Headlines: the French and their car…

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By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

Publicity

" Everything that has changed, " exclaims Le Parisien on the front page. " How are the French driving today? In what type of cars? Have they remained loyal to the three-colored champions PSA and Renault? The answer, surprising in many ways, is that, in a decade, motorists have profoundly changed their relationship with the car. This is what emerges from an investigation commissioned by several regional press newspapers including Le Parisien. It is an understatement to say that the decade which followed the economic crisis that 2008 upset the automobile panorama, notes the newspaper: vertiginous fall in sales of diesel, decline of French brands, emergence of low-cost vehicles, parallel to that of SUVs. … And, with the breakthrough of electric vehicles (shy today), even autonomous, the next ten years will undoubtedly change the situation. "

First observation therefore: diesel plummets. In 2010, diesel vehicles accounted for two-thirds of sales, last year that share plummeted to 22%. For the benefit of gasoline vehicles. Electricity only represents 2% of sales, still too expensive and a network of charging stations still insufficient.

Another highlight: French manufacturers are falling. For example, Renault went from 20% of sales in 2010 to 15% in 2019. Why? Well what good is it to buy a vehicle stamped tricolor when Renault and PSA have completely relocated their sedans…

Finally the second-hand market now exceeds that of new… It weighs three times heavier! The main reason is financial, of course: the average price of a new car has in fact continued to increase, reaching 26,000 euros in 2019! In comparison, the average second-hand car costs 10,000 euros less ...

Macron at Mont-Blanc

Also on the front page, Emmanuel Macron on the Mer de Glace this Thursday…

" It is undoubtedly the end of metropolitan France where the devastating consequences of climate change are the most spectacular, points Liberation. This Thursday morning, Emmanuel Macron will descend the staircase of 500 steps which leads to the famous Mer de Glace. Eyes overwhelmed, he will be told by experts about the inexorable erasure of this landscape admired for centuries: since the early 2000s, the glacier has lost an average of three meters in thickness each year. The day after a meeting at the Élysée of the Ecological Defense Council, this symbolic visit will be the culmination of a sequence supposed to illustrate the commitment of the Head of State for the protection of biodiversity and the fight against global warming . "

" It is to be hoped that the (presidential) leniency towards the Roof of Europe is not a cover-up, sighs Southwest, but the visible face of an overall policy. Before going to the Montenvers refuge, the president had again assembled the Ecological Defense Council supposed to operate the green turning point of his five-year term. A month away from the municipal elections where political ecology wants to meet the summits, the operation is timely. Opportunism and small steps, castigates the opposition. Perhaps, but to deny that the air has changed on these subjects would be childish. "

Too chilly or too hot?

So Emmanuel Macron is it really green?

Yes, replies La Nouvelle République du Center Ouest : “This is the priority of the rest of its mandate, lit by the green ray. Older and more official ecologists laugh a little. Especially yellow. We steal their subject which promised to be a seller next month at the municipal level. (…) The expediency trial is quickly heard. It is not excluded that the young president is sincere however. "

No, exclaims La Voix du Nord : “ The head of state will have a hard time growing this eco-friendly fiber by watering it with fertilizer enriched with liberalism. In the eyes of the oppositions, the polemics on Mercosur or on the treaty with Vietnam only yesterday showed the dead end which constitutes the conjugation of a globalized economy with the climatic concerns. Too cautious or too hot, the president risks in this 'at the same time' losing the battle of opinion. "

No married priests!

" The Pope maintains the rule of celibacy for priests ": this is the front page of Le Figaro . “ In his apostolic exhortation, Francis did not take up the proposal to open the priesthood to married men. It had however been voted during the synod on the Amazon. "

And Le Figaro approves: “ the ordination of married men would have opened a breach in the Western tradition of the priesthood, and especially in its nature; it would have severely divided the Catholics. Francis could not fail to hear the concerns of the faithful and of the priests, and even that, eminent, of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Hence this choice, which first favors unity: by not crossing the Rubicon, concludes Le Figaro, he takes the path of wisdom. "

Balkany freed in the spotlight ...

Finally, the release of Patrick Balkany: the mayor of Levallois-Perret, was released from prison yesterday, for health reasons. He has been incarcerated since September 13, after his convictions for tax fraud and aggravated money laundering. A release from prison live in front of the cameras… The Courrier Picard denounces a real media circus: “ Patoche is out! Sound the trumpets and the tambourines! Blow flutial and fifrelins! The ordeal of the tax evader is over! The doctor in charge declared the state of the ex-deputy incompatible with the detention. And he went out! Frankly, this is completely normal. (…) But what a circus!, Blows the Picard daily. The whole afternoon, the news channels continuously amused us with a door that opens, a wife who chains cigarettes waiting, as feverish as the shepherdess of the song before seeing the wolf, let his man appear in his sedan, like the Phoenix to Herodotus. It was indecent. "

And beware, warns for its part Le Journal de la Haute-Marne : " released but not relaxed." Patrick Balkany will remain under judicial supervision. And nothing says that the proceedings against him will not result in new convictions. It is therefore in his best interest to keep a low profile and to be wary of himself. To manifest oneself by numerous untimely declarations would quickly be interpreted by justice as a contradiction with his state of health . Be careful, therefore, when you return to the prison box ...

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• automobile
• Emmanuel Macron