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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

"You don't have to dictate": Hollande doesn't like to be bossed around by Europe

Well, we know that French economic and budgetary souveraineté runs incredibly deep. So that French President François Hollande didn't react with enthusiam to the European Commission's new economic policy recommendations to France shouldn't come as a surprise. This is what Hollande had to say (courtesy of AFP),
The [European] Commission doesn't have to dictate to France what it has to do. It simply has to say that France must restore its public accounts.
Two quick points:
  1. It may seem that, through statements like these, Hollande contradicts his own call for a "real economic government" for the eurozone. But remember, when France talks about le gouvernement économique, what it has in mind is an intergovernmental structure where member states have the last word - not a supranational one where the European Commission has the power to veto national budgets. Incidentally, the latter is what Germany wants.
     
  2. In turn, the remarks clearly show how difficult it will be to achieve a eurozone fiscal union. Will France ever accept being bossed around on economic issues - and the type of strict supervisory powers Germany demands for underwriting the eurozone?
As we've said before, this is a pretty brutal Catch-22 situation. We keep our eyes open for further reactions. 

6 comments:

Ray said...

Hollande trying to put as nicely as he can "back off, remember whose club this is, we only let you play so you can pay for our f*** ups, so pay up and go away"

Rik said...

@Ray
But it would have been a better strategy to assure first that there will be paid before going in a unaffordable destination.

Rollo said...

Hollande is waking up to the fact that the EU is an unelected dictatorship; and he does not like that.

Ray said...

@Rik
That would demonstrate a measure of common sense that is noticebly missing from this whole disaster

Anonymous said...

It's difficult to respect an elected leader of a nation who is happy to turn over the people's power in his charge to a bunch of gravy train-riding Eurofascists in Brussels.

Anonymous said...

The French philosophy is to try to surrender as much as possible.

France created this monster and I will watch with delight as it now overrides French sovereignty.