Re: How safe are our safeguards?
Post 2
A far reaching week end...
François Hollande of the Parti socialiste (PS) has won the French presidential election, defeating the centre-right incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the second-round run-off on May 6th, Mr Hollande won 51.7% of the vote to Mr Sarkozy's 48.3%. With the election of a Socialist to the presidency for the first time since François Mitterrand, economic policy is likely to shift leftward, with Mr Hollande having promised to raise taxes on the rich, subsidise jobs and renegotiate the EU's "fiscal compact" to focus on growth. It is not inevitable that this will damage France's credibility with markets—but with the euro debt crisis still rumbling on, the economic policy challenges facing the president-elect are certainly formidable.
And Greece:
The May 6th general election delivered heavy losses for New Democracy (ND) and Pasok, the two leading parties, and a period of political instability lies ahead. The collapse in support for ND and Pasok raises questions about Greece's continuation of its austerity programme, and about its compliance with the conditions of the second EU-IMF bail-out. Another default is likely by 2014. GDP contracted by 6.9% in 2011. It will contract further by 7.1% in 2012 and 1.9% in 2013, before growing by 1.1% in 2014-16. www.eiu.com
