French president-elect Hollande promises 'kinder, gentler austerity'
As leader of Europe's No. 2 economy, French President-elect Fran莽ois Hollande has the power to challenge German Chancellor Angela Merkel's austerity doctrine.
President-elect Francois Hollande waves from the balcony of the Socialist Party headquarters in Paris, Monday, May 7. France has awoken to a new era after electing Hollande as president, a leftist pledging to buck Europe's austerity trend and NATO's timetable for Afghanistan.
Michel Spingler/AP
Paris
Sunday's elections in Europe mark a change in the political map here. French voters elected the first Socialist president in 17 years and angry Greeks rebuked mainstream parties associated with crippling deficits, bailouts, and spending cuts, voting in record numbers for radical left and neo-Nazi parties. 聽
Although the common sentiment in both elections is a rejection of austerity, the implications are quite different. While French elections represent a new power center in Europe on the center-left, Greek elections represent further political disarray in Europe鈥檚 southern tier.
The French voted in Fran莽ois Hollande, who promised a 鈥渘ew direction for Europe,鈥� blending growth policies with the austerity model adopted under German direction.聽Mr. Hollande was congratulated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call yesterday and invited to Berlin, a trip Hollande鈥檚 team says he will waste no time in taking.
US President Obama also phoned the French president-elect and said he looks forward to hosting him at the White House before a G-8 summit at Camp David and a NATO summit in Chicago, both later this month.聽
European nations have slashed public spending the last couple years in an attempt to bring mounting public debt under control, but they have not seen the business and consumer spending necessary for a recovery. Unemployment rates have climbed, and economic growth has stalled, with some economies even contracting.聽
Mr. Hollande, a pragmatic social democrat and Keynesian, advocates what analysts call a 鈥渒inder, gentler鈥� austerity. He is unlikely to make any radical changes to France's public spending.
His promotion to top job of the No. 2 economy in Europe makes him the first European leader able to challenge Germany鈥檚 Angela Merkel, and brings to an end Europe鈥檚 鈥淢erkozy鈥� duo of Mrs. Merkel and outgoing French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who have steered Europe through the economic crisis.聽Merkel鈥檚 own ruling coalition showed signs of weakness yesterday, with a poor showing in local elections in Schleswig-Holstein, ahead of national elections next year.
The tide of pro-growth proposals has risen in recent weeks, with admonitions by the International Monetary Fund that austerity alone was harming Europe鈥檚 economic prospects, and, last week, an unexpected show of support for a growth pact by Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank. 聽
The president of the European Commission听闯辞蝉茅听Manuel Barroso, said today that he agreed with Hollande鈥檚 desire for greater investment in Europe through EU budget funds and the European Investment Bank. 鈥淲e clearly have a common objective in reviving the European economy to generate lasting growth which rests on solid basis and is a source of new jobs. We now need to transform these aspirations into concrete action," he said.
The departing Mr. Sarkozy is the latest EU leader to see his mandate fall in the face of unpopular austerity measures,聽following those in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Romania, and the Netherlands. Minutes after polls closed yesterday at 8 p.m., Sarkozy said that he would not lead his party in critical parliamentary elections in June and that he is leaving politics in France entirely.聽
It is the outcome in Athens that troubles European analysts monitoring the economic horizon.聽Some two-thirds of Greeks voted for extremist parties 鈥� the radical left Syriza at 16 percent and the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn at 7 percent.
The Greek vote聽throws into messy question Greece鈥檚 role in the eurozone.聽The Greek pro-EU austerity party New Democracy received 19 percent of the vote, but it has no clear partners with which to form a coalition and establish a majority. The next EU bailout loan for Greece is set for later this month, but with little political stability it is unclear how the terms of that deal will unfold.聽