French Presidential Election - EU Concensus Breaking down

[buzzlightyear]

All polls are indicating Francois Holland (Socialist Party) will beat Nicholas Sarkozy in the Prediential runoff election. His policies are somewhat divergent to the EU concensed policy of austerity. (Dare you call them populist!)

* Reverse the increase in pensioner age undertaken by Sarkozy
* 75% income tax for those earning over 350k euro
* increasing spending to generate growth

Is this the end of the Merkozy alliance?

Not sure where the voters who supported the Right wing National Front (Marine Le Pen) in the first round would go, nor the large Muslim population votes who are getting marginalised by the anti-foreigner sentiment of the right.

Did hear (and haven't confirmed however), that France hasn't had a budget surplus since the 1974 The FT says there is no alternative to austerity

The Greeks go to an election next week and the vote seems likely to be fractured amongst the extreme parties as outlined in the Guardian. Is the changing political landscape likely to elongate the European malaise or provide an opportunity for some growth.

Would be interested to hear from those posters living in the region (Graemsay, JoeExpat & others)....

 

[Aaron Sice]

This consistent money grubbing tax grab against the "rich" is going to further divide the rich from the poor.

Australia has it's proposed "rich" super reforms, the UK is about to propose something similar, now France? If that takes hold, it will sweep Europe and effectively "push" the money out of the region on it's bow wave...

If all the money packs up and heads out of a country, what are you left with? a country without an upper class, the same class that builds large corporations, provides employment and to a lesser extent, stabilises a country's money flow/speed.

when the upper class leave, or refuse to participate anymore, you will have wild swings of boom/bust and an ever decreasing quality of life and a massive increase in government - and thereby red tape.

Governments are not meant to run in surplus, they are meant to break even. If they are in deficit, they have spent too much, if they are in surplus, they have overtaxed/undercapitalised.

 

[dan75]

At the end of the day, democracy will give a country the leader they deserve. The lesser evil always seems to lose in this type of situation. These are very sad times here in Europe as the GFC continues to push people into corners.

What I mean by this is that it brings the worst in people. The extremists become the norm and we go back to times we swore we would never see again.

Today, after work, on my way to language school (30min drive), I noticed a couple of swastikas sprayed on to a local shop sign. This is happening all over Europe.

I can only hope that one day, sooner rather than later, things will improve here. Radicals and racists are gaining numbers like crazy as the (most ignorant) need for a scapegoat starts being drummed into the less educated.

Denmark seems to have taken a small step forward in last year's elections, but the population here is only 5 million. We're a drop in the ocean.