Greek socialists hope François Hollande wins French elections | World news. The leader of Greece's socialist party says the country is pinning its hopes on the election of François Hollande in Sunday's French presidential election, with the socialist frontrunner being seen as the best guarantor of the growth policies the EU's austerity-wracked southern periphery so desperately needs. With the Greeks also going to the polls, the socialist Pasok party leader, Evangelos Venizelos, said in an interview with the Guardian: "We are very much hoping that he [Hollande] will win.
He is by far the best solution. " Support for the French socialist is the most glaring reflection yet of the growing rift in Europe over Berlin's Calvinist approach to resolving a crisis that many believe could have been contained had austerity not been so remorselessly pursued when it first broke out in Athens. "This is undoubtedly a war, the war of our generation," said Venizelos, who was a teenager during Greece's 1967-74 military regime.
"We need to be helped. . … we have a small favour to ask. Been There, Done That | Fact-Checking: Sarkozy’s Campaign for the French Anti-Muslim Vote. “I propose a considerable change requiring anyone wanting to come [live] in France to take a French language test before being admitted to France, including [people] coming to be reunited with family members. I don’t see how integration in our country is possible if people don’t speak our language and know that values of the Republic.” —France 2 television interview, April 24, 2012. The “considerable change” is hardly one at all. The requirement Sarkozy proposed is already in the books as law per a 2008 decree and 2011 legislation covering virtually the same ground. François Hollande: from a small town in France to the gates of the Elysée | World news | The Observer. Corrèze is what its inhabitants call "la France profonde" – in other words, the sticks. If it were not for the motorway from Paris built on the orders of former president Jacques ChiracJacques Chirac, a local man, it would be the back of beyond.
The locals are the first to admit this. Despite its splendid isolation, however, this rural region in south-central FranceFrance – a five-hour drive from the capital – has produced three popes (Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352 and Gregory XI in 1370) and will, if François Hollande, is elected, have been the hothouse for two French presidents. At the local tourist office visitors are reminded of other local specialities: Tulle, the region's capital, boasts France's last accordion factory, and is famous for its armaments industry, now in decline, and speciality lace. It was in Tulle in 1981 that the young and ambitious Hollande first made his political mark shortly after France's first Socialist president, François Mitterrand, was elected. Anger or answers? - David Miliband MP – Official website. If you have just moved or you are looking to leave your current financial institution, you may have some questions about the difference between a credit union and a bank.
They’re actually not as different as you think, but at the same time, the differences between the two can be a determining factor of which you enroll with. Credit unions were created in the 1860’s in Germany, banks had been around since the 1700’s. So, you’ve seen signs for both of these around. Are they any different? If so, how? By definition, a bank is a financial entity, usually in the form of a corporation, which has been registered through a state or federal government. On the other hand, a credit union is a nonprofit organization that is classified as a financial institution. Most important thing to note: Credit Unions are non-profit. Hollande and Europe are turning the tide. Where will it leave Cameron? | Polly Toynbee. The Queen's speech marks David Cameron's run at a much-needed relaunch, but his dull array of bills is likely to have the lift-off of a dodo. The only bill that promises radical change is the one that may break his coalition – Lords reform.
Meanwhile, he is beset by rival Queen's speech agendas: from his own fractious right wing a list of Eurosceptic, ultra-cutting measures that show how many in his party have learned all the wrong flying lessons from last week's crash in the polls; and Labour's alternative, burnished with new credibility from François Hollande's victory message – "Austerity need not be Europe's fate". Cameron looks pinned in a corner. Labour gains from the triumph of the French Socialist leader with his intellectually cogent rallying cry for a new direction for Europe. Look how he won with a promise to tax the super-rich at a heart-attack rate of 75%, yet the French stock market actually rose slightly. Where will that leave Cameron? The dull truth? Hollande profite de son passage à Londres pour chambrer Cameron. François Hollande s’est déclaré «fier d'être chef de l’Etat», lundi à Londres, au vu des résultats des athlètes français aux JO, en remerciant avec une pointe d’humour le Premier ministre britannique David Cameron d’avoir déroulé «le tapis rouge» pour les sportifs tricolores.
«Les Britanniques ont mis un tapis rouge pour les athlètes français pour gagner des médailles. Je les en remercie beaucoup, mais la compétition n’est pas terminée», a dit le président lors d’une conférence de presse au club de France, vitrine de l'équipe des bleus aux jeux Olympiques de Londres. Le chef de l’Etat faisait référence aux remarques faites en juin par David Cameron, qui s'était dit prêt à «dérouler le tapis rouge» aux Français qui voudraient échapper au projet de fiscalité du gouvernement de François Hollande.
Depuis lors, le président français a dit avoir mis la remarque sur le compte «de l’humour anglais». A lire aussi :Tous nos articles consacrés aux Jeux de Londres sur notre page spéciale. La presse britannique tacle Hollande. Why The French Elections Are Better Than Yours | Sarah Glidden. La-presidentielle-sous-le-regard-amuse-ennuye-ou-severe-de-la-presse-etrangere_1689095_1471069.html?utm_source=dlvr. Ennuyeuse, la campagne présidentielle française ? Morose ? "Pitoyable", même, comme l'a suggéré la socialiste Martine Aubry ? "Frivole", a tranché le 30 mars The Economist, l'hebdomadaire britannique donnant le ton à une presse européenne ébahie de voir les "vrais enjeux" - croissance, compétitivité, réduction des dépenses publiques - s'effacer devant des sujets secondaires comme la viande halal ou la gratuité du permis de conduire.
Même le quotidien de centre gauche The Independent a prévenu : "Les Français ne voteront pas pour l'austérité, mais c'est ce qu'ils auront. " Plus sournoisement, un commentateur de Channel 4 a souligné que le régime entrepris par François Hollande ne serait pas suffisant et que le candidat "devra réduire encore sa consommation de gâteaux au chocolat s'il veut équilibrer les comptes de la France". Il Foglio, le quotidien de la droite intellectuelle italienne, a déjà baissé le rideau. La campagne n'a guère emballé les journaux iraniens. France prepares to vote for a president. As it happened: Presidential election in France. François Hollande wins French presidential election | World news.
François Hollande has won power in France, turning the tide on a rightwards and xenophobic lurch in European politics and vowing to transform Europe's handling of the economic crisis by fighting back against German-led austerity measures. The 57-year-old rural MP and self-styled Mr Normal, a moderate social democrat from the centre of the Socialist party, is France's first leftwing president in almost 20 years.
Projections from early counts, released by French TV, put his score at 51.9%. His emphatic victory is a boost to the left in a continent that has gradually swung rightwards since the economic crisis broke four years ago. Nicolas Sarkozy, defeated after one term in office, became the 11th European leader to lose power since the economic crisis in 2008. He conceded defeat at a gathering of his party activists at the Mutualité in central Paris, urging them from the stage to stop booing Hollande. "I carry all the responsibility for this defeat," he said.
Review & Outlook: Nicolas Le Pen. UE: Sarkozy, ''conservateur britannique'' Les propos de Nicolas Sarkozy, hier à Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), où il a menacé que la France sorte de Schengen, sont dignes d'un "Premier ministre britannique conservateur", a estimé aujourd'hui le directeur de campagne de François Hollande, Pierre Moscovici.
"J'ai eu l'impression d'entendre non pas un président français, parce qu'un président français, c'est quelqu'un qui veut toujours construire l'Europe, la bâtir, la faire avancer. Mais presque un Premier ministre britannique, conservateur", a déclaré Pierre Moscovici sur France 2. Les Britanniques "refusent la logique de Schengen depuis 25 ans", et les déclarations de Nicolas Sarkozy représentent "un retour en arrière phénoménal". "Les dirigeants conservateurs (européens) ne vont plus recevoir Nicolas Sarkozy s'il continue. Parce qu'il les a doublés sur leur droite, complètement", a-t-il ajouté. "La solution n'est pas le repli national" Regards européens sur la crise de la dette en Europe. Dans le contexte de grave crise de l’Euro que nous traversons actuellement, 62 % des Français, 64 % des Allemands, 61 % des Italiens et 74 % des Espagnols considèrent néanmoins comme plutôt une bonne chose que leur pays appartienne à l’UE.
Certains résultats montrent également une convergence des opinions publiques européennes sur différentes solutions ou mesures qui sont actuellement débattues : plus de 80 % des personnes interrogées dans chacun des pays se déclarent favorables au principe de l’inscription de la règle d’or dans la constitution, entre 68 et 75 % adhèrent à la possibilité pour l’UE de gérer temporairement le budget d’un pays membre si celui ne respecte pas les critères imposés et, sur autre un registre, la création d’une taxe européenne sur les transactions financières est soutenue par une large majorité allant de 60 % en Espagne à 79 % en France.Mais cette enquête révèle également des tendances centrifuges.
Hillary Clinton se réjouit de l'approche pro-croissance de Hollande. La secrétaire d'Etat américaine Hillary Clinton s'est réjouie mercredi de "l'approche politique différente" de François Hollande privilégiant la croissance plutôt que l'austérité, à la veille de l'arrivée du nouveau président français à Washington. "Au sein du débat européen, certaines voix peuvent être plus fortes en faveur de la croissance qu'elles ne l'ont été", a déclaré Mme Clinton au quotidien USA Today. "Notre point de vue reste qu'il faut des ajustements à l'austérité, pour qu'il y ait de la croissance, à la fois pour des raisons économiques et politiques", a-t-elle poursuivi.
François Hollande, qui sera présent au sommet du G8 à Camp David vendredi et samedi, doit se rendre auparavant à la Maison-Blanche pour rencontrer le président Barack Obama, dont l'administration a, depuis son arrivée au pouvoir en 2009, préféré les mesures de relance économique à la stricte rigueur budgétaire. M. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem – the new face of France | Interview | World news. Under the chandeliers of a historic mansion on Paris's left bank, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem closes the double-doors to her gilded office to lessen the sound of power-drills. Workmen are turning the building into a new ministry headquarters. In the corridors, talk is of the election results: after Socialist François Hollande's presidential win, his party secured an absolute majority in parliament. The left now has the biggest concentration of power in recent French history: both houses of parliament, most regions and big cities.
Now it faces the massive task of trying to drag France, and Europe, out of dire economic crisis, resisting the one-size-fits-all austerity mantra, while promising to mend France's social, class and race divide. "We musn't disappoint," says Vallaud-Belkacem. The 34-year-old is known as the "face" of the new French government. Born in rural Morocco, Vallaud-Belkacem arrived in France, aged four, with her mother to join her father, a construction worker.
French ministers sign up to austerity wages and sober code of conduct | World news. Members of France's new government took up their posts on Thursday with President François Hollande's promise of "dignity, simplicity and sobriety" ringing in their ears. For the first time, half of the 34 appointed ministers are women, and only four of the new ministers have served in government before.
At the first council of ministers on Thursday afternoon, the government voted on its first measure, a 30% wage reduction for all ministers and the president, as promised by Hollande in his election campaign. Instead of €21,194 (£17,045) a month before tax, the president and prime minister will each receive €14,836. Ministerial monthly salaries drop from €13,423 to €9,396. As a symbolic gesture in times of austerity, it was a masterstroke. In another move in keeping with the tone of sobriety in office, ministers were told they would be expected to adhere to a strict code of conduct.
"A second deception is this false-nose of unifying, of openness and of modernity. " Those Revolting Europeans. French legal firebrand Eva Joly turns her attention to corridors of power | Business. Eva Joly does not look like Europe's most successful fraud prosecutor, the scourge of French boardrooms for decades. She is more than half an hour late as she sweeps into a cafe in Montparnasse from a cold, wet, grey Paris morning. Her eyes smile over natty, red-rimmed spectacles as she introduces herself in quiet tones, holding on to a handshake throughout, and apologises for her delayed arrival.
Her French accent shows no trace of her Norwegian roots. Now a leading figure in the French Green party and an MEP, Joly is expected to run for president next year. To many French voters, though, she remains best known for her extraordinary eight-year investigation into the affairs of oil multinational Elf in the 1990s. For her pains, Joly had to spend long periods shadowed by bodyguards after threats were made against her. Despite her 67 years, she is bristling with the same drive and determination, underpinned by a rare blend of political zeal and a lawyer's attention to detail. Meltdown. The French media circus continues. Seventy-year-old Jacques Cheminade, a man with close ties to the controversial American conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed political activist Lyndon LaRouche, is running for president in the French election this month.
He believes, among other things, that violent video games should be outlawed; that the industrialisation of the moon is an economic imperative; that Queen Elizabeth II's fortune is partly predicated on a worldwide drug-smuggling ring; and that it is not ridiculous to compare Barack Obama to Hitler, as Lyndon LaRouche has done on several occasions. On 9 April, the official presidential campaign was launched, meaning that all ten candidates must be given equal air time in the media.
Prior to this, the Solidarité and Progres candidate, who is credited with less than 0.5 per cent of votes in current polls for the first round of the election on 22 April, had only been given 0.4 per cent of the total media coverage of the presidential election since January. Mise en scène néolibérale de l’élection présidentielle française à la BBC. Our French resistance is only just beginning | Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's policies are no far-left fantasy | Philippe Marlière.
Marine Le Pen: 'Detoxifying' France's National Front. French election descends into trench warfare over Le Pen voters | World news.