Presidency Through Ambiguity; Francois Hollande  

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Jenis: Article from Bulletin/Magazine
Dalam koleksi: The Economist (http://search.proquest.com/) vol. 407 no. 8837 (May 2013), page 43.
Topik: Politics; Presidents; Recessions; Unemployment; Government Spending

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Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: EE29.76 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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It all started with the word "normal". Francois Hollande chose the term to define the sort of president he promised to be. To the French ear, it means more than ordinary: it suggests something that conforms to the rule, the way things should be. After the look-at-me term of Mr Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose self-promotion matched his dizzying hyperactivity, the word "normal" met a yearning for more modest government and simpler times. If only, the word seemed to say, things could go back to the way they were. A year after his election, Mr Hollande finds himself cast as a normal president for what is turning out to be a most abnormal time. The economy has slid back into recession. The government has been forced to postpone its promise to cut the budget deficit to 3% of GDP. Firms are struggling to stay competitive. Unemployment is rising. And, with a 24% poll rating, Mr Hollande's popularity has sunk to a record low for the Fifth Republic. A miserable 5% of the French think things will improve. The normal president faces two uncommonly testing tasks: to fix France's competitiveness problem, including its over-heavy public spending, and to explain why this requires policies that collide almost head-on with what, as Socialist candidate, he said a year ago he would do.

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