Hollande inherits an economy that is barely growing, with jobless claims at their highest in 12 years, and a rising debt load that makes France vulnerable to the financial crisis which has rocked the euro region the past two years. Sarkozy became the ninth euro leader to fall in that time and the first French president in more than 30 years to fail to win re-election.
His platform would raise spending by €20 billion over his five-year term and see the retirement age for those who started working at 18 years old pushed back to 60 from 62. He said he would discuss with France’s banks the split of their retail and investment activities.
Tax increases and eliminating loopholes would seek to raise €29 billion. The budget plan aims to eliminate the deficit in 2017, one year later than under Sarkozy’s plan, with a 3 per cent of gross domestic product deficit target for 2013.
German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, indicated May 4 enough flexibility to allow Hollande to "save face". "I’ve said that everybody who gets freshly elected into office must be able to save face”, Schäuble said. “So we will discuss this with Hollande in a very friendly way. But we won’t change our principles.”
Full article
© Bloomberg
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article