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du Limbert, Paul-Henri
4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
French accept retirement reform
On Thursday people demonstrated across France against the government's announcement that it will raise the retirement age. The limited success of the protests indicates that the French have developed a sense of reality, writes the conservative daily Le Figaro: "Not long ago the streets of Paris would have shaken to the cries defending retirement at 60 - the most emblematic of the unions' 'social achievements'. Not so yesterday, neither in Paris nor elsewhere in France. What has happened? Something quite simple: the French have understood that times have changed. While the countries of Europe implement austerity programmes France remains a land of plenty. ... Who could believe that? Yesterday's events are a setback for the unions, but perhaps more so for Martine Aubry's Socialist Party [which backs the policy of retirement at 60]."
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More from the press review on the subject » France
De facto break-up
The conservative daily Le Figaro sees a potential split of the French Socialist Party: "When you talk of comrades, you're talking about comradeship. That doesn't exist and hasn't existed in the Socialist Party for a long time. But up to now the 'elephants' had made an effort not to go too far in their rivalries. ... That's over now. The Royal supporters and the Aubry supporters have become two competing teams that take measure of each other, attack each other and level endless insults at each other. They're like the Capulets and the Montagues, the O'Timmins and the O'Haras. ... The most likely scenario is two socialist parties within the one: the 'PSS' (Socialist Party of Ségolène) and the 'PSM' (Socialist Party of Martine). This is a de facto split, but it has the advantage of preserving appearances."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » France
The strike-weary French
The newspaper observes in a leading article that few French people followed the call by several unions to demonstrate against Nicolas Sarkozy's reforms: "What has become of the heated spring days of yesteryear? Where are the mass strikes that left travellers waiting in overcrowded stations? Many had warned that this June would be highly perilous, the first test for Nicolas Sarkozy and his reforms. But it must be said that the 'action day' staged by the CTT-CFDT did not see much action at all. ... The most memorable thing about the day was that only seven percent of rail workers and six percent of postal workers ... followed the call to strike. That is astonishingly low. Clearly, Nicolas Sarkozy has won an important psychological victory. He has shown that France is not the unreformable country it was 30 years ago."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Social movements, » France
The ambiguous position of the centre in the French municipals
After the first round of municipal elections in France on March 9th, the centrist party MoDem finds itself acting as arbiter in several towns. Its president, François Bayrou, is negotiating alliances with the right as much as with the left, on a case by case basis. The editorialist Paul-Henri du Limbert criticises this strategy which he says renders «even more hazy the outlines of the famous 'third way' so dear to the president of the MoDem party ... . The two-party system, the end of which had been prematurely announced during the presidential campaign [of 2007], has actually reclaimed all its rights. There is the UMP on the one side, the PS on the other, and in the middle François Bayrou and his skinny, disparate troops. ... At this rate, François Bayrou may soon find himself the only spectator of himself. So are the UMP and the PS right to make him an unexpected hero half-way between the two rounds? "
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » France
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