EDITORIAL : THE RFI english, FRANCE

 

 

French press review

 

Money preoccupies the French press this morning with criticism on the left of government plans to cut welfare benefits and tax on the rich. On the bright side, Europe's students are becoming more and more cosmopolitan.

The ruling party here in France, the UMP is debating how to pay less of the RSA, a benefit for the poor, while lowering the ISF weatlth tax.

Dossier: Eurozone in crisis

Some 1.2 million people in France receive the RSA to either make up for or complement their income. The UMP says, that it’s too expensive. The reason this is controversial is, that at the same time, the party wants to tax the rich less, losing income for the state.

“Sarkozy helps the rich,” says Libération.
The paper looks at:
1. Who is concerned?
RSA: 1.2 million people in France receive RSA;
ISF: 560,000 people have a personal fortune of more than 800,000 euros;
2. What will it cost the government?
RSA: The French government spent 1.3 billion euros on RSA in 2010;
ISF: The government currently earns four billion euros by taxing personal fortunes; it will only make 2.2 billion in the ISF is lowered;
Along the same lines, Catholic paper La Croix looks at “hidden poverty in rural areas”.
Most people receiving state aid don’t live in cities. The reason: there are less jobs in the countryside, especially for young people, and the agricultural sector has been hit hard recently.
Unfortunately, a lot of times that means children are kept at home to help on the farm or do other work. In turn, some 1,000 children have been taken from their families for financial or social reasons.
Communist paper l’Humanité calls the UMP the “anti-Robin Hood: taking from the poor and giving to the rich.” The story is the same, but the headline is too good not to mention.
And we end the press review with some good news. According to La Croix there are more and more Erasmus (exchange) students, especially in Europe.
Some 213,000 students studied abroad in 2009/2010; that’s a 7.4 per cent increase from the previous year.

For many, that will mean getting a better job. Few jobs today don’t require employees to speak a foreign language. France, along with Britain and Spain, are the top destinations for foreign students.