Socialism in France! Bail-out rejection in Greece!
So, Hollande actually won.
And we have an anti-austerity, socialist tax and spend president in a major Euro power.
And Greek elections still inconclusive, but looks like whatever the result they will seek renegotiation of the bail-out conditions, inspired by Socialist victory in France.
Dark days for the Euro....
At least when Hollande raises all the business and high earner taxes in France, we should get lots of them relocating to Britain. And at least we're not in the Euro.
Merkel must be fuming. But a rift between France and Germany could see Britain's EU position strengthening.
Obviously I am looking for positives for us in a bad situation, I dont like to see radicals win elections and ultimately, what's bad for the Euro is bad for us.
If you're French, there are no positives.
Also I have decided Carla Bruni should be made the permanent first lady of France and anyone who becomes president automatically gets to **** her.
I know nothing about this aside from an article I read in a recent Economist, but they were VERY grim about France's future if this guy won. I mean, obviously, but still...
Yeah it wasn't exactly a situation where there was a good option and a bad option, though. Everything that happens in Europe seems to be bad. (politically/economically-wise)
France seems to have been kind of a bellweather in recent years though, they were the first Euro country that I remember to go conservative when they elected Sarkozy. At least the first country that anyone cares about.
Yeah but really, voters throughout the Continent are just apparently skipping through parties and ideologies until they elect someone who does something right. I'm not saying that most of the measures that governments are taking are wrong or right, but they're definitely perceived as harmful, so we just keep electing the other guys.
Yeah, that's politics everywhere. Oddly enough, no party ever accomplishes anything because they worry too much about reelection. Then their inertia is why they lose.
Merkel was elected a good two years before Sarkozy, she started the trend of fiscal conservationism (though Chirac was pretty socially conservative and Blair was no socialist firebrand)
France has an absolutely dreadful electoral system which has resulted in a very dangerous spread of political attitude. I once wrote a paper which was basically just a 5000 word rant about how useless and outdated two-round run-off voting was.
This may be a storm in a teacup, we may actually find that Hollande cant get much of what he wants to do through. But if he does stick to his manifesto, I fear it will be completely unsustainable. I can also see factions of the British labour party (Ed Balls immediately springs to mind) adopting some of his ideas and rhetoric, emboldened by his win.
****, why did Strauss-Khan have to shag that hotel maid?
****, why did Strauss-Khan have to shag that hotel maid?
Hahahahaha the other day, the day of the first round of the French elections, I was talking about the elections with a couple of friends and actually said THAT!
Yeah but really, voters throughout the Continent are just apparently skipping through parties and ideologies until they elect someone who does something right.
No they dont, they immediately throw their toys out of the pram and start wailing as soon as someone tells them their two hour paid lunchbreaks or whatever may not be financially sustainable when the country has a multibillion dollar deficit and decide to vote for the other guy....
I dont think much of the British public but at least when it comes to voting we are not completely selfish and can look ahead more than six months. But then again, I think as a people we quite like austerity because it gives us something to moan about.
Pretty much the only papers that are saying that the vote was a bad thing (since whenever can that be a bad thing anyway in a democratic society?) were the Anglosaxon ones. Monty Python much?
__________________ Thanks to mvanegmond04 for his great sig!
I'd say Hollande is as much as a socialist as Obama. Comparing Hollande and Obama is pretty just anyway, IMHO. Both came to challenge a rather unpopular and rather long-ruling leader, promising change for masses of tired and weary people. Melenchon and Le Pen seemed too radical and Hollande got the chair. I expect that in one years time, his support has decreased, a lot...
Greek elections were just a way for the casual, average greek (who won't bother throwing molotov cocktails at riot cops) to protest against the Troika and IMF. Right-wingers shouldn't be too worried about SYRIZA - their inner-conflicts will most likely stop them from becoming too much of a powerhouse. A year or so ago, the communist party - KKE seemed more likely to become a leader of the leftist anti-austerity, but they managed to lose a lot of votes to SYRIZA thanks to being a bit too friendly with fascists. The latter, in the form of Golden Dawn, will probably have their voices more heard in the parliament, so more that the conservatives won the elections.
Will fix typos later, soz
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