutionary Communist League. “She is from the right of the Socialist party,” he said. “We have nothing in common.”
Few politicians have knocked on as many doors as Besancenot: for years he has been delivering the mail in
To anyone with time to chat, the postman will advocate a paradise of the proletariat at
The former, at least, seems to appeal to a proportion of French voters. Many fear that even a Socialist government will end up imposing on them an “Anglo-Saxon” economic model resulting in the loss of their social benefits.
Another reason for the appeal of Besancenot and his friends is
Besancenot and Laguiller are expected to score 3-5% each and pollsters expect a similar tally for Marie-Georges Buffet, the Communist party leader, and for José Bové, the pipe-smoking anti-globalisation icon, sheep farmer and leader of a bloc called No. The name harks back to the “No” campaign he led with Besancenot, Laguiller and the Communists to block the EU constitution at a referendum last year.
Bové wants to revive that rejectionist team to fight the presidential election, with himself as the candidate. The postman seemed quite keen on the idea, suggesting the four leaders sit down and discuss it over some “nosh”. Laguiller, however, seemed reluctant to abandon her sixth — and, apparently, last — run for president.
Besides, she will not sit down with the Communists, regarding them as “traitors” for having previously entered coalitions with Socialists.
Four other left-wing parties, including the Greens, are expected to field presidential candidates. It could make for a hopelessly splintered left-wing vote; and François Hollande, the Socialist party secretary-general who is also Royal’s boyfriend and the father of her children, was already sounding dismayed.
“I respect all of these personalities,” he said last week. “I say to them, ‘You have the right to present yourselves [as candidates], but we [Socialists] have a duty to be in the second round of the election’.”
It promises to be a lively election battle.
French leave
Posted by Colin Randall at 26 Jun 06
Tags:
Beach
Before heading to the beach, follow Colin Randall's advice
For the thousands upon thousands of British people who are about to join us in
I am a July person. I prefer to be at my haunts in the south of
In
Not every expat in
But if I set the ball rolling, maybe others can chip in with secrets they are prepared to pass on.
My first piece of advice may be too late for some. It is to ignore tour operators’ offers to find you hotel accommodation if you are making a car journey that needs an overnight stop on your way to mobile home sites, gites or villages de vacances.
Things may have changed since I did this kind of thing en famille. There may have been a revolution in the trade’s approach in the past 10 years. But my experience was invariably that I could do a whole lot better for myself than anything being offered to me.
Some travel people used to list a choice of stops at hotels for which the charge was the British-style per person, instead of the vastly fairer French per room. If that still goes on, do not even consider the option until you have exhausted every other possibility.
My routine was to avoid advance bookings at all, and simply leave the motorway or major routes at around
I can recall occasionally being forced to settle for somewhere more expensive than I’d wanted, but it was still cheaper than what I had been offered in advance and I cannot recall ever having to sleep in the car.
This also sometimes meant stopping at places that the tour operator wouldn’t have cared to recommend, but a modest hotel can still be a perfectly decent one.
You can even check out, on spec or through easy internet searches, rock bottom prices at the clean but functional chains such as Formule 1 or Mister Bed. You don’t actually need that much more for a basic pause – and you can blow the notional savings on a great meal.
Modest or motel, town centre or just off the autoroute, I have done it with varying degrees of satisfaction all over
I remember failing to find anything along the coast down from Cherbourg one Bastille Day weekend, but then having plenty of choice on Mont St Michel, by then empty of its day trippers. Such stops can become part of the holiday.
Even on a long drive, it is worth veering a few miles off the motorway for a break rather than fighting for space with everyone else at the service areas. At the risk of never being able to get a table there again, I would commend the little hilltop restaurant next to the ruined castle above Châteauneuf du Pape for its reasonable food and grand views.
British visitors to
If you head for the most popular tourist locations – and that means most places along the
Allow for ferocious motorway toll charges and remember, if you stop at a terrace for a drink, that while drink is cheap in the supermarkets, it is expensive in bars.
One last thing for now: be prepared to meet lots of French people, and make an effort with their language. Large numbers of them are said to be giving American, Egyptian and other far-off holidays a miss this year to return to the Med and
That means looking out for the chasse-croisé weekends when everyone seems to be on the move, if sometimes at a snail's pace, in one direction or the other.
posted by JB CADIER at 9:04 AM
26.6.06
Débordement de rage 24/06
L’incident de séance François Hollande Dominique de Villepin a été largement rapporté par les médias anglo-saxons. Ainsi… jeudi matin… sur la BBC
(extrait sonore de l’émission Today show 23/06/06)
« Monsieur de Villepin a été obligé de présenter des excuses et cet incident a rendu sa position déjà précaire encore plus incertaine… » Tel est le commentaire de la radio britannique BBC 4.
Le New York Times (21/06) parle d’un « débordement rempli de rage tout à fait exceptionnel ».
Le Times de Londres (22/06) parle d’une « attaque d’une virulence étonnante ». Et d’un « premier ministre dont l’habilité à gouverner est désormais remise en question. Monsieur de Villepin, écrit le Times, risque d’être dépossédé de tout pouvoir. Il ne lui en restera que les apparences extérieures… Le résultat est un climat de profonde incertitude dans un pays qui traditionnellement a besoin de l’Etat pour lui montrer le chemin ».
- Ségolène inclassable
La presse américaine continue de s’interroger sur le cas Ségolène Royal. « Elle est inclassable » écrit un peu agacé l’hebdomadaire Newsweek (26/06). Qui est elle ? « Est-ce qu’elle va enfin faire entrer le Parti socialiste dans la modernité ou bien est elle une ces politiciennes comme il y en a beaucoup en Europe qui pratiquent la course au centre et à la confusion ». Il y a des contradictions en elle écrit Newsweek qui estime que « ces contradictions viennent peut-être de son itinéraire personnel. Elle qui est fille de militaire et dont le père est parti en laissant la famille sans ressources, elle n’a aucun mal à exalter les vertus de la discipline tout en montrant une réelle compassion pour les plus démunis ».
Finalement l’hebdomadaire Newsweek est plutôt séduit. « Elle est peut-être inclassable mais elle n’est jamais médiocre. Oui elle est socialiste mais elle n’est pas doctrinaire et si son parti arrive à le lui pardonner elle pourrait bien devenir présidente de la France ».
Dans le Herald Tribune (19/06) John Vinocur est moins enthousiaste. Il s’interroge sur « la dernière idée à la mode ». « On l’entend partout écrit il dans les éditoriaux, dans les conversations privées. C’est l’idée selon laquelle le changement serait en marche et que ce soit Ségo ou Sarko la France s’engagerait clairement sur le chemin de la réforme. C’est une supposition, écrit Vinocur, une extrapolation que rien pour l’instant ne vient vraiment étayer ». Sur la question centrale de l’intervention de l’Etat écrit le journaliste américain « Sarkozy ne s’est pas beaucoup éloigné du dogme étatiste quand il était ministre des Finances et Ségolène Royal a critiqué la flexibilité du marché du travail à la scandinave… L’interventionnisme de l’Etat écrit John Vinocur reste en France une vérité d’évangile à droite comme à gauche ».
Enfin le journal anglais de centre gauche Observer (18/06) vote lui clairement Ségolène. « Une fois encore écrit l’Observer les Français nous montrent la voie. Cette mère de quatre enfants âgée de 52 ans est une femme forte et indépendante. En Grande-Bretagne on la trouverait terrifiante, en France on la trouve géniale ».
La crise d’Airbus et d’EADS. L’Economist (22/06) écrit : « il y a un dégoût généralisé à l’égard des élites politico industrielles, des élites qui semblent s’organiser pour tirer tous les avantages possibles du capitalisme sans en accepter les risques ».
Le Financial Times (26/06) pense lui que la France est à un tournant, que « le gouvernement paralysé par les querelles internes est devenu impuissant et du coup le monde des affaires en profite pour couper les liens avec l’Etat. Le Financial Times écrit : pour de nombreuses entreprises l’impuissance du gouvernement est une chance ».
Enfin, les commerçants français sont désagréables. Ce sont même les plus désagréables d’Europe selon une enquête réalisée dans six pays européens. Et « pour une fois, écrit le Daily Telegraph (19/06) ce ne sont pas les Anglais qui se plaignent. Ce sont les consommateurs français qui se plaignent de leurs propres commerçants ». Colin Randall (Blog 19/06), le correspondant du journal à Paris dit pourtant qu’il n’est pas d’accord avec cette enquête. « Il y a parfois un manque de personnel dans les magasins français, mais mon expérience du service à la française écrit ce journaliste anglais vivant à Paris, c’est qu’on y rencontre beaucoup plus de sourires que de grimaces ».
posted by JB CADIER at 11:15 AM
Copies des articles cités le 24 juin 06
French Premier, on Assembly Floor, Rails at Socialist's 'Cowardice'
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
When François Hollande, the Socialist Party leader, berated the French government for its handling of the crisis at
In an outburst that was both highly personal and filled with rage, Mr. de Villepin shouted: "I denounce, Mr. Hollande, the superficiality, and I would even say, looking at you, cowardice! Cowardice! There is in your attitude, I say it again, cowardice!"
Socialist members of the Assembly tried to drown out Mr. de Villepin with cries of "Resign! Resign!" Some deputies moved forward, toward the prime minister, before storming out of the chamber.
Henri Emmanuelli, a Socialist deputy and a former president of the National Assembly, shouted, "He's mad!"
The session — the regularly scheduled Tuesday hearing with Mr. de Villepin and other ministers — came to an abrupt end.
Mr. de Villepin's outburst followed an accusation by Mr. Hollande about the growing scandal involving the newest super-jumbo jet from Airbus and the controversy over suspected insider trading by the French co-chief executive officer of its parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, known as EADS.
Mr. Hollande asked whether the French government, a major stakeholder in EADS, continued to support the executive, Noël Forgeard.
Mr. Hollande also charged that Mr. de Villepin lacked the trust of the French people and would not regain it by filing a libel suit against three journalists. On Monday, Mr. de Villepin took the unusual step of suing the journalists, who wrote two books on a complicated financial scandal known as the Clearstream affair. It was considered a politically risky move, in that it could force him to testify about the case in court.
Mr. de Villepin has been accused — he insists wrongly — of ordering an undercover investigation in 2004 of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, his political rival, in connection with the Clearstream affair. Mr. Sarkozy has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
After Tuesday's parliamentary session was cut short, Mr. Hollande demanded a formal apology from Mr. de Villepin. "It is he who must bring serenity back to the chamber," Mr. Hollande said. He added that Mr. de Villepin "has lost his head."
Calls for Mr. de Villepin's resignation have increased in recent months, even within his own UMP party, following the failure of his initiative to create jobs for young people. Opposition to the law sparked huge demonstrations.
An opinion poll last weekend in a weekly newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, indicated that his approval rating stood at 23 percent, compared with 28 percent a month ago.
In recent weeks, Mr. de Villepin, who had been considered a possible center-right candidate for the presidency, has been savaged by his critics. Le Monde's cartoonist has drawn the impeccably tailored Mr. de Villepin as a homeless man in a cardboard box, and as a disheveled bureaucrat.
An editorial in Monday's Le Monde, titled "End of a Reign," referred to the "angry powerlessness of the prime minister," adding that President Jacques Chirac had a clear choice to "change the prime minister or step down himself."
By contrast, Ségolène Royal, Mr. Hollande's longtime partner, the mother of his four children and a Socialist deputy, has for months been the most popular politician on the left in opinion polls on the election for president next year..
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
The Times
Sorry, says struggling leader who called rival a coward
From Adam Sage in
After an explosive row late on Tuesday, when he was led away by stewards for his own protection, Dominique de Villepin returned to parliament yesterday to apologise to Xavier Hollande.
“If some of my words wounded you personally, I regret that and I withdraw them,” a contrite M de Villepin told M Hollande, the Socialist leader.
M de Villepin had accused M Hollande of lâcheté (cowardice) for urging the dismissal of Noel Forgeard, joint chief executive of Airbus’s parent company, EADS, after the collapse of its share price last week.
In the usually restrained French National Assembly the use of the word lâcheté, which carries ignominious overtones harking back to collaboration with the Nazis, was an astonishingly virulent attack.
“It is the worst insult that can be made against a public figure,” said Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the Socialist parliamentary group whose members walked out of parliament in protest on Tuesday.
M de Villepin’s apology was a fresh humiliation for a leader whose ability to govern is being questioned on all sides of the political spectrum.
With his own centre-right MPs in open revolt, his announcements ignored and his ratings at a record low M de Villepin risks being stripped of all but the trappings of power.
The result is a climate of deep uncertainty in a nation that traditionally relies on the State for a sense of direction. Key decisions, such as the privatisation of Gaz de France, the state gas supplier, are being postponed and opinion polls say that voters are turning to extremist parties, including the ultra-right National Front.
The malaise has been fuelled by President Chirac’s retreat to the sidelines after a stroke last summer. “We have rarely seen such a divorce between a head of government and his majority,” wrote Libération yesterday. It was difficult to see how it could continue until the presidential election next spring, it went on.
With the press denouncing a gaffe and the Left demanding early elections, centre-right MPs turned on their leader. “He needs a holiday,” said Dominique Paillé. “He has to go,” said Christine Boutin.
M de Villepin, 52, a flamboyant figure and admirer of Napoleon, viewed the prime minister’s job as a stepping stone to the presidency. His dreams were shattered when he had to withdraw key labour reforms after mass protests this spring.
Embroiled in a spy scandal and damaged by a growing rift with his centre-right rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, he would win just 4 per cent of the vote if he stood for the presidency, an opinion poll predicted this week.
His decision to privatise Gaz de France has been blocked by his supporters, who fear a fresh clash with unions. He also faces tough opposition to his plan to cut 15,000 public sector jobs.
M Chirac has told friends that he is reluctant to sack M de Villepin because it would be an admission of failure and he he has no suitable successor.
UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE
“The Prime Minister clings to data in the way a drunkard clings to lamp-posts — not for illumination, but to keep him standing up”
Romano Prodi to Silvio Berlusconi, then the Italian Prime Minister
“Clement Attlee is a modest man who has a good deal to be modest about” Winston Churchill
“So unpopular, if he became a funeral director people would stop dying” Tony Banks MP on former Prime Minister John Major
“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up”
Paul Keating on John Howard, then Opposition leader and currently the Australian Prime Minister
“He is so dumb that he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time”
President Johnson on President Ford
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Race for the Muddle
Left? Right? Whatever. He (or she) who would be
By Michael Meyer and Christopher Dickey
Newsweek International
It's good she did, for on this point there's room for doubt. Even fellow Socialists brand her a "second Sarkozy," referring to the tough-talking conservative Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who for much of the past year has been his party's most likely champion to succeed Chirac. And to be fair, they are right to be confused. Earlier this month Royal stole a march on her right-wing rival by proposing to scrap a pillar of the modern French welfare state, the 35-hour workweek. "Too flexible," she pronounced it—a threat to the rights and incomes of full-time workers. That came just days after she outflanked Sarkozy on another of his favorite issues, law and order. The way to deal with first-time criminal offenders, she suggested, was discipline within "a military framework" to instill correct principles of honesty, hard work and community service.
Her remarks sent Socialist elders into meltdown. Her own life partner and the father of her four children, Socialist Party leader François Hollande, condemned them as near apostasy. As the Socialists struggled to pull together a platform for the coming presidential campaign, to be voted on by the party faithful this week, her ideas were conspicuously absent. Yet here's the rub: according to recent polls, 66 percent of French voters say they approve of them, even if party leaders do not. If Royal continues her rise, the Socialists will be presented with a tough choice: adherence to nearly a century of ideological tradition—this is a party, after all, that still views the world as a struggle between capital and labor and sings the "Internationale" at official gatherings—or winning back the Elysée after 12 years. Beyond that, there's the bigger question of what all this represents. In her drive to the presidency, is Ségolène Royal at long last pulling
In a sense,
The muddle is partly the result of a basic contradiction built into
The record shows that if you rush to the middle too early, however, your party feels betrayed, and you're dead. Witness the 2002 ballot. Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin, prime minister for five years, tried to expand his base by declaring early on that his plans for the country were not "socialist." "That was second-round discourse," says Dominique Reynié, director of the Interregional Politics Observatory in
Haunted by that disaster, the heavyweights of the Socialist Party, known as the elephants, have been trying to assemble a program that will win back the far left. Thus Royal's lack of influence. But no matter. She's betting that first-round protest votes are less about ideology than a hunger for fresh images and ideas. Like Sarkozy, she senses that voters have wearied of the same old faces, left or right. They don't want extremes; they want something new, and that's what Royal seems to be. She's outpaced her Socialist rivals by such a huge margin that the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné recently ran a cartoon portraying her as Snow White surrounded by Socialist dwarfs.
So much for the elephants. Royal "is seen as a woman who's strict, conservative in her mores, attached to the family as a structuring element in society," says Reynié. Yet when it comes to politics, she's pragmatic, seeming to cherry-pick from left and right. Recently, she came out strongly in favor of civil unions for gays. the puritan royal brings the homos to the altar, read a headline in the left-wing daily Libération. She attacked the 35-hour workweek but strongly opposed the government's effort to liberalize the country's labor laws by making it easier for companies to hire (and fire) young workers. Royal's personal saga helps justify these contradictions. The daughter of a soldier—a deadbeat dad who left his family with nothing to survive on but charity—she has no trouble extolling the virtues of military discipline while sympathizing with the poor.
The political center gets murkier still as Sarkozy tries to stop Royal by ... embracing her. "Madame Royal can join us," he joked this month, playing to Socialist misgivings about her ideological bona fides. "Welcome to the club!" He surely hopes that Royal's own party stops her, because polls show the two of them in a near dead heat. Leave it to Le Pen, who remains the right-wing éminence noire of French politics, to sum up the confusion at the center: "Sarkozy is a man of the right who always wants to please the left, and Madame Royal is a fake woman of the left who thinks herself an American Marine sergeant."
Independent, unclassifiable—Royal's image may be muddled, but it's never middling. Yes, she is a Socialist, just not doctrinaire. And if the party can forgive her for that, she could well be the next president of
With Tracy McNicoll in
© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13392194/site/newsweek/
Politicus: Chirac's potential heirs offer how much real change?
John Vinocur
Published:
The idea, which has a national pulse, is this: With Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal looking almost certain to be opponents for the French presidency next summer, the country is on a sure path toward new modernity and out of its dark, decades-long vale of debilitating slumber. Whoever wins.
All that's left is to fill in the blanks, goes the maxim of the week. Sarko, if you doubt Ségo has the necessary experience. Ségo - "this is a mother of four talking to you," she riffs - if in your mind Sarko's hard hand would rest heavy on the wheel of state.
Bernard Tapie, not a Socialist like Royal but both a former Mitterrand cabinet minister and self-described friend of Sarkozy, who is also head of the Gaullist party, gets a certain amount of frankness-credit here for having done jail time. He wrapped up
"Listen, the policy essentials are well defined in what Royal and Sarkozy say. There are differences between them. But they're in the margins."
To stay upbeat, you could call this a positive extrapolation about
The desire is real and affecting. But the evidence that
Much of the supposition that Sarkozy and Royal are fighting the same war from only superficially different flanks comes from recent remarks by Royal. In theory, she tried to be tough and realistic at the same time her Socialist Party was offering up an action program described by this week's Nouvel Observateur (quasi-official organ of
Basically, Royal sounded like Sarkozy. She said in substance that
Somebody obsessed with detail might recall that neither Jacques Chirac, nor Sarkozy as a cabinet minister in successive Chirac governments (nor Royal from the loyal opposition), ever dared take on the 35-hour week's futility for fear of bruising the electorate's sense that entitlements are for eternity.
Or might remember that Tapie, when he was Mitterrand's minister for cities, got permission to put 5,000 troops into immigrant neighborhoods as a means for confronting their "security issues." To next to no avail.
Reality in all this says that the Sarko/Ségo similarity on a detail or two only points out the vastness of the over-reaching French problems where they have not only no commonality of vision, but next to no explicit vision at all.
State interventionism that's been biblical writ forever for both the French left and right? As finance minister, Sarkozy hardly strayed from religion in bolstering or subsidizing this or that French company pressed by European Union decisions or potential non-French buyers. Easing the constriction of rules that make hiring or firing into continuing bad choices for French companies? Royal slammed job-market "flexibility" Scandinavian-style as a miserable solution.
Supercharging the process of immigrants' integration so as to really get beyond last year's riots in the
At this point, Royal, who still needs the backing of the elephants of her party to run as the Socialist candidate, just plain avoids taking a position on anything like immigrants and integration that doesn't offer immediate tactical advantage.
Fat chance too that either candidate will want to go to the heart of things by talking about the causes of why France feels scared, ill-equipped and so self-protective in a world of change. With words like corporatism and absolutism and anti-globalization as explanations, the same Nouvel Observateur (whose remake-the-world cover story asked, "Must Judas be Rehabilitated?") reported that
It published a poll showing that among 10 countries surveyed,
But there it is, all the same, in editorials and in private conversations: this idea that one way or another, with either Nicolas or
In an effort to support progress, but to warily verify its course, this corner's reader-service staff has come up with a checklist for gauging over the months how much Ségo and Sarko really move toward getting France off Immobility Island. It's suitable for posting on refrigerator doors:
Big picture (tick appropriate box): Has he or she taken a definitive position on statism and interventionism? Have they been explicit on a new French role in the European Union with a premise broader and more widely acceptable than invariable French leadership? Does either candidate offer up a more realistic French vision for the world than Chirac's multipolar mantra that forces
Smaller but essential themes: Who insists that alongside demonstrating their compatibility with
Keep score at home. The politicians won't do it for you.
E-mail: pagetwo@iht.com
Tomorrow: Roger Cohen on the
The idea, which has a national pulse, is this: With Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal looking almost certain to be opponents for the French presidency next summer, the country is on a sure path toward new modernity and out of its dark, decades-long vale of debilitating slumber. Whoever wins.
All that's left is to fill in the blanks, goes the maxim of the week. Sarko, if you doubt Ségo has the necessary experience. Ségo - "this is a mother of four talking to you," she riffs - if in your mind Sarko's hard hand would rest heavy on the wheel of state.
Bernard Tapie, not a Socialist like Royal but both a former Mitterrand cabinet minister and self-described friend of Sarkozy, who is also head of the Gaullist party, gets a certain amount of frankness-credit here for having done jail time. He wrapped up
"Listen, the policy essentials are well defined in what Royal and Sarkozy say. There are differences between them. But they're in the margins."
To stay upbeat, you could call this a positive extrapolation about
The desire is real and affecting. But the evidence that
Much of the supposition that Sarkozy and Royal are fighting the same war from only superficially different flanks comes from recent remarks by Royal. In theory, she tried to be tough and realistic at the same time her Socialist Party was offering up an action program described by this week's Nouvel Observateur (quasi-official organ of
Basically, Royal sounded like Sarkozy. She said in substance that
Somebody obsessed with detail might recall that neither Jacques Chirac, nor Sarkozy as a cabinet minister in successive Chirac governments (nor Royal from the loyal opposition), ever dared take on the 35-hour week's futility for fear of bruising the electorate's sense that entitlements are for eternity.
Or might remember that Tapie, when he was Mitterrand's minister for cities, got permission to put 5,000 troops into immigrant neighborhoods as a means for confronting their "security issues." To next to no avail.
Reality in all this says that the Sarko/Ségo similarity on a detail or two only points out the vastness of the over-reaching French problems where they have not only no commonality of vision, but next to no explicit vision at all.
State interventionism that's been biblical writ forever for both the French left and right? As finance minister, Sarkozy hardly strayed from religion in bolstering or subsidizing this or that French company pressed by European Union decisions or potential non-French buyers. Easing the constriction of rules that make hiring or firing into continuing bad choices for French companies? Royal slammed job-market "flexibility" Scandinavian-style as a miserable solution.
Supercharging the process of immigrants' integration so as to really get beyond last year's riots in the
At this point, Royal, who still needs the backing of the elephants of her party to run as the Socialist candidate, just plain avoids taking a position on anything like immigrants and integration that doesn't offer immediate tactical advantage.
Fat chance too that either candidate will want to go to the heart of things by talking about the causes of why France feels scared, ill-equipped and so self-protective in a world of change. With words like corporatism and absolutism and anti-globalization as explanations, the same Nouvel Observateur (whose remake-the-world cover story asked, "Must Judas be Rehabilitated?") reported that
It published a poll showing that among 10 countries surveyed,
But there it is, all the same, in editorials and in private conversations: this idea that one way or another, with either Nicolas or
In an effort to support progress, but to warily verify its course, this corner's reader-service staff has come up with a checklist for gauging over the months how much Ségo and Sarko really move toward getting France off Immobility Island. It's suitable for posting on refrigerator doors:
Big picture (tick appropriate box): Has he or she taken a definitive position on statism and interventionism? Have they been explicit on a new French role in the European Union with a premise broader and more widely acceptable than invariable French leadership? Does either candidate offer up a more realistic French vision for the world than Chirac's multipolar mantra that forces
Smaller but essential themes: Who insists that alongside demonstrating their compatibility with
Keep score at home. The politicians won't do it for you.
E-mail: pagetwo@iht.com
Could a Segolene rise so high over here?
Once again, the French have a lesson to teach us
Cristina Odone
The Observer
She is sexier than Liz Hurley and Monica Bellucci, and even Angelina Jolie is ahead by only a whisker. Segolene Royal, the socialist tipped to be the first female President of France, was voted the sixth sexiest woman in the world by
Once again, the French have a lesson to teach us. This mother of four is 52, powerful and independent. In
Royal's obvious success among voters serves as a sobering reminder to
But Kirkbride's sex appeal was seen as a handicap rather than an asset: party apparatchiks were wary of an easy-on-the-eye Tory gal in the mould of Virginia Bottomley (who had a child out of wedlock) or, heaven forbid, Edwina Currie (who had an affair with John Major).
And as Labour came to power, think of the opportunity missed with Oona King. Here was a head-turner who also knew how to win hearts with her sympathetic manner and to conquer doubts with her eloquent conviction. With the kind of nurturing that so many of the favoured sons receive as a matter of course, King could have been a real player.
Instead, Blairites seemed as spooked by her beauty as any skeleton in a ministerial closet. They ordered King to cheer on their war in
The irony is that, having resisted sexy women in their ranks, Tories and Labour now face an unpalatable truth: appearance is becoming more, not less, important in politics. David Cameron's fresh-faced and preppy looks have contributed hugely to his appeal among women and the young. He is more prized for being 'cute' rather than 'acute'.
Soon, every politician will be judged in terms of how they score in FHM as well as Mori polls, and
When these attractive faces are male, the party top brass may feel more at ease. We all risk being losers, males and females both. This side of the Channel, at least.
Give him a red card
Football brings out the worst in even the most cerebral of men. This, at least, must be Ayaan Hirsi Ali's verdict after the snub she experienced last Thursday at the hands of David Goodhart, editor of Prospect magazine. Ali, the famous Somali feminist and anti-Muslim polemicist, was in
Ali, scheduled to debate with Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, had been placed next to Goodhart at dinner. But he explained he couldn't miss the match between
Comments
French industrial policy
A magician loses his touch
From The Economist print edition
The limits of political legerdemain
WHEN Dominique de Villepin posed for the cameras in February, flanked by two French energy bosses who had agreed to merge their companies,
Just four months later, Mr de Villepin has been forced to postpone the project in the face of a growing parliamentary rebellion in his own party. By putting off a parliamentary debate until September, to gain more time to try to persuade his pesky deputies, he in effect admitted this week that he lacked a majority behind him—despite his party's dominance of the National Assembly. Although the two companies tried to sound upbeat about the timetable, the outcome remains uncertain. This week the European Commission opened an investigation on competition grounds. The Italians may now rethink their hand. And
Why has Mr de Villepin's concoction proved so volatile? First, for the merger to go ahead, the state will have to reduce its stake in GDF from 80% to 34%; hence the need for parliamentary approval. Privatisation of the gas utility is not only unpopular among voters, fearful that their gas bills will soar. It also breaks a government promise not to let the state's share fall below 70%. “There will be no privatisation of GDF,” declared Nicolas Sarkozy, then finance minister, two years ago, as he prepared the company for partial flotation. French governments have a habit of making such promises, only to ignore them later; but rarely do they do so this quickly.
The second difficulty is Mr de Villepin himself. When he devised the merger, he was still enjoying a honeymoon, with MPs and the electorate. Since then, however, his credibility has been battered.
The prime minister is also under pressure over the mess at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS, see article), in which the French state holds a stake.
In short, the shambolic uncertainty about the energy merger is symptomatic of a broader problem of political authority. In June, Mr de Villepin's poll ratings sank to 20%, according to TNS-Sofres, a polling group, down four points from May. His own deputies, fearful for their jobs at next year's parliamentary election, do not want another show-down with public opinion. Many have defected to Mr Sarkozy, Mr de Villepin's chief rival on the right, whose popularity seems to have withstood the current troubles. This week, some could conceal their exasperation no longer. “The prime minister must go,” said Christine Boutin, one of his own deputies
Whether matters will be any calmer after the summer remains to be seen. La rentrée in
Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
A whiff of the tumbrils as business and state sever ties
By Martin Arnold and Peggy Hollinger
Published:
When Dominique
According to Laurence Parisot, head of Medef, the country's powerful employers' federation, the turbulence buffeting France's political and corporate establishment could signal nothing less than the dying days of the country's traditional system of political patronage. "We are at an important moment in French capitalism," Ms Parisot says. "We are [completing] the process of separating the worlds of business and the state."
In recent weeks the French corporate scene has been shaken by a string of scandals. At EADS and Vinci, the construction group, executive pay and perks packages triggered the rows. In the case of Safran, the aero-engines and mobile phones group, controversy centred on boardroom tussles for supremacy. In other instances - such as a mooted merger between the utilities Gaz de France and
When President Jacques Chirac's regime of copains et coquins (chums and scoundrels) was at the height of its power, the scandals might have been suppressed by a powerful network of interlinked businessmen and politicians or been nipped in the bud by decisive government action. But political rivalries at the heart of the government appear to have left it powerless to influence either companies or its own majority UMP party - and created confusion over the new rules of the industrial game.
"It is completely normal that we should have convulsions and complications," says Ms Parisot. "When
Take two failed takeover attempts by Veolia: first for the water business of rival
While some companies are ruing the loss of leverage, others see only opportunities in the government's impotence. For example, take the plans by Euronext, the Paris-based stock exchange operator, to merge with the New York Stock Exchange. The merger is being promoted by Euronext's management in defiance of the French government's stated preference for a "pro-European" deal with Frankfurt'sDeutsche Börse.
"I doubt whether Euronext would have attempted the deal with NYSE at the start of President Chirac's mandate four years ago, when the government was much stronger," one French banker argues.
In straight economic terms, the political crisis has had little impact on most companies, say economists and executives. Investment is buoyant, profitability is high and exports are growing rapidly. Moreover, globalisation has forced French business to rely first and foremost on its competitive edge. "
Yet some industrialists fear that in the longer term there will be a price to pay for the political vacuum. "The government has a very short-term strategy on economic policy, without any vision of the mid- to long term," says one chief executive.
Another French banker, from a big Wall Street bank, says: "There has been no consistently applied industrial or economic policy in any sector and I feel it has been very much a case of management from crisis to crisis."
It is a risk some senior officials acknowledge. One admitted that his minister was finding it hard to get any message across because the media were focusing on the political "shambles". Despite these concerns, many executives remain confident that there is little fundamentally wrong with French business.
"Look at all the problems we have had recently," says the head of one blue-chip company. "It has always been at the top, the little Marquis appointed by friends. But, underneath, the structures are sound. You just have to cut off a few heads and after the Terror everything will be fine. It is the fin de règne."
But with the end of Mr Chirac's regime still a year away, the political and corporate turbulence is more likely to intensify than subside.
Peggy Hollinger and
Martin Arnold
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
French agree: their shop staff are surly
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor
(Filed:
French shop assistants are among the least helpful, least knowledgeable and most surly in
German stores, in contrast, top the poll for efficiency, knowledge and customer service.
Despite our love of whingeing about appalling service and lengthy queues,
The findings follow a survey of six western European countries by the retail consultants Grass Roots.
More than 3,500 mystery shoppers visited hundreds of fast food, financial services, car and mobile phone shops to compare customer service.
Nigel Cover, of Grass Roots, said German stores came top on an objective measure of customer service - which included length of queuing, knowledge displayed by the staff and whether assistants smiled - and a subjective score based on each shopper's overall opinion of customer service.
"Based on performance and satisfaction, the Germans came out top," he said. "While the
"The expectations from
"The fact that satisfaction and performance levels for
Queues in
The German shop staff were said to be extremely knowledgeable and were best at closing sales.
"The French scored second lowest and lowest in every category, from the environment and the waiting time to the smiling and greeting customers," said Mr Cover. "We don't want these things to support our stereotypes, but in a strange way they do.
"If this had been an Englishman's perception of
British shop staff scored well on the way they greeted customers. But they fell down on their lack of knowledge about goods they sold.
The survey also found that one customer in four was unwilling to return to a shop, or recommend it to a friend.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
Un certain sourire
Posted by Colin Randall at 19 Jun 06
Tags:
How are you being served in French shops? Appallingly, if we can believe the survey carried out by the retail consultants Grass Roots.
Shopkeepers can be pleasant
Shopkeepers are charming, but make sure you say 'bonjour'
The vendeurs and vendeuses of
My colleague David Derbyshire reports that despite the British penchant for complaining about rotten service and long queues,
According to Grass Roots, the volunteer inspectors – 3,500 of them in all – assessed shops in their own areas, the aim being to avoid the risk of national or regional prejudice.
That is pretty much all I know about the survey’s methodology. But when the news desk asked for my thoughts, I expressed surprise at the harsh judgment on
My own experience is that service in
For every bored, hostile or ignorant shop assistant, there are probably many more only too willing to offer help and advice the moment a customer walks in.
Sometimes, if you want a bit of time to browse, they can be a little too eager to pounce. And they do expect your visit to produce some business. Leaving without making a purchase can be fleetingly uncomfortable, complete with an icy glare or a curt au revoir.
But in how many British shops would an assistant automatically offer a paquet cadeau – hand-wrapping, and often quite elaborate wrapping at that – after the most modest transaction, and even at Christmas? This practice is commonplace in
Customers play an important part in determining what kind of service they receive in
If French shops have a problem, it is the same one that surfaces in restaurants and any other point of contact between staff and public: a distinct lack of personnel.
Whatever defenders of the French social economic model like to think, those rigid labour laws, and the steep charges levied on employers, are cited over and over again as disincentives to recruitment.
The individual offering evidence for or against the Grass Roots findings is likely to be restricted to anecdotes. I spend as little time as possible in the shops of any country; in France, however, I do find that visits to electrical appliance or mobile phone stores invariably involve exasperating waits for service, or even long searches for anyone employed to give it.
Rudeness occurs from time to time. My wife bought an umbrella from Monoprix on the
Yet a letter to the store manager produced abject apologies, an honest explanation and a refund of 30 euros, 12 more than she had paid.
But when I remember the battle I had with Wm Morrison after a bottle of their bleach seeped all over the rest of my shopping, and also ruined some clothing, I am forced to wonder if things really are so much better in Britain.
That dispute, too, was resolved only after I lost patience with the robots and wrote to Sir Ken Morrison himself.
Posted by Colin Randall at 19 Jun 06
posted by JB CADIER at 11:11 AM
19.6.06
Quelques citations 17/06
« Enfin la politique est redevenue excitante »
…
« Ségo et Sarko animent le débat sur l’immigration sur la sécurité sur le chômage c’est à dire sur les préoccupations des gens devant lesquelles le gouvernement actuel s’est avéré impuissant »
…
«C’est la première bonne nouvelle qui nous arrive de France depuis bien longtemps »
The Wall Street Journal (14/06)
« Ségolène Royal ressemble d’avantage à la directrice d’un magazine de mode qu’à une femme politique »
The Daily Telegraph (15/06)
« La présidence est elle en train d’échapper à Nicolas Sarkozy ? Je pense qu’il a encore le potentiel de battre Ségolène, mais ma conviction est en train de s’effriter ».
Blog Colin Randall (12/06)
Correspondant du Daily Telegraph à Paris
« Libération est la bible des soixante huitards. Avec l’âge ce journal qui était impertinent et innovateur est devenu ronchon …
« Il y a de très bonnes choses dans la presse française. Notamment ce refus de céder à la facilité et cette conviction que le lecteur français ne s’intéresse pas seulement à des obscénités et à la vie des stars ».
…
« Malheureusement, le marché de la presse en France n’est pas assez concurrentiel ce qui se traduit par une proximité malsaine avec le pouvoir et les milieux d’affaires qui en sont proches ».
The Times (15/06)
« Airbus est comme Icare, il a voulu s’envoler vers le soleil et il voit ses ailes qui commencent à fondre »
…
« Les Européens voient leurs grandes entreprises comme des équipes de Coupe du Monde, comme des porte drapeau alors que les Américains ne s’intéressent qu’aux résultats financiers ».
The Wall Street Journal (16/06)
« Les bistrots c’est la France, autant que les croissants, autant que les manifs et autant que les trains qui arrivent à l’heure ».
The Observer (11/06)
posted by JB CADIER at 9:50 AM
Libération, journal ronchon 17/06
La presse anglaise s’est beaucoup intéressée cette semaine aux ennuis financiers du journal Libération. Le Guardian (14/06) de Londres parle de « la crise existentielle du quotidien de la gauche française ». Le journal Independent (15/06) explique à ses lecteurs que « Libération est un journal respecté, intelligent et impertinent de centre gauche ».
Le Financial Times (13/06) parle de « l’alliance improbable de la dynastie Rothschild avec le principal journal de la gauche française ».
« C’est la bible des soixante huitards » explique le Times (15/06) mais « avec l’âge ce journal qui était impertinent et innovateur est devenu ronchon ».
« Les Français ne sont déjà pas des grands lecteurs de quotidien écrit le Times (14/06) mais ils se détournent de plus en plus de journaux qui ont perdu leur confiance et qui n’ont pas su s’adapter ».
Le Guardian donne des chiffres. La diffusion des quotidiens nationaux 1 million 4 en France à comparer avec 12 millions en Grande Bretagne.
« Il y a pourtant de très bonnes choses dans la presse française estime le Times. Notamment ce refus de céder à la facilité et cette conviction que le lecteur français ne s’intéresse pas seulement à des obscénités et à la vie des stars ». « Malheureusement, conclut le Times, le marché de la presse en France n’est pas assez concurrentiel ce qui se traduit par une proximité malsaine avec le pouvoir et les milieux d’affaires qui en sont proches ».
- Politique et business
Politique et business c’est le mélange malsain que dénonce aussi le Wall Street Journal (16/06) au sujet de la crise d’EADS.
« Les ennuis d’Airbus ne viennent pas tellement de ses usines, écrit le Wall Street Journal mais de sa structure de direction… Airbus est né de l’initiative des gouvernements européens raconte le journal, des gouvernements qui n’ont cessé depuis de mettre leur nez dans les affaires d’Airbus. Et devinez qui plus que tous les autres, demande le Wall Street Journal : Jacques Chirac qui l’an passé a tenté d’imposer Noël Forgeard à la tête d’EADS ». Ensuite il y a eu l’affaire Clearstream. Pour le Wall Street Journal ce qui s’est passé cette semaine c’est que « les marchés se sont dits que les dirigeants d’EADS étaient trop préoccupés par leurs chicanes politiques et ne s’occupaient plus suffisamment du super jumbo ». Voilà comment le Wall Street Journal explique la crise. « Les Européens voient leurs grandes entreprises comme des équipes de Coupe du Monde, comme des porte drapeau alors que les Américains ne s’intéressent qu’aux résultats financiers ». Conclusion du Wall Street Journal, journal américain dont on ne peut pas exclure qu’il préfère Boeing. Conclusion : « Airbus est comme Icare, il a voulu s’envoler vers le soleil et il voit ses ailes qui commencent à fondre ».
- Bonne nouvelle
Ce même Wall Street Journal (14/06), est absolument emballé par les derniers développements de la vie politique française. « Enfin la politique est redevenue excitante » écrit le journal qui salue en particulier la prise de position de Ségolène Royal sur les 35 heures. « Elle apporte une réflexion nouvelle sur l’Etat providence... Et en plus, elle s’est montrée plus Sarkozy que Sarkozy sur les questions de sécurité ». Le Wall Street Journal parle du « show Ségo Sarko » qui serait en train de « secouer l’ancien régime ». Ségo et Sarko « animent le débat sur l’immigration sur la sécurité sur le chômage c’est à dire sur les préoccupations des gens devant lesquelles le gouvernement actuel s’est avéré impuissant ». Et pour le journal américain : « c’est la première bonne nouvelle qui nous arrive de France depuis bien longtemps ».
Un énième portrait de Ségolène Royal dans le Daily Telegraph (15/06). « Elle ressemble d’avantage à la directrice d’un magazine de mode qu’à une femme politique… Ségolène Royal est en train de faire exploser le mythe selon lequel une femme française ne pouvait être qu’une mère ou une maîtresse ».
Enfin les doutes du correspondant du Telegraph à Paris il écrit dans son blog (12/06) : « la présidence est elle en train d’échapper à Nicolas Sarkozy ? Je pense qu’il a encore le potentiel de battre Ségolène mais écrit Colin Randall ma conviction est en train de s’effriter ».
- Bistrots
Un article sur la mort des bistrots dans l’Observer (11/06). Les bistrots français sont en train de fermer un par un. Et le journal anglais se désole. « Le bistrot est un passage obligé pour le touriste anglais en vacances en France. Les bistrots c’est la France autant que les croissants autant que les manifs et autant que les trains qui arrivent à l’heure ».
Enfin pas de surprise dans les commentaires sur les performances de l’équipe de France de football. Il y a un journal qui a un commentaire positif alors on va le citer le New York Times (14/06) écrit : « les Français ont fait 0-0 pour leur premier match. Il y a quatre ans pour leur premier match ils avaient été battus par le Sénégal. C’est un progrès ».
posted by JB CADIER at 9:14 AM
18.6.06
Copies des articles cités le 17 juin 06
Future uncertain after investor insists on removing veteran of 1968 student revolt
Angelique Chrisafis in
Guardian
It prides itself on being
But the French newspaper Libération plunged into its own existential crisis yesterday after the editor was asked to leave, and the paper which once boasted that it cared nothing about money found its future on the line in a row over funds.
Serge July, 63, a Sorbonne-educated, one-time Maoist revolutionary and veteran of France's 1968 student rebellion, called journalists together at 10am after the paper's daily news conference. The editor, who older colleagues call "the father", announced that he had been asked to leave by the newspaper's major shareholder, Edouard de Rothschild, who would not pump any more money into the ailing title while July still held the reins.
Journalists on the paper known simply as Libé described it as the end of an era and said the future of the title needed to be secured in a slumping print market.
July told his staff that "if my departure can lead to the paper receiving more financing ... I will not stand in the way". His announcement comes after months of financial strife at
Libé was launched by radicals in 1973 and claimed to be "voice of the people", breaking with the bourgeoisie and running irreverent headlines. When the film star Jean Gabin died in 1978, it carried the headline: "Gabin is dead, [President] Giscard is in the shit, the
A founding manifesto of Libération was to "depend on the people, not on advertisers or banks. It became the voice of its generation, but as that aged, so did its readership. Libé was accused by media analysts of failing to attract readers beyond its core market aged between 45 and 55, middle class, liberal and, for a nation that loves acronyms, "bobo" which stands for "bourgeois bohème". Soon there were rumours that the paper was in difficulty.
Last year Libération was forced to accept a €20m cash injection from an unlikely partner, Edouard de Rothschild, a scion of the banking family. A
Mr Rothschild is said to have gone head to head with July in an angry exchange in a
François Wenz-Dumas, who represents the French journalists' union at Libération, told Agence France Presse that July had announced his departure "under pressure". He added that staff were "very worried" that this could have "serious consequences for the paper".
There were fears that the paper's big-name journalists such as Florence Aubenas, who was kidnapped in Iraq last year, would leave if July left, but a source at the newspaper said there had been no signs of a mass walk-out - so far.
Staff met to discuss their response yesterday evening and to decide what to run on the newspaper's front page tomorrow, while July was said to still be at his desk.
"There is an overriding mood of sadness here," one Libération journalist said. "Even if some criticised the way the newspaper was managed, everyone is now wondering about the paper's future. Serge July is the newspaper and the newspaper is Serge July. This feels like the death of something, the death of Libération as we know it."
Staff were concerned that the paper would become a business enterprise above all else, but the source said: "I don't think the editorial line will change. I don't think Libé would go rightwing. It wouldn't make sense. We have a core readership that is going down but that readership still exists."
Dominique Nora, a former journalist, told the website of the weekly Nouvel Observateur that this was "the end of an era". But one of Libération's former senior journalists Jean-Marcel Bouguereau said the paper's heyday had long waned. "One word springs to mind and that's 'mess'," he said.
Bernard Lallement, who co-founded Libération with July, said the paper had "always hated money" but now "could not escape economic reality".
Those tipped to take over as editor included a former Le Monde editor, Edwy Plenel, who denied yesterday he had been approached.
Jean-Louis Missika, a media analyst and commentator, told the Guardian the choice now for Mr Rothschild was to either invest money in rebuilding Libé as a great newspaper, "which carries a risk", or invest in its "excellent" website, which attracted a growing number young readers during the recent student protests against employment reform.
July was still considering his position last night. Several months ago, when asked by the rival daily Le Monde if he had considered standing down after decades at the helm, he offered a riposte worthy of Sartre himself: "Eternity is boring, particularly towards the end."
Backstory
The circulation of all nine French national newspapers is 1.4m, compared with around 12m for
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
End of an era as founder quits flagging 'Libération'
By John Lichfield
Published:
After 33 years, revolution from an unlikely source has come to a newspaper born of revolution. Serge July, the founder-head of the centre-left French daily, Libération, has been asked to leave by its chief shareholder, Edouard de Rothschild, a son of one of the world's most prominent capitalist families.
On the front page of yesterday's newspaper, journalists warned M. Rothschild not to tamper with Libération's "moral contract" to defend editorial freedom and "its own view of society". The journalists' statement tacitly accepted, however, that M. July, 63, would be forced to leave the newspaper that he founded in 1973 with the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. He is expected to quit his post as président-directeur général in the next few days, bringing one of the longest and most influential media careers in
M. July was a partially reformed Maoist at the time that Libération was founded. The newspaper was intended to preserve the flame of
Circulation and advertising have lurched downwards since M. Rothschild - with M. July's enthusiastic support - became the principal shareholder last year. In an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien yesterday, M. Rothschild, 48, said Libération was "close to bankruptcy". After investing €20m (£14m), he indicated that he was prepared to give Libération up to another €5m - but only if M. July, and Louis Dreyfus, its director general, stood aside.
There is much alarm within the newspaper but M. Rothschild has repeatedly said that Libération - if it is to survive at all - must remain left of centre and free of spirit. He believes that the title must be given a new start under new management if it is to recapture its appeal to younger readers. This might mean the newspaper would have to move further left, to reflect the radical, anti-market, anti-globalisation and anti-European views of many young people in
Libération was divided during the EU referendum campaign last year. Older journalists supported the proposed European constitution. Younger staff members campaigned, unsuccessfully, for the newspaper to support the "no" camp.
A former executive at the newspaper said M. Rothschild did not want to influence the daily editorial decisions of the newspaper. But he did want to have a say on financial decisions and long-term strategy. "So far, all that he has seen is €20m go up in smoke," the executive said. Other French media commentators suggested that M. Rothschild - regarded as a "leftist" by other members of his family - was naïve to think that Libération could be rescued without large injections of cash.
The newspaper's problems reflect a wider crisis in the French paid-for national newspaper market, which has lost almost 18 per cent of its circulation in the past 10 years. Libération, lacking the resources of a larger group, has been especially hard hit by the launch of several free newspapers aimed at the young. Its daily circulation of 171,000 in 2000 fell to 136,945 last year and is said to have fallen another 5 per cent since then. Advertising revenue has fallen even more steeply. Despite the axing of 52 editorial posts, Libération is now losing more money than when M. Rothschild bought 38.8 per cent of the capital last year.
After 33 years, revolution from an unlikely source has come to a newspaper born of revolution. Serge July, the founder-head of the centre-left French daily, Libération, has been asked to leave by its chief shareholder, Edouard de Rothschild, a son of one of the world's most prominent capitalist families.
On the front page of yesterday's newspaper, journalists warned M. Rothschild not to tamper with Libération's "moral contract" to defend editorial freedom and "its own view of society". The journalists' statement tacitly accepted, however, that M. July, 63, would be forced to leave the newspaper that he founded in 1973 with the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. He is expected to quit his post as président-directeur général in the next few days, bringing one of the longest and most influential media careers in
M. July was a partially reformed Maoist at the time that Libération was founded. The newspaper was intended to preserve the flame of
Circulation and advertising have lurched downwards since M. Rothschild - with M. July's enthusiastic support - became the principal shareholder last year. In an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien yesterday, M. Rothschild, 48, said Libération was "close to bankruptcy". After investing €20m (£14m), he indicated that he was prepared to give Libération up to another €5m - but only if M. July, and Louis Dreyfus, its director general, stood aside.
There is much alarm within the newspaper but M. Rothschild has repeatedly said that Libération - if it is to survive at all - must remain left of centre and free of spirit. He believes that the title must be given a new start under new management if it is to recapture its appeal to younger readers. This might mean the newspaper would have to move further left, to reflect the radical, anti-market, anti-globalisation and anti-European views of many young people in
Libération was divided during the EU referendum campaign last year. Older journalists supported the proposed European constitution. Younger staff members campaigned, unsuccessfully, for the newspaper to support the "no" camp.
A former executive at the newspaper said M. Rothschild did not want to influence the daily editorial decisions of the newspaper. But he did want to have a say on financial decisions and long-term strategy. "So far, all that he has seen is €20m go up in smoke," the executive said. Other French media commentators suggested that M. Rothschild - regarded as a "leftist" by other members of his family - was naïve to think that Libération could be rescued without large injections of cash.
The newspaper's problems reflect a wider crisis in the French paid-for national newspaper market, which has lost almost 18 per cent of its circulation in the past 10 years. Libération, lacking the resources of a larger group, has been especially hard hit by the launch of several free newspapers aimed at the young. Its daily circulation of 171,000 in 2000 fell to 136,945 last year and is said to have fallen another 5 per cent since then. Advertising revenue has fallen even more steeply. Despite the axing of 52 editorial posts, Libération is now losing more money than when M. Rothschild bought 38.8 per cent of the capital last year.
Publisher of French leftwing daily ‘told to quit’
>By Adam Jones in
>Published:
>>
The unlikely alliance between Edouard de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty, and
Founded in 1973 by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Mr July and other radicals in a continuation of the idealism that fuelled the famous student protests five years previously, Libération has in recent years struggled with declining sales in a tough French newspaper market that has also hurt its rivals.
The circulation of the title dipped from an average of more than 174,000 copies in 2001 to fewer than 145,000 last year. The arrival of free daily newspapers such as 20 Minutes has made the market more crowded.
Earlier this month, Vincent Bolloré, the Breton financier who is the leading shareholder in the Havas marketing services group, increased the pressure on traditional dailies by launching a free afternoon paper called Direct Soir.
Mr de Rothschild, who as well as being a financier is also president of France’s horse-racing association, bought a stake of nearly 39 per cent in the loss-making Libération last year. However, a plan to cut jobs prompted a strike last November.
On Tuesday, Libération’s website reported Mr July as saying that Mr de Rothschild had asked for his resignation as well as that of Louis Dreyfus, the paper’s managing director.
Mr July was quoted as saying he would be willing to leave if his departure cleared the way for the refinancing of the newspaper by Mr de Rothschild. However, he denied that he had already quit.
A group representing Libération journalists on Tuesday issued a statement saying that Mr July was the “guarantee of our editorial independence”, protecting the paper from “every intrusion, every influence that could have put in danger its integrity and values”.
Shareholders did not have the right to dictate editorial policy, it said, adding that the need to stabilise the paper’s finances must not put its values in danger.
The employee body that is Libération’s second-biggest shareholder told AFP news service that the newspaper was at a turning-point – and that Mr de Rothschild held the key.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for Libération said that there would be a meeting later in the day but declined to comment further on the matter.
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Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/5149b354-fb08-11da-b4d0-0000779e2340,s01=1.html
The Times
Voice of the Sixties generation faces last rites after news slump
By Charles Bremner
THE future of Libération, the daily bible of France’s Sixties generation, hangs in the balance after its main shareholder declared that the newspaper was near bankruptcy and called on its founding chief executive to resign.
The upheaval at Libération, which was founded in 1973 by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July, who is still its boss, is part of a slump affecting all of the big titles.
The French, never big newspaper readers, have been turning away from a press that has lost their trust and responded slowly to change.
Libération was loved by the post-1968 generation for its impertinent voice and pioneering design, but it has fallen into grumpy middle age. M July’s departure after 33 years is deemed certain since he told staff on Tuesday that Edouard de Rothschild, a member of the banking family who came to the paper’s rescue last year, refused to invest more unless he stood down as chief executive.
“If my departure can help the refinancing of the newspaper, I will not be an obstacle,” said the 63-year-old one-time Maoist who became a pillar of the Paris Establishment. M de Rothschild told Le Parisien that Libération was very close to filing for bankruptcy.
Staff at Libération, who still have an editorial veto over management decisions, published a front-page pledge to resist interference by any shareholder.
They noted that “for 33 years, Serge July has been the guarantor of our editorial independence” but they stopped short of supporting him. This reflected the waning authority of the once-charismatic chief since Libération entered decline almost a decade ago.
Some staff disowned M July last year after he published an article deploring the “no” vote in
M de Rothschild, whose arrival as a saviour appalled Libération’s old leftist loyalists, blames M July for mismanagement. His £16 million investment had been used yet the newspaper was still leaking money, he said.
Libération’s plight is seen as evidence that no quality daily can survive in
The opposition Socialist party called the imminent departure of M July the end of an era and pressed for the state to increase the £120 million a year subsidies newspapers receive.
But there is evidence
THE DAILIES
Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui 498,000 (2005 circulation) Mid-market tabloid, healthy condition
L’Equipe 341,000 sports daily, thriving
Le Figaro 325,300 Pro-government, financially fragile
Le Monde 320,000 Centre-left, financially troubled; relaunched
Libération 137,000
Other dailies include:
Les Echos (business) 116,500 La Croix (Catholic) 96,000
La Tribune (business) 80,000 L’Humanité (Communist) 52,000
France Soir 50,600 former mass-circulation tabloid until downmarket relaunch
20 Minutes (free) 661,000
Métro (free) 460,000
The struggle for Libération
Lib
[Today's Libé, with the staff's defiant declaration on page one -- alongside a typical front on José Bové, the anti-globalising sheep farmer]
As a student and young journalist in
July, 63, is now on the verge of departure after Edouard de Rothschild, a member of the banking family, said that he would invest no more money in the loss-making paper unless the boss resigned. De Rothschild told le Parisien today that Libération was on the verge of bankruptcy.
A Libé-loving time-traveller from, say, 1985, would wonder if the world had gone mad. A Rothschild -- the ultimate capitalist -- firing the one-time Maoist, founding hero of
Libération reached this point because it failed to move with the times. July entered the gauche-caviar establishment and the newspaper grew middle-aged and a little conservative along with all those post-1968 types who were its audience. When the paper was in dire financial straits early last year, Rothschild came to the rescue with 20 million euros. This bought him a 39 percent share of the paper which had once been run as a workers' commune.
July seems to have given up the struggle. "If my departure can help the refinancing of the newspaper, I will not be an obstacle," he said. Staff, who still have a veto over the appointment of editors, published a front-page pledge to resist interference by any shareholder, but they gave only a half-hearted defence of Chairman Serge. "For 33 years, Serge July has been the guarantor of our editorial independence" they said, without suggesting that he stay on. This reflected the waning authority of the once-charismatic chief since Libération entered decline almost a decade ago. Some staff disowned July a year ago after he published a commentary deploring the "no" vote in the referendum on the European Constitution. His sin was to dismiss the "no" campaign as populist, small-minded and damaging to
Last November; staff staged a four-day strike after nearly 60 of the 330 employees were offered redundancy as part of a restructuring plan. Rothschild blames July for mismanagement. All 20 million euros of his investment had been used up yet the newspaper, which is struggling to sell a mere 135,000 copies a day, is still leaking a million a month, he says. .
Libé's agony is part of a slump that has hit all of
The plight of Libération is seen as evidence that no quality daily can survive without big injections of corporate money -- and ego. Libération journalists are worried that de Rothschild's influence spells the end of their ideal of freedom from the pressures of advertisers and capitalists.
All three of the daily "qualities" -- Le Figaro, Libération and Le Monde -- have run into trouble and acquired new dominant share-holders over the past three years. In 2004, Serge Dassault, the aerospace and defence mogul and friend of President Chirac, bought out le Figaro; The newspaper is performing better after a relaunch, but staff complain of a lack of independence. Early last year, Lagardère, the media and defence conglomerate invested 25 million euros in
Yet there is evidence that
The free circulation is double that of Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui, which, at half a million is the most successful paid daily. That title's success in recent years is due to a switch to a lively, popular style, more akin to a British mid-market newspaper than the more solemn voice of French papers.
Failure to move with the times has almost killed France Soir, a newspaper like
Posted by Charles Bremner on
REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial)
Icarus Inc.
827 words
The Wall Street Journal
A14
English
(Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
With the Concorde now mothballed or in museums, Airbus is fast becoming the current airborne testament to the hubris of state-led industrial policy in
The meltdown in the stock price of its parent company this week was dramatic, but no surprise. Markets don't like bad news, and Airbus has produced bushels of late. Wednesday's 26% drop, which shaved $6.3 billion from the market value of European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. before rebounding some yesterday, came a day after Airbus announced that its superjumbo A380 won't be produced on schedule through 2010. Delays have plagued this marquee project.
Airlines are unhappy with Airbus's proposed A350, the competitor to Boeing's surprisingly popular 787 "Dreamliner," forcing the Europeans back to the drawing board, at significant cost. The EU taxpayer may, once again, pick up a big part of the bill through launch aid and other handouts, all for the glory of this "pan-European flagship." Any more state aid is likely to lead to another complaint against Airbus before the World Trade Organization in
The troubles on the factory floor may not be as serious a problem down the road as the company's unwieldy -- and, on current evidence, unworkable -- management structure. Airbus was born of a French, German, British and Spanish government initiative. Its political patrons have kept their noses in the business since. No prize for guessing who does so more than any other. Last year President Jacques Chirac tried to install Airbus boss Noel Forgeard, who happens to be French, into the top job at EADS. The messy fight ended when a German executive was named to share the CEO job with him. Then this year EADS was pulled into
A fair conclusion, reached by the markets this week, is that an executive suite preoccupied with political mumbo-jumbo took its eyes off the superjumbo. With so much riding on the A380, the production glitches are a stunning indictment of management. The delays in delivering the plane will cost EADS $2.5 billion in 2007-2010. EADS yesterday launched a probe into the A380 program. The cost in terms of fines, canceled orders and lost future orders adds to the bill. The blow to prestige is far bigger.
It is instructive to note that Boeing itself was, only a few years ago, in a similar pickle. Two CEOs lost their jobs and a senior executive landed in jail, but Boeing got through painful restructuring, including deep job cuts, and made hard decisions (like refusing to fight Airbus for the A380 market) knowing that money was finite. Its updated product line is led by the "Dreamliner." Suddenly, Boeing is poised to dominate its market for years to come.
In its present guise Airbus, or EADS, looks ill-disposed to take this road. The dual management structure -- in fact an improvement on the previous consortium model -- makes the company, by nature, less flexible. So do its political links. State treasuries have been eager to build toys that boost national egos, to the tune of $15 billion in taxpayer handouts over the past three decades. The leaders of
No wonder that the big industrial shareholders are running for the doors. British Aerospace was right in the middle of negotiating to sell its 20% stake in Airbus back to EADS when the share price nosedived.
Tellingly, Airbus's fall from grace is portrayed as a blow to European pride rather than to the company's shareholders and millions of air travelers, who will suffer directly. This is the real trans-Atlantic gap. Americans tend to judge corporations by the bottom line, not the national flag. Europeans relate to big companies as to their World Cup teams. In this they get plenty of encouragement from politicians, in particular the Gallic variety, who think business is their business.
With a duopoly in aircraft manufacturing, we all benefit from having two healthy, competitive producers. Cut free from subsidies and politics, Airbus would be free to behave like a normal company. It is not that today.
The Sego and Sarko Show
863 words
The Wall Street Journal
11
English
(Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
In the past 12 months,
Now, to the surprise of people who had written off the coming year as well, French politics is suddenly exciting again. That's thanks to the two figures who are in good positions, on their respective wings of the country's politics, to contest next year's presidential elections. Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy trade barbs with each other but, more intriguingly, both are campaigning just as much against the old ways. Though the election is still a year off,
On the right is Mr. Sarkozy, minister of the interior and leader of the center-right UMP party. Until earlier this year Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was Jacques Chirac's presumed heir. But then Mr. de Villepin drove through the "First Employment Contract," which which would have loosened up the job market. Millions of students and union members forced his embarrassing retreat this spring. Weeks later the "Clearstream affair" broke open, with Mr. de Villepin accused of trying to frame Mr. Sarkozy for corruption. The Prime Minister denies the charge, but his poll ratings have sunk like a stone. His rival, Mr. Sarkozy, has the field on the center-right all to himself, though he must worry about the extremist fringe led by old stalwart Jean-Marie Le Pen.
No one can honestly claim to know what Mr. Sarkozy might do in power. As minister of interior and finance, he has veered from economic intervention and defense of the EU's farm subsidies, to as forceful free-market rhetoric as one hears in
In addition to his acidic tongue, Mr. Sarkozy's background stands him apart. He's of Hungarian, Greek and Jewish extraction. And unlike a chunk of the French establishment, on the right and the left, Mr. Sarkozy didn't train at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, the elite finishing school. His ideas, and way of presenting them, make him seem like an outsider, no matter that he's been active in French politics since his early 20s and is the No. 2 figure in the current government.
An anti-establishment image burnishes Ms. Royal's appeal as well, though at first blush she seems anything but. She graduated from ENA, and became a policy aide to President Francois Mitterrand before being elected as a Socialist national assembly member and later a district president. Her partner and father of their four children is Socialist Party boss Francois Hollande, who is himself a candidate for the party's presidential nomination.
But as an unwed mother who solicits citizens' views via a Web site and announced her candidacy in the glossy magazine Paris Match, she is seen as positively audacious. Ms. Royal outraged the grandees of her own party by courting the public without their blessing. More important, though, she has dared to challenge the shibboleths of
Though she is way ahead of any Socialist in the polls, Ms. Royal must gain the nomination, no sure thing. (Mr. Sarkozy is almost a shoo-in, considering his hold on the UMP.) Even if she is squashed by the party "elephants," her early campaigning is having a salutary effect. This week the left-wing magazine Marianne declared that "the old PS is in its death throes. A new Socialist Party is being born." That's good news, and bodes well for some fresh thinking about the effect of
Both Mr. Sarkozy and Ms. Royal have been criticized for cynically playing to the media and doing whatever it takes to get elected -- in short, for being politicians. Whether either has a vision beyond Election Day is unclear. But for now they are enlivening French politics by forcing discussions of racism, immigration, crime and unemployment -- topics that voters are concerned about and that the current government has been unable to address to their satisfaction. That's the first good news out of
How the 'Socialist in Stilettos' became the sixth sexiest woman in the world
(Filed:
She's 52, a mother of four, and possibly the next president of
In
Segolene Royal
Sex and power: Ségolène Royal
Ségo, as we call her in
When I met her recently in her office at the National Assembly in
Ségo is not someone who goes far without a lip-gloss. And now it looks like she may be going very far, perhaps all the way to the
She is not just a shrewd political operator though, she also has a French woman's unique way of using her femininity. She arrived at our meeting in a grey fitted suit with a cream silk shirt and a bright yellow silk scarf designed to cut a swathe through a National Assembly dominated by elderly and grey-suited men. She looked fabulous. Her nails and shoulder length dark hair are immaculate. Her skin is flawless, her smile bright. The secret of her glowing appearance, she told me, is "sleep".
I asked her how she has managed to juggle a successful career with having four children. "Now that they are a bit bigger, they look after each other," she said. "I think that's one of the advantages of having so many."
At 52, Ségolène looks more like the editor of a fashion magazine than a politician. She makes no apologies for taking care of her appearance. "I represent a region," she says. "I can't just put on jeans and running shoes. I have to be well presented at all times."
There is something undeniably sexy about a woman in power and Ségolène embodies it. We may not agree with President Mitterand's assertion that Margaret Thatcher had ''the mouth of Marilyn Monroe'' but some of her cabinet were certainly in thrall to her.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher had 'the mouth of Marilyn Monroe'
Consider other women who seem to get better looking and sexier as their political careers have flourished. Hilary Clinton, for example. How dowdy was she at the start? It's always amazed me that Bill ever noticed her in the first place.
Now, aged 58 and Senator for
At 51,
I can't understand why political parties don't make more of women. Or maybe it's the women who don't make more of politics. Ségolène is out to change all that in
When she announced to Paris Match magazine late last year that she was considering running for the presidency, few took her seriously. No one could have predicted what an explosive development this would prove to be in a French political scene that was static but now looks electric.
Sex symbol or saviour of
Her forthright views are, predictably, leading to her being dubbed "
As well as Blair, Ségo is also hoping to copy Bill Clinton in his ''triangulation'' method; fitting in between the Left and the Right. The parallels with Clinton and Blair don't end there. This is a woman who is very aware of the power of the media. In the last month she has graced the cover of countless magazines, including Elle and Madame Figaro. She is exploding the myth of the traditional French woman as either mistress or mother. She is not only tapping on the glass ceiling but threatening to blast her way through it.
Her male socialist colleagues don't like it a bit. This is ironic, because her partner, and father of her four children, Francois Hollande, is leader of the Partie Socialiste and may stand as a candidate next year alongside Ségo. On hearing about her political ambitions, Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister, sneered: "Who will look after the children?"
Powerful men have always been sexy but powerful women are still something of a novelty. Now, even
# Helena Frith Powell's 'More France Please, We're British', is published by
8 May 2006[News]: Sarko v Ségo and a battle royale
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
The Royal effect
Posted by Colin Randall at 12 Jun 06
Tags:
Is the presidency of
Segolene Royal
Ségolène Royal
We are still 11 months from the election to replace Jacques Chirac who, though he has not yet said as much, is surely in the last year of his larger-than-life career in French politics.
Plenty of twists and turns lie ahead, even before we know for certain that Sarko will represent the centre-Right while Ségolène flies a not-very-red flag for the socialists.
Perhaps we should read very little into the latest poll, carried out among readers of the French edition of the men’s magazine FHM. It placed Ségolène sixth, ahead of countless beauties including Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lopez and Monica Bellucci, in a parade of the world’s sexiest women.
Ségolène, at 52 the mother of four children, is undeniably very attractive, and, if the French sociologist Georges Chetochine is right, perfectly content to exploit her physical charms.
The more conventional polls have also put her ahead of Sarkozy in recent weeks, as well as streets ahead of assorted “disgusteds of rue de Solférino” - the so-called elephants of the socialist opposition who resent and envy her popularity.
They complain that Ségolène is not the right candidate – the speaker is generally trying to impress on the public that he, on the other hand, IS the right candidate.
It is, incidentally, always a he. And some of these men, or their supporters, have made some unedifyingly sexist comments in their attempts to put Ségolène down. FHM’s beauty contest will have suited them, and their prejudices, down to the ground.
To objective observers, the trouble with Mme Royal has been, until lately, that no one really knew what she stood for, beyond some fairly vague concept of traditional values (against pornography, for example, and for disciplined family life).
Now the complaint among some critics is neatly summarised by Le Canard Enchainé: we reproached her before for having no ideas, now she has too many.
What Ségolène had done was to drag the rug from beneath Sarko’s feet when she reacted to renewed outbreaks of trouble on a few estates by calling for a battery of “tough on crime” measures.
Sounding rather like a modern-day version of hang ‘em and flog ‘em Tories, she talked of wanting military training for unruly teenagers guilty of just one offence, and compulsory schooling and child benefit curbs for their parents.
As Sarko offered her a mischievous welcome to his ideological territory, the elephants all but stampeded. Even the less imposing member of the Royal family – François Hollande, father of her four children and leader of the party – dismissed the idea of military service.
But Ségolène knew what she was doing. Her words will have struck a chord with socialist voters who are no less worried than conservatives about rampant delinquency. If they didn’t punish her in the polls for expressing qualified admiration for Tony Blair, they will not mind her wanting to knock young hoodlums’ heads together.
An excellent cartoon in the Journal du Dimanche showed her hammering a football with her right foot while an anxious Sarko missed his tackle and asked: “How does she do that, shoot with the right and score with the Left?”
Which leaves Sarko having to think very carefully about how to counter “l’effet Royal”, a phenomenon that has grown dramatically in the past months, fuelled by her exploitation of the mass media, from Paris Match to TF1, and careful attention to the new media via a much-read blog.
Le Figaro judged today that natural Sarkozy supporters (and others on the government benches) are torn between irony and more than a flicker of concern.
While some see her as more of a threat to the Left than to the Right or “all image, no substance”, others accept that she is – as one MP put it - “much more intelligent, structured and robust that we were led to believe”.
I even heard Sarko trotting out the kind of thoughts I’d associate more with a Left-of- centre opposition leader than a conservative interior minister when discussing a lack of sanctions against those at the heart of the Outreau child abuse case scandal.
Assuming that Sarko and Ségolène are chosen by their respective camps a few months from now, I still feel he has the potential to overtake her. But that conviction, strong a month or so ago, is beginning to weaken.
And if Sarko is moving towards her in an attempt to retrieve ground lost in the ratings as she moves towards him, where will we end up? With two broadly centrist main candidates and the rantings of
Never forget that Jean-Marie Le Pen managed to capture five-and-a-half million French votes against Chirac.
Posted by Colin Randall at 12 Jun 06
The shutters come down on
Jason Burke in
Observer
They are as French as demonstrations, croissants and good railways; an essential part of any British tourist's holiday and of the social and cultural life of the nation - and they are rapidly disappearing.
'The typical French cafe is disappearing,' said Elisabeth Lenanen, a Synhorcat official. 'Especially in the provinces there is a process of bistro desertification. There are whole swaths of the country without a bistro in sight.'
A coalition of unions representing 'patrons' has just launched a new campaign, 'Save Our Bistros'. Cyril Pereira, a spokesman, said that the problems had been caused by a combination of different factors.
First, there is the famous French bureaucracy; then there are the recent campaigns against drink-driving which have brought down
'We have nothing at all against such campaigns,'
Another problem is strict gaming regulation which restricts pinball, fruit machines and even table football. Finally there are new habits. 'People don't come to a bistro to talk any longer. They use the internet and a screen. Human relations have become virtual,' said
Another major threat, say the bistro owners, is the strong possibility of a new law banning smoking in public places.
One bistro-owner in the trendy Marais quarter of
But at La Brazza, a bistro in the 11th arrondissement, Jimli, the new proprietor, was more optimistic.
He bought the establishment six months ago - largely because of the bookmaker's licence that went with it. Yesterday the bar was full of happy punters drinking and betting on the World Cup and the horses.
'I was going against the general current, but it's a good investment,' Jimli said in between serving cafés crèmes and beer. 'But it was a good decision because this is a gaming cafe. About a third of the revenue comes from the betting. But it is a hard life. It's a hell of a lot of work and the hours are long.'
He was philosophical about the proposed smoking ban, even though a third of La Brazza's revenue comes from tobacco products. 'It's not going to help,' he said. 'But this is the 21st century. You've got to change with the times.'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
More of the Same is Not Good Enough for
By PETER BERLIN
International Herald Tribune
The sound of boos and whistles once again followed the French team on Tuesday near the end of its 0-0 draw with
Despite the problems it has had scoring goals in recent years,
After the game, Raymond Domenech insisted on viewing the result not as an opportunity missed by
"We knew it would not be easy, but we managed to take two points off a direct rival," Domenech said. "I regret that we did not score when we had the chance but we are always at the mercy of these things.
"It's a draw which had its good moments," Domenech told French television as he left the field. "It wasn't easy but now we have to focus on
"The Swiss are in the past," he continued. "We are used to dropping points at major championships in recent years."
It was a testy match between two familiar foes - the teams met twice in qualifying and also in Euro 2004. There were 36 free kicks - 18 for each team - and eight yellow cards - five of them for the Swiss.
"I found the referee rather fussy," Domenech said. "I did not always understand his decisions. That's new refereeing, I'm told. We have to live with it."
Scoring chances were scarce. Tranquillo Barnetta of
In the final seconds, Louis Saha, a French substitute, cleverly chested the ball back into the path of Vikash Dhorasoo, another replacement. Dhorasoo's low hard shot flew wide. It was the closest
It was not the stuff of musketeering adventure. It was the sort of display that so tries
Even when
Yet Jacquet's World Cup victory has only made things tougher for his successors. Roger Lemerre won Euro 2000, but was axed after the defending world champion's winless and scoreless campaign in
Domenech guided
Of all the qualifiers,
It was unbeaten but drew five of its 10 matches. That included three 0-0 draws in its first three home games in the group, a series certain to irritate fans. That sequence included a 0-0 draw with the Swiss. The teams also drew, 1-1, in the return in
One measure of Domenech's difficulties is a look at the teams for the two qualifying games and Tuesday's game in
Part of the reason was the return of Zinedine Zidane, and his friends Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram, from retirement to save
On Tuesday the old guard was good enough to stifle
Copyright 2006
posted by JB CADIER at 3:48 PM
12.6.06
Quelques citations 10/06
"L’ascension irrésistible de Ségolène Royal".
The Economist (08/06)
"La météorite"
Herald Tribune (07/06)
"Ségolène le bulldozer".
Times (06/06)
« Un coup à droite un coup à gauche à première vue cela ressemble à de l’incohérence idéologique. A moins que nous ayons à faire à une approche particulièrement habile : une stratégie de différenciation. Ségolène Royal cultive son image de fraîcheur et d’innovation pour un électorat qui n’en peut plus de la grisaille politique ambiante. Pour elle il est plus important de se distinguer que d’être cohérente. Ce en quoi elle se rapproche de Nicolas Sarkozy ».
The Economist (08/06)
« Madame Royal devient de plus en plus difficile à situer sur un éventail traditionnel gauche droite... Cette absence de cohérence politique va certainement être exploitée par ses rivaux au parti socialiste et par Nicolas Sarkozy.
Mais son éclectisme politique peut aussi devenir un atout car elle devient une cible impossible pour ses adversaires tant elle est insaisissable ».
Financial Times (06/06)
« Elle fait de plus en plus penser à Jeanne d’Arc »
Financial Times (06/06)
«… une femme élégante qui paraît beaucoup plus jeune que son âge…, une fille du colonel avec des airs de catholique collet monté ».
Times (06/06)
« Les électeurs français sont-ils plus préparés au changement que les partis qui sont sensés les représenter ? »
Herald Tribune (06/06)
«La population française est en train de se montrer plus pragmatique que ses dirigeants. Et pas seulement à gauche, Nicolas Sarkozy devient de plus en plus un grand prêtre de la rupture… On est en train d’assister en France à une révolution tranquille ».
Financial Times (06/06)
« A Londres le football est présent dans la moitié des vitrines, alors que l’on pourrait vivre à Paris sans savoir qu’il y a une Coupe du monde".
Financial Times (05/06)
«Zidane est comme un tueur à gage réticent qui accepterait un dernier contrat ».
Los Angeles Times (04/06)
posted by JB CADIER at 8:50 AM
Ségolène le bulldozer 10/06
C’est apparemment le sujet qui a passionné la presse anglo-saxonne cette semaine : le phénomène Ségolène Royal. L’hebdomadaire Economist (08/06) parle de "l’ascension irrésistible de Ségolène Royal". Le Herald Tribune (07/06) de "météorite" le Times (06/06) parle de "Ségolène le bulldozer".
Ce sont ses prises de position sur la sécurité et sur les 35 heures qui alimentent les commentaires. « Elle a délibérément mis les pieds dans deux champs de mine » écrit le Times (06/06) d’abord « elle a chipé une feuille dans le livre de Nicolas Sarkozy en préconisant l’intervention de l’armée pour encadrer les délinquants » puis « elle a attaqué les 35 heures en allant sur ce point plus loin que le président Chirac ».
Sa déclaration sur les 35 heures « a fait du rafut dans le parti » écrit l’Economist (08/06). Et pourtant note l’hebdomadaire anglais c’est « une déclaration de gauche »… « Un coup à droite un coup à gauche à première vue cela ressemble à de l’incohérence idéologique, écrit The Economist, à moins que, (à moins que) nous ayons à faire à une approche particulièrement habile une stratégie de différentiation en cultivant son image de fraîcheur et d’innovation pour un électorat qui n’en peut plus de la grisaille politique ambiante. Pour elle il est plus important de se distinguer que d’être cohérente ce en quoi elle se rapproche de Nicolas Sarkozy ».
Même analyse en deux temps dans le Financial Times (06/06). « Madame Royal devient de plus en plus difficile à situer sur un éventail traditionnel gauche droite... Cette absence de cohérence politique va certainement être exploitée par ses rivaux au Parti Socialiste et par Nicolas Sarkozy. Mais d’un autre côté poursuit le Financial Times son éclectisme politique peut devenir un atout car elle devient une cible impossible pour ses adversaires tant elle est insaisissable ».
- Elle est en train de réussir
« Elle fait de plus en plus penser à Jeanne d’Arc » s’exclame Paul Betts dans ce même Financial Times (06/06). Tandis que le Times (06/06) affine son portrait : « c’est une femme élégante qui paraît beaucoup plus jeune que son âge, une fille du colonel avec des airs de catholique collet monté ».
« Elle est en train de réussir poursuit Charles Bremmer du Times (06/06). Elle est en train de réussir car elle est en phase avec les gens et pas seulement avec son parti ».
Ce qui pose une question de fond résumée ainsi par le Herald Tribune américain (06/06) : « les électeurs français sont-ils plus préparés au changement que les partis qui sont sensés les représenter ? »… Probablement, répond Paul Betts dans le Financial Times (06/06) « la population française est en train de se montrer plus pragmatique que ses dirigeants. Et pas seulement à gauche, Nicolas Sarkozy devient de plus en plus un grand prêtre de la rupture. Conclusion du Financial Times : on est en train d’assister en France à une révolution tranquille ».
Le lundi de Pentecôte vu par la presse anglaise. Le Guardian (05/06) parle de « chaos ». Le Daily Telegraph (06/06) nous dit que « le gouvernement a été humilié » et le Times (05/06) parle de « l’effondrement de l’autorité du Président Chirac » dans la mesure où « les ministres n’ont pas été capables d’imposer la suppression du jour férié dans leur propre ministère ».
- Mésaventures en banlieue
Les journalistes du Daily Telegraph sont allés enquêter sur la crise des banlieues à Montfermeil. La photographe du Daily Telegraph a été violemment agressée par des jeunes qui lui ont volé tout son matériel. Le rédacteur du Daily Telegraph (02/06) raconte qu’il est rentré chez lui à Paris dans le 5 ème arrondissement et que « ses voisins effarés » lui ont dit qu’il ne « fallait pas aller dans des endroits pareils » que eux en tout cas n’y allaient jamais.
Enfin l’équipe de France de foot vue par la presse anglo-saxonne. Le Financial Times (05/06) s’étonne de la différence d’ambiance en France et en Angleterre. « A Londres le football est présent dans la moitié des vitrines, alors qu’on pourrait vivre à Paris sans savoir qu’il y a une coupe du monde ... Pour les matches de l’équipe de France les billets ont été soldés raconte le FT et ceux qui les ont achetés ont sifflé leur propre équipe ».
« Il y a quelque chose qui ne va pas dans cette équipe » écrit le Daily Mail (05/06). L’essentiel des commentaires porte sur l’âge des joueurs français. Ceux que le Financial Times (05/06) appelle « les barons », anciens de 98. « L’équipe dépend beaucoup trop de ces joueurs qui s’étaient déjà retirés du football international » écrit le Guardian (03/06).
Le Los Angeles Times (04/06) prend une image de western et présente Zidane comme « un tueur à gage réticent qui accepterait un dernier contrat ». Un contrat qui selon le journal américain n’est pas forcément voué à l’échec. « Zidane a toujours déjoué les pronostics écrit le Los Angeles Times Zidane a une fierté et une rage contenue qui peuvent faire la différence et il sent bien l’attente des Français un peuple perclus de doute qui lui demande une dernière fois de les surprendre».
posted by JB CADIER at 8:22 AM
10.6.06
Copies des articles cités le 10/06
The irresistible rise of Ségolène Royal
From The Economist print edition
A flexible and popular candidate meets an immovable and less popular party
Get article background
WHEN
When Ms Royal first hinted at her presidential ambitions nine months ago in Paris-Match, Socialist old-timers responded with scorn. “Who will look after the children?” sneered Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister, of this mother of four. Others pointed to her lack of heavyweight experience—she has served only in “soft” ministries such as education and the family. But the more she was dismissed, the more the public took to her. In a poll for Libération this week, 68% of Socialist voters said they wanted her as their presidential candidate, against 27% for the next choice, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Until recently, Ms Royal's strategy has been to say as little as possible, avoid policy questions, and watch her poll numbers climb. At last autumn's party conference, she sat silently as party elders tramped to the platform to pontificate, confiding shortly afterwards that her discretion was “deliberate”. Timing, she said, was all.
Over the past week, however, Ms Royal has kicked up a stink among the Socialist old guard. First, this daughter of an army colonel argued for a clamp-down on teenage criminals, calling for first-time offenders to be sent to boot camp, and for parents of delinquents to be dispatched to parenting school and have their benefits reviewed. Hardly had the outcry died away before she broke another taboo, the 35-hour week, introduced by a previous Socialist government. This time, she veered leftwards. Her criticism was not that it stifled the work ethic or burdened companies, but that it had bred too much insecurity: bosses had won flexible working practices in return for reducing the working week with no loss of pay. “Managers have benefited from extra days off and workers have had to work on Saturdays,” she wrote on her website (she is compiling a book based on online contributions).
At first glance, she seems guilty of ideological incoherence. In one breath, she criticises—however counter-intuitively—the 35-hour week for being too liberal; in another, she praises Mr Blair's employment record. Her web chapter, “The disorder of jobs and work”, is hardly a Blairite manifesto, denouncing “a globalised hyper-class” and its belief in the “all-powerful and all-beneficent market”. This week, Ms Royal stressed that she still supported the 35-hour week in principle. “I am a Socialist,” she declared, in case of doubt.
Within the party, her outbursts have caused consternation. “With the ideas she is developing today, she is cutting the party in two,” Claude Allègre, a former education minister, told Le Parisien. Even François Hollande, the party leader and Ms Royal's “partner”, said that he did not agree with all her ideas. A disciplined party that functions through committees and consensus, it has not taken well to her blog-led quest for new thinking, or to her unilateral outspokenness. This week, the Socialists finalised an electoral programme that situates the party firmly to the left, calling for a big rise in the minimum wage, for renationalisation of the electricity utility, and for extra taxes on companies that distribute profits as dividends rather than re-investing them.
Yet it may be that Ms Royal is on to a rather smarter approach. She is pursuing a strategy of brand differentiation: entrenching her image among the electorate, which is tired of the stale grey political class, as fresh and innovative. She even talks of “ségolisme”. Coherence matters less than distinctiveness. In this, she resembles Nicolas Sarkozy, the leading right-wing contender, who has built his image as a straight-talking, combative risk-taker. He joked this week that she “would make an acceptable candidate for the right”.
Although her security hard-talk provoked much liberal hand-wringing in
A second element in Ms Royal's strategy is to use her poll ratings to conquer the party, where she lacks a base. A new opinion poll by TNS-Sofres shows her to be
All the same, leading Socialists expect Ms Royal to trip up. Their rancour is breathtaking. Many consider her a media creation just waiting to implode. “The media is not interested in competence,” laments one, “only in a beauty contest.” One fear is that the party might pick her as a candidate—only for her to tumble afterwards, wrecking the left's chances next spring. According to one insider, her rival candidates are working towards an informal pact to back each other in the run-off for the party's nomination, in a bid to thwart Ms Royal. Some are even muttering about bringing back Lionel Jospin, a retired former prime minister.
If the presidential election were held tomorrow, “Ségo” and “Sarko” would cruise to the second round. Under the fifth republic, however, no poll has correctly forecast the two run-off candidates a year in advance. In 1994, for example, Mr Chirac languished way behind Edouard Balladur, a rival on the centre-right, and yet he won the presidency a year later. In 2002, Mr Jospin was expected to coast into the run-off. Instead, Mr Chirac defeated Mr Le Pen. It would be foolish to bet on Ms Royal now—but just as foolish to write her off.
Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
Rocking the boat of French socialism
By Katrin Bennhold International Herald Tribune
PARIS Are French voters more prepared for change than the parties claiming to represent them?
That could be one interpretation of the saga of Ségolène Royal, who is determined to represent the Socialists in next year's presidential elections and has been rising ever higher in the polls over the past six months.
She caused outrage across the left, including in her own Socialist Party, when last week she proposed surprisingly tough measures to deal with young offenders, but a poll Monday indicated that a vast majority of the French agreed with her.
She has repeatedly expressed admiration for Prime Minister Tony Blair of
And on Monday, as if to prove her refusal to be deterred by party taboos, she published a harsh critique of the 35- hour workweek on her blog. The shortened workweek was the flagship Socialist reform of the last decade and its extension is part of a preliminary party program for the 2007 poll.
Eleven months before an election that many inside and outside of France see as a test of whether Europe's third- largest economy is ready to embrace far-reaching economic reforms, Royal's popularity has prompted some to suggest that French politics could be undergoing a major shift.
Unlike common practice in French party politics, "Ségolène Royal's strategy is to win the battle of public opinion before the battle inside her own party," said Pierre Giacometti, research director at the Ipsos polling institute. "She believes that her party can only win if its candidate appeals to your average person on the street."
For months, Royal was patronized by party insiders for politicking without a program and for spending much of her time in her campaign headquarters - monitoring an interactive site where thousands of voters have registered their concerns and ideas.
Her recent comments have prompted several of the male contenders in her own camp to distance themselves from her proposals - even the party chief, François Hollande, her partner and father of their four children, criticized some of her ideas. But her poll ratings suggest that her strategy has paid off so far: Some recent surveys suggest that she would even beat Nicolas Sarkozy, the head of the governing Gaullist party, if the presidential election took place now.
Few have so far compared her to prominent center-left reformers in other Western countries, like Blair or Bill Clinton in the
Following renewed unrest in immigrant suburbs outside
She also wants parents of troublemaking children to attend "parenting schools" and proposes to freeze child benefits in case unruly offspring cause trouble.
A poll conducted by Ipsos and published in Le Monde on Monday, indicated that 69 percent of respondents agreed with her proposal on the military programs for young offenders and 55 percent backed her idea about parenting schools and child benefits.
Even among Socialist voters, 67 percent agreed on the military program and 50 percent on parenting schools and benefits.
But 48 percent of Socialist voters said they believed she was distancing herself from leftist values.
Such a strategy helped Clinton and Blair to rid their parties of a reputation for being soft on crime.
The suburban riots in
But there are also risks, Giacometti said, arguing that making crime an issue could play into the center-right's hand - and make Royal vulnerable to criticism from rivals in her own camp.
"Paradoxically, these results also strengthen Nicolas Sarkozy," Giacometti said. Sarkozy, who as interior minister owes much of his own popularity to his tough stand for law and order, can use her comments to deflect future leftist criticism of his own policies.
The Ipsos poll indicated that 52 percent of the French trust Sarkozy most with solving crime-related problems in the coming years, compared with 29 percent who say they have most confidence in Royal.
Meanwhile, Royal's rivals may exploit the fact that far-right voters are the biggest fans of her proposals on unruly youths as proof that her ideas are not true to leftist values.
In the same poll, 81 percent of voters of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front said they liked Royal's suggestion on military camps.
But as the political campaign advances, the main test of Royal's ability to lure voters and her willingness to reform will be her stance on reforming