French press review 25 November 2011

German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy highlighted their difference in Strasbourg and Berlin Thursday.

The papers report that Sarkozy tried in vain to get Merkel to drop her objections to allowing the European Central Bank to become a lender of last resort for weaker eurozone countries.

Le Monde anticipated the impasse in an editorial Thursday afternoon, claiming that there seemed to be a curse specific to the euro which appeared to have come under attack by speculators.

The paper explained that the ECB needed to shape up and play the regulatory role similar to that of sister institutions such as the American Federal Reserve Board, and the Bank of England.

Their direct intervention, the paper argues, puts the markets under check, enabling them to reign in the cost of debt servicing, which is not the case with the ECB.

The problem, according to Le Monde, is France, her “sovereignist” culture, the genetic allergy of Paris to every measure that appears to favour the handing of powers to a European body charged with harmonizing budget policies.

It is such structural “deficiencies” that have placed the markets in defiant mood.

Le Figaro argues that France, on the contrary, played its role, unlike Germany, by accepting to have the articles of the European treaty revised which would facilitate losing sovereignty on economic and budget matters.

The Germans’ “obstinate” stance, the paper says, could turn out to be very costly, both for Europe including Germany, as no one will be spared by the investors suspicion of the euro.

L'Humanité argues that there is no doubt Nicolas Sarkozy lost the arm-wrestling contest with Angela Merkel in Strasbourg.

The Chancellor, reasserted with some degree of malice, according to the paper, the independence of the European Central Bank.

The communist party daily says it was pathetic watching Sarkozy cave in, after the highly mediatised campaign over France’s position.

The economic daily Les Echos notes with some embarrassment, the shortfalls of the Strasbourg summit.

It regrets that top guns, such as Prime Minister François Fillon, foreign minister Alain Juppé and finance minister François Baroin tried in vain sell the idea, that the ECB must muster funds to strengthen the eurozone against contagion.

Sud-Ouest argues that Germany is not off-the-hook as it faces default over its own debt amounting to 82 per cent of its GDP, just like France.

Les Echos claims that without being a prophet of doom, Paris is convinced that the European Central Bank’s Governor Mario Draghi will be obliged to open his coffers, if the debt crisis worsens.

La Voix du Nord explains that it expected Germany which encountered difficulties in selling its treasury bonds on Wednesday to soften its stance on the ECB issue.

Unfortunately it didn’t move an inch from the sacrosanct ECB’s independence, obliging Nicolas Sarkozy instead, to remove it from the summit’s agenda.

The Catholic Daily La Croix takes up the debate here in France about voting rights for foreigners.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has back-tracked on a campaign promise to champion legislation authorizing non-French citizens to vote in local council elections.

The move is seen as a ploy to halt the siphoning of his electorate by the Far-right National Front party as the Socialist-led Senate prepared to vote on a foreign voters draft bill.

La Croix regrets the political exploitation of what it sees as one of the charismatic reforms of our time.

The paper blames both the left and right of manipulating the conscience of the people by whipping up sentiments against the citizens law passed by the Socialist government in 1981, and repealed by the conservative majority in the Senate.

The Catholic daily warns about the dangers of what it sees as a “short-sighted” debate.

It could cause further stigmatization of foreigners and alienate voters who have already excluded themselves from the electoral process for various reasons.