French press review 15 February 2010

by Michael Fitzpatrick

Article published on the 2010-02-15 Latest update 2010-02-15 09:31 TU

Later this Monday morning, French president Nicolas Sarkozy will address the so-called social partners on the crucial question of retirement.

Someone has to find a way of sharing the ever-increasing load which French pensioners are putting on state finances.

Back in 1983, Socialist president François Mitterrand reduced the official retirement age from 65 to 60, immediately putting the national coffers under additional strain. If nothing is done to change the system, by the year 2050 the state will need to find 100 billion additional euros every year just to pay pensions.

President Nick would like to have the whole deal done and dusted before the summer holidays. The trade unions have already said they won't be agreeing. The whole debate has rumbled on expensively for over thirty years.

Everybody knows something has to be done - and soon. But nobody wants to have to pay the bill.

Libération looks at what the Socialists have to say on the question: lots, but not very coherent, is the simplest summary.

"Make the shareholders pay,"says far-Leftist, Olivier Besancenot.

"Tax stock options and capital," is what Jean-Luc Mélanchon of the Party of the Left calls for.

The Socialist Party spokesperson, Benoît Hamon wants to see an end to special cases, the sort of loopholes which allow the very- and moderately-rich to escape without paying their fair share.

And Noël Mamère of the Green Party thinks the whole thing can be solved by having fewer people unemployed. Indeed.

The president will reveal all later today. Don't expect any miracles.

Also in Libé, the story of American efforts in the mid-1970s to refloat a Soviet nuclear submarine that sank in the Pacific in 1968. The project, code-named "Azorian", was organised by the Central Intelligence Agency and financed by the billionaire Howard Hughes.

The unfortunate Soviet vessel was 5,000 metres down, so the effort to get it back to the surface was not without its difficulties. But there were nuclear warheads and other Cold War trophies on board.

Recently declassified CIA documents don't say if the project was a success or not, but we do know that at least bits of the sunken sub were brought to the surface.

There's also lots of bad news for the wild boar in this morning's prints. In the course of 2008, there were 16,797 accidents in France involving boar and motorists. Farmers estimate the damage caused to crops by the same beasties at 27 million euros. And the nation's hunters did their bit by massacring a further half million wild pigs.