France votes for Socialism over austerity

[HeadingNorth]

If I was entrusted with my neighbour's car on the understanding I would return it clean, full of fuel and undamaged, but returned it with a dent and empty, but hey, it's really clean....you get my drift

 

Not really, no.

 

If you and five friends were entrusted a car, and you were the only one of the six to have given that understanding, and you succeeded in fulfilling one third of it despite all five of your friends not wanting to do so, most people would think you'd done a pretty good job.

[donkey]

Vast amounts of foreign companies registered in Liechtenstein notwithstanding - it is actually possible that the population of the country export more goods than they import. For one thing, they have zero armed forces and almost no government; a populace of just about thirty thousand people does not require a great deal of governing.

 

 

That is exactly the point I am making. Their status means they are living in a bubble protected from the socio/economic realities which larger, less strategically place countries have to endure. To draw the inference that we should be able to have surpluss in our economy because Lichtenstein does is ridiculous.

[donkey]

Not really, no.

 

If you and five friends were entrusted a car, and you were the only one of the six to have given that understanding, and you succeeded in fulfilling one third of it despite all five of your friends not wanting to do so, most people would think you'd done a pretty good job.

 

The LibDems knew what the Tory's intentions were. They declared themselves diametrically opposed to them on a fundamental level. They then deliberately made themselves the instrument by which those policies they had declared themselves against could be implemented.

 

Say what you like. Two rounds of council elections have clearly shown that people just aren't going to buy the spin and doublespeak around this issue.

[HeadingNorth]

The LibDems knew what the Tory's intentions were. They declared themselves diametrically opposed to them on a fundamental level.

 

No they didn't. They declared, loudly and often, that they were willing to form a coalition with either major party if sufficient areas of agreement and compromise could be reached.

[MrSmith]

Vast amounts of foreign companies registered in Liechtenstein notwithstanding - it is actually possible that the population of the country export more goods than they import. For one thing, they have zero armed forces and almost no government; a populace of just about thirty thousand people does not require a great deal of governing.

 

That does mean that a much larger percentage of its workforce can be directly employed in industry and services. Now, whether it's actually true that they export more than they import, I couldn't tell you; but certainly it is believable. Of course, it's believable for the exact same reason that Liechtenstein is a ridiculous country to use as a comparison to the UK. If you tried to abolish our entire armed forces and cut public sector employment by ninety per cent, you'd be out of office by next Tuesday.

 

I was just asked to name a county that had no debt, not one which was a comparison to the UK.

[Patriot]

Not strictly true. Tories didn't get many more votes than Labour, and the LibDems campaigned on policies which were virtuaslly the exact opposite of what they campaigned on.

 

A minorty party enfocing it's will on the majority through the complicity of a smaller party which gained its position in government by deceiving the electorate is hardly a 'mandate.'

 

You were'nt around then in the 70's when Harold Wilson,who used to do Prime Minister impersonations, governed this country in 1974-1976 with only 26% of the popular vote.

 

What were you saying about a minority forcing it's will on the majority???

[donkey]

You were'nt around then in the 70's when Harold Wilson,who used to do Prime Minister impersonations, governed this country in 1974-1976 with only 26% of the popular vote.

 

What were you saying about a minority forcing it's will on the majority???

 

So it's happened before....and your point is?

 

BTW, I was around in the 70s. I was around in the 60s.

[donkey]

I was just asked to name a county that had no debt, not one which was a comparison to the UK.

 

Where did I say I was refering to you? :P

[MrSmith]

Not strictly true. Tories didn't get many more votes than Labour, and the LibDems campaigned on policies which were virtuaslly the exact opposite of what they campaigned on.

 

A minorty party enfocing it's will on the majority through the complicity of a smaller party which gained its position in government by deceiving the electorate is hardly a 'mandate.'

 

 

They got more votes than labour got in 2005 and not far off the same as Labour got 2001, that’s a reasonable mandate to govern as part of a coalition.

 

2001 L 10,724,953 C 8,357,615

2005 L 9,552,436 C 8,784,915

2010 C 10,703,654 L 8,606,517

[andygardener]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/angela-merkel-tells-franois-hollande-eurozone-agreement-is-not-up-for-negotiation-7720684.html

 

Angela Merkel tells François Hollande: eurozone agreement is not up for negotiation

 

President-elect already running into obstacles to growth agenda

The French President-elect, François Hollande, received a double warning from markets and Berlin yesterday after promising to end the "all-austerity" approach to the European financial crisis.

 

Mr Hollande scarcely had a chance to savour his victory in Sunday's presidential election before jittery markets and a seemingly inflexible statement from Germany reminded him of obstacles to his proposed new European agenda for "hope" and "growth".

 

France's first Socialist President since 1995 will visit the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to outline his growth plans next Wednesday, the day after his inauguration in Paris.

 

Ms Merkel said yesterday that she expects to work "intensively and well" with Mr Hollande after he defeated her close ally Nicolas Sarkozy by 51.6 per cent to 48.4 per cent in the second round of the presidential election. However, Chancellor Merkel's spokesman appeared to slam the door to any "renegotiation" of the EU treaty on fiscal discipline finalised in Brussels in March. A reopening of this treaty, to add a protocol on capital spending to promote growth, was one of the main planks of Mr Hollande's campaign. The Chancellor's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said: "It is not possible to renegotiate the budgetary pact which has already been signed by 25 out of 27 EU countries."

 

A head-on collision between Ms Merkel and Mr Hollande on this point can probably be avoided. The President-elect has already hinted that he might accept a compromise in which an untouched fiscal treaty would be balanced by a new text on policies to kick-start growth. He will send a letter outlining his ideas to all EU leaders in the next few days. The true confrontation with Berlin may come over the contents of any new growth treaty. Ms Merkel's spokesman said yesterday that "growth-promotion" should mean labour-market reforms on the German model, not "deficit spending".

 

Amongst other things, Mr Hollande wants the European Central Bank to issue new multibillion-euro loans – or euro bonds – to fund Keynesian-style infrastructure programmes, such as rail, road and renewable energy projects. Several other European leaders favour this idea. Berlin is, so far, opposed.

 

The market jitters yesterday were, perhaps, more of an amber warning for Mr Hollande than an outright red light. Analysts said a slide in the value of the euro and an initial fall on stock markets were prompted more by the muddled outcome of the Greek election than fears of an Hollande presidency.

 

"For the next few weeks the direction of the stock market will ... hinge on how much effort all sides, mainly Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande, will be putting into trying to work together," said Markus Huber of the City trading firm ETX Capital.

 

In his victory speech on Sunday night, Mr Hollande said his election would allow the EU to abandon its present self-defeating, all-austerity policy. "In every capital, beyond the government, there are people who have found hope thanks to us, who are looking to us and want to put an end to austerity," he said.

 

The man who is likely to be Finance Minister in the first government of the Hollande era, Michel Sapin, said markets and other critics should not confuse the President-elect's approach with profligate spending. "Nobody expects that we simply arrive in power and hand out money," Mr Sapin said.

 

Mr Hollande has promised to reduce France's 5 per cent of GDP budget deficit to zero by 2017. He has outlined new taxes on the rich and plans to close tax loopholes for some businesses. He has been less clear about his plans to cut the 56 per cent of French GDP which goes on state spending.

 

He will attend his first semi-official engagement today when – at Mr Sarkozy's invitation – he accompanies the outgoing President at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the end of the 1939-45 war in Europe.

 

Much of Mr Hollande's attention in the next few says will be focused on his choices for Prime Minister and other key posts in a new French government. The favourite to be Prime Minister is Jean-Marc Ayrault, 62, mayor of Nantes and head of the Socialist group in the National Assembly.

 

Initial opinion polls suggest that Mr Hollande should easily overturn the existing centre-right majority in the National Assembly in parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June.