Other euro zone countries are beginning to worry because the German-French axis simply isn’t functioning,” the official said. “The expectation that everything would improve after the French elections was unrealistic. “Nothing is working between Germany and France at the moment,” a senior official from one of Germany’s ruling parties said. Others are more disheartened by his visible scepticism over Merkel’s austerity line - even if his efforts ultimately boiled down to securing a modest 120-billion-euro spending commitment at European level. In Merkel’s closest circles, officials say Hollande is still in the process of “discovering himself” but needs to demonstrate he will not let up on pledges to slash France’s large deficit. The backdrop to the challenges facing Hollande is a debt crisis that has plagued the euro zone for two and a half years, his promise to balance France’s books without resorting to Greek-style cutbacks, and his positioning as a counterweight to Merkel’s tough austerity strategy.įrench officials say a meeting on Thursday between Hollande and Merkel, sure to be subject of renewed focus in financial markets after a lull in financial and political activity the past few weeks, will not produce any new decisions.īut in Berlin they hope it will at least show that Hollande remains faithful to the Franco-German axis that has provided leadership in the euro zone for decades. My hairdresser was howling about the government and rising expenses for employers.” UNDER PRESSURE ON ALL FRONTS there’s a crisis and we all need to do our bit,” said Chaineau. “He didn’t promise miracles and I am not putting the bar too high and he will need a bit of time. Sylvie Chaineau, a social services worker who deals daily with domestic strife in western France, voted for Hollande and believes he has made a good start but says she now hopes to see “concrete results”. Those ratings are if anything marginally weaker than Sarkozy’s ratings at the outset of his term but pollsters say Hollande is coming in the middle of a crisis and Sarkozy took power at a time of greater optimism and confidence. In a recent survey, the Ifop polling agency said the percentage of people saying they were satisfied with him edged down to 56 percent in July from 59 a month earlier and 61 in May, the month he won power. “It was a great idea to win an election but is it sufficient to govern?” Jean-Luc Mano, a political communications consultant, asked in Le Monde. He needs to disprove Sarkozy’s pre-election claims that Hollande’s “normality falls short of the demands of the job”. There is a risk now, as influential newspaper Le Monde put it this weekend, that Hollande, who returned by train to Paris on Sunday night from two low-key weeks at the presidential Bregancon Fortress on the French Riviera coast, gets stuck in a “normality trap”. The problem now is that having rebranded the presidential style, Hollande needs to prove he is an effective leader - or as he said himself days after his election on May 6, to prove that “simple doesn’t mean mediocre”. ARE AGE 21 AND UNDER UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM DRIVERHollande has reduced his own salary (Sarkozy had raised his), makes a point of travelling by train rather than private jet when he can, and tells his driver to stop the car when traffic lights go red - all symbolically important. He has raised taxes that Sarkozy lowered for the wealthy, partly rolled back a reform that raised the pension age to 62 from 60, and scrapped plans to raise the rate of VAT sales tax. Hollande, whose election win was due in large part to voter fatigue with Nicolas Sarkozy, stopped short of promising a rapid economic upturn, arguing that the rich should do more to help restore France’s public finances and that the job could be done without drastic Greek-style cuts in wages or welfare.īut the French economy remains at a stubborn standstill and a bout of rioting during Hollande’s break has highlighted the challenge he faces to improve the lives of people living in the depressed housing estates that ring many French cities.Īs he marks 100 days in office this week, the Socialist who branded himself “Mr Normal” and promised a break with the showy style of the conservative Sarkozy has largely delivered on that front. REUTERS/Philippe LaurensonĪwaiting him are the crisis that still haunts the euro zone, fragile relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French political opponents who accuse him of sunning himself on the beach while Syria slides into chaos. France's President Francois Hollande delivers a speech after he visited the local gendarme building in Pierrefeu-du-Var, southern France, August 14, 2012.
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