The Monocle Minute

France’s Assemblée Nationale will vote on the first no-confidence motion to target the country’s new government today. The good news for prime minister Michel Barnier is that the vote, called by the left-leaning Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), is virtually certain to fail from lack of support. The bad news is that this vote is the first of what I fear will be many parliamentary stunts focused on scoring political points rather than making productive contributions.

The NFP won’t be alone in this. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National won’t vote to censure the Barnier government this time but the far-right party is openly focused on campaigning for the next parliamentary elections, which will be nine months down the road at the earliest. Even within the governing coalition, some seem more intent on clinging to talking points about “red lines” than getting serious about finding fixes to urgent issues – the most pressing of which is France’s spiralling public finances.

Barnier will present a budget this week that is sure to be a bitter pill to swallow, as a period of serial deficits – including a justified surge in spending during the coronavirus pandemic – comes to a head. He will have no choice but to propose shock therapy via cuts and tax hikes. Without such intervention, the country could run into big trouble with its creditors, the EU and international investors.

Yet serious proposals have been met with dogmatic claims from the right that the money needed can all be found in spending cuts and an equally absurd insistence from the left that taxing the rich and doubling down on spending will fix everything. Is it too much to ask for more policy and less stridency? In France today, the answer seems to be a depressingly resounding “oui”.

Simon Bouvier is Monocle’s Paris bureau chief. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

After more than a year of searching for a buyer, Swiss conglomerate Richemont has sold the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP) to Mytheresa for €555m. Richemont will take a 33 per cent stake in Mytheresa as part of the deal. It’s a happy ending for everyone involved. For Richemont, the move meant that it could offload the loss-making e-retailer to focus on its thriving fine-jewellery and watch business, while Mytheresa could further increase its market share.

“Mytheresa’s goal is to create a global, digital luxury group,” says the company’s CEO, Michael Kliger, whose focus on sharp curation, offline events and exclusive brand partnerships has helped to turn the brand into a rare e-commerce success story. The Yoox Net-a-Porter Group’s interim CEO, Alison Loehnis, emphasised the importance of staying true to its founding values. “It’s really about continuing to focus on service and curation, as well as doing the heavy lifting for the customer,” she told Monocle Radio’s The Big Interview.

To hear the full interview with Alison Loehnis, listen to the latest episode of ‘The Big Interview’ on Monocle Radio.

Just as former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte stepped up into Nato’s highest role, one of his compatriots is also bolstering the country’s support for Ukraine. This week, following a trip to Kyiv and Kharkiv, the Netherlands’ defence minister, Ruben Brekelmans, announced an investment of $440m (€400m) for Ukraine’s drone development. According to the minister, about half of the investment will be spent within the Netherlands, working on surveillance, defence and attack drones.

The rest will be divided between Ukraine and other countries, and, if the programme proves successful, will be a starting point for further investment. In addition, the past few months have seen a strengthening in Amsterdam’s co-operation with Ukraine as Dutch F16s continue to arrive in the country in batches. As Ukraine pushes the development of its own defence industry and looks for longer-term solutions to warding off Russian aggression, a little investment could go a long way.

Zoltan Varga is the CEO of Central Media, one of Hungary’s leading independent media companies and publisher of top-selling magazines such as Nok Lapja, the country’s most-read weekly women’s magazine. Varga is also an investor in Poland’s Gremi Media, the group behind daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita. A fierce advocate of free press, Zoltan speaks to Monocle about the importance of independence, the current Eastern European market and the future of print.

Give us an introduction to Central Media.
We are currently celebrating the 10-year anniversary of purchasing Sanoma Media Budapest [one of Hungary’s leading magazines and online platforms]. I was a private equity investor at the time and thought that it was a good deal. Initially, we wanted to sell the assets at a good price but realised that if we wanted to keep the free press alive in Hungary, then we had to protect it. We didn’t sell the company to the government because we feared that it would destroy the country’s independent media landscape. This became a mission-driven investment for us. But we also realised that if we wanted to survive, we had to grow beyond Hungary. That’s why we invested in Slovakia, Czechia and Poland.

Tell us about your Hungarian titles.
We own more than 50 titles in Hungary. Nok Lapja, the oldest women’s newspaper in the country, sells more than 140,000 copies per week. We are very proud of it as it is all about families. We have been approached by many politicians who wish to be featured in its pages and we said “no” in all cases. It is a value-driven magazine and people love it.

How do you envision the future of independent media?
In the long run I’m optimistic. Problems with the economy are growing. We have a duty to inform citizens and give them the right to proper information. For me, this is not only a business but also a mission. It’s important that people are informed. A country cannot evolve if people are not educated. Free media ensures that this can happen.

For our full interview with Zoltan Varga, tune in to the latest episode of ‘The Stack’, on Monocle Radio.

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