The French elections are over and Socialist François Hollande. as expected, defeated Nicholas Sarkozy and is France's new president. Hollande took 51.7% of the vote to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy’s 48.3%.
In many ways, the election was a referendum on Sarkozy's presidency as well as his persona, and Sarkozy was deeply unpopular even on the French Right, in spite of his tough talk on France's Muslim immigration problems in an attempt to garner votes from Marian Le Pen's National Front which finished third in the first round of elections.Le Pen pretty much ended any hope of that when she declined to endorse Sarkozy.
But aside from that,what tipped the scales was the French resentment of Germany's dominance of the EU and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's insistence on fiscal austerity as a remedy for the eurozone's out of control debt and crumbling social welfare economies.
Enough of the French wanted to hold on to their massive 'benefits' and saw eating the rich at all costs as a solution to France's economic problems that, combined with Sarkozy's personal unpopularity, they voted in the first Socialist Administration in 17 years.
Hollande is already on record as revealing he "does not like the rich" and has declared that "my real enemy is the world of finance". He favors an EU-wide 'financial transaction tax' on every wire transfer, deposit, securities purchase or withdrawal, raising the top tax rates to 75% and lowering France's already liberal retirement age from 62 to 60. I'm certain he and President Obama will get along well.
Hollande has already promised to renegotiate the fiscal compact signed by the eurozone nations or to 'complete it' with programs for 'growth' - which, translated means huge increases in taxes on 'the rich' and on corporations to fund massive government spending to create public sector jobs,build infrastructure, finance green energy scams and the rest of the usual socialist agenda. Apparently the examples of Greece,Portugal, Ireland and Spain haven't registered.
Merkel has already said it is 'out of the question' to renegotiate the financial compact. Expect sparks...and perhaps more than that.
as france goes, just as the left in the US views itself as europe.
ReplyDelete