Policy Focus

French-Colombian hostage Betancourt is freed

The French papers are dominated by the news that Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian former presidential candidate, has been freed after six years in captivity.

The dramatic rescue by Colombian special forces, who infiltrated the Farc rebel group holding Betancourt and 14 others, is splashed across all the front pages.

Betancourt has received messages of well-wishing from French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and in turn has thanked Sarkozy, his predecessor Jacques Chirac and former prime minister Dominique de Villepin for their continued support, Libération reports.

Sarkozy made freeing Betancourt a key foreign policy objective after he was elected last year, although most papers agree it will be Colombian president Alfonso Uribe who will take the kudos for the liberation of Betancourt, the papers note.

The right-leaning Le Figaro, however, notes in a video blog on its website that Sarkozy can take much of the credit for continuing to push Uribe to take action, and providing military, intelligence and diplomatic support to Colombia.

Sarkozy's squabbles overshadow EU presidency

French president Nicolas Sarkozy's slanging match with EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson soured his second day of France's EU presidency after the Briton accused him of undermining Europe in world trade negotiations, reports the Times.

The squabble, in which Sarkozy cast Mandelson as a bogeyman, was overshadowed at home by unrest among army generals and mutiny by the boss of France Télévisions.

Meanwhile, El País says that the EU has rallied behind Mandelson, with commission president José Manuel Barroso saying he has "full confidence" in the trade chief, who he said was undertaking a "necessary and difficult job".

Kaczynski backs down over Lisbon treaty

Poland will sign the Lisbon treaty if Ireland does so as well, president Lech Kaczynski said on Wednesday, according to Le Monde.

The eurosceptic Pole announced on Tuesday that he would not sign the treaty, which has already been approved by the pro-European Polish government, as there was “no point” following Ireland’s no vote.

Brussels offers NHS patients EU-wide treatment

Patients in the UK will be able to demand NHS-funded treatment anywhere in the EU without the prior approval of a doctor under wide-ranging proposals to guarantee health rights announced yesterday, reports the Times.

Under the EU scheme, patients would be able to beat NHS queues or avoid problems such as high superbug rates by shopping around for care abroad. They would then be eligible to recoup the NHS cost of the procedure.

The plan allows any EU citizen to travel to another member state without prior authorisation from a consultant, consolidating rights granted in a series of cases taken to the European court of justice.

France backtracks on Turkish EU membership

After several months of often angry debate, the French parliament has decided to keep its existing legislation governing future EU enlargements, Libération reports.

A proposal to force a referendum on the EU membership of any country whose population was more than five per cent of the EU as a whole – aimed mainly at Turkey – was passed by the lower house but rejected by the Senate, leaving a package of institutional reforms in limbo.

So, the paper writes, the government has decided to maintain the status quo on this issue, leaving untouched a 2005 law passed by Jacques Chirac which obliges a referendum on every new EU accession after Croatia, regardless of the size.

Libération adds that this compromise came as a surprise to many government ministers, including prime minister François Fillon, who just last weekend had called for a different compromise solution which would have allowed a referendum to be called if supported by more than one-fifth of French MPs.

And it adds that supporters of further enlargement will be mollified by the agreement to allow derogations from the rule for small countries such as Montenegro wishing to join the EU club.

French farmers profit massively from food price hikes

Le Monde reports on the irony of France, as EU president, fighting for a reduction in basic food prices when its farmers have profited the most from the recent cost increases.

The average net income of French farms increased by 11 per cent last year, more than double the EU average, the paper notes, with the value of cereal crops increasing by 51.5 per cent while volumes dropped by 3.4 per cent, according to government figures.

Sarkozy urges Macedonia to resolve name dispute with Greece

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has written to Macedonian chief Branko Crvenkovski expressing his support for Macedonia’s bid to join Nato and the EU, reports the IHT.

Sarkozy is however urging the country to end a long-running dispute with Greece over Macedonia’s name. With French support, Greece vetoed Macedonia's bid to join NATO in April.