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06 May 2012 By Saeed
Qureshi
The victory of a
socialist president in France is a momentous event not
only for France itself but for Europe as well. The
French electorates have rejected economic system
spawned by a reckless and non-challant president
Nicolas Sarkozy. Francois Hollande is the first
Socialist to win the French presidency after 31 years
since 1981 when Francois Mitterrand defeated a center
right politician,
President Giscard d'Estaing, to become the
first socialist president of France.
The ousted president
Sarkozy, in order to address the economic woes of
France, postulated to take a somersault against the
doctrine of
Laissez Faire
to which a capitalist
Europe has remained wedded all along after the Second
World War. The ousted president whose tenure was
marked by perpetual turmoil tried to embrace a
capitalist France with "austerity and budget
discipline" to resuscitate the fledgling economy.
Sarkozy became very
unpopular and controversial for frequently changing
the parameters of his plans and projections for the
French people. He fashioned himself to be an
unpredictable show boy with streaks of sexual
perversions and scandalous personal life. His keeping
France on a conservative course looked out of sync
with the imperatives of changing policies in the
interests of his own country.
The Socialist Party's
newly elected president of France, Mr. Hollande aims
at growth and prosperity instead of fist-tightening.
The French voters rejected Sarkozy for the second term
because of his whimsical and lewd character and for
vacillation on taking vital decisions at a time when
France is slipping down as an economic power. Perhaps
the French nation wanted a change of face as well and
to remove a president who negotiated "fiscal pact"
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that was not
entirely in favor of France.
France desperately needed
a new leader because of its economic slide-down during
the Sarkozy era. Currently France's unemployment rate
is more than 10%; her public spending is 56% of GDP.
France's public debt will hit 90% of GDP this year. In
2012 the country needs to raise 180bn Euros on the
bond markets. Next year it needs 200bn.
President Hollande wants to
recall French troops from Afghanistan by the end of
2012. He envisages concluding a new contract of
Franco-German partnership. In regard to reenergizing
the weakening financial system, he backs the creation
of a European rating agency and the separation of
lending and investment in banks. His future policies
also include reducing the share of nuclear
power in electricity generation from 75 to
50% and promotion of
renewable energy sources.
The phase of
Franco-German partnership with France as a subservient
and docile partner seems to be coming to an end. One
can hope that president Hollande would relax curbs on
the immigrants and unlike Sarkozy would allow them to
follow their religious and ethnic obligations and
rituals freely and without further curbs.
This roller coaster of a
mammoth change in Europe has started from France. The
next country falling under its wheels would be Germany
and the rest would follow. The phenomenal change of
praetorians in France is stunning but was not
unpredictable. This change would be a harbinger for
similar watershed replacements of conservative guards
who were either purposely embarking upon a beaten and
decadent path or were shortsighted to the extent of
not perceiving the pulsating desire of the European
nations to move forward from a closed alley.
There has been a
stereotype orthodox religio-political system in vogue
all over Europe and more noticeably in France and
Germany, the two economically and militarily vibrant
nations among the European Union comprising 27states.
With their hands tied to go solo and independently to
make or change their budgets and let the domestic
economy take its own natural flow, the economically
strident countries looked in sheer impotency and
pathetic helplessness. Their ambitions to expand their
socio- economic potential remained halted and bridled
by a set of rules and constraints written in the
collective bond of the Euro countries.
The European Union has
remained stuck up in the grooves of mutual pledges and
binding covenants to sail and sink together. Barring
creation of a unified common currency Euro and lifting
of visa restrictions among the member countries, the
rest is a tale of debacles and bickering on the part
of countries with vibrant economic systems.
After World War II, the
West Germany rose on its own ashes and with the help
of the United States carved out a new Germany that
became the envy of other European nations with a fast
track flourishing economy and reconstruction of the
destroyed institutions and business enterprises. The
modern Germany was looked upon as a model of rapid and
dazzling development in all spheres of national
reconstruction within two decades after the Second
World War.
France that was the first
country to bear the brunt of Nazi Germany's military
onslaught and occupation, also embarked upon a path
that brought several commendable laurels of success to
its linty of spectacular achievements. It
distinguished itself as a nuclear power, built up a
robust economy, spawned a democratic order and created
a splendid social welfare system for its people. The
rebuilding of France and Germany in the aftermath of
WWII was made possible by the expatriate work force
that arrived in West Germany and France in millions.
It should be noted that
in West Germany a huge segment of German population
was liquidated during the war. Besides, the colossal
fragmentation and disintegration of families was set
in motion. During that period, the Germans went into a
spell of national despondency and depression. Not only
that, but there was a serious and huge dearth of
manpower for reconstruction of nation building
projects such as highways, bridges, railways,
industrial units, educational institutions, hospitals
and restoration of ruined infrastructure.
Unfortunately thereafter,
the religious and national prejudices were fueled and
fanned against the alien settlers by the religious
right and ultra conservative rabble rousers. While the
Christianity was extolled, there surfaced a pervasive
disenchantment for the immigrant workers whose
majority came from Turkey, a war time ally of Germany.
Concurrently, Europe
that was in the lead with the development of latest
technologies for a few decades subsequently found
itself in a tough competition from the rest of world
where the modern scientific inventions and development
of technologies also picked up momentum. China,
Japan, Singapore the entire Far East and India from
the Central Asia ran neck and neck with the Europe and
even the United States.
While United States is
blessed with inexhaustible economic and natural
resources, vast land, free enterprise and liberty to
excel, European countries are smaller in size, meager
in resources and bedeviled by a simmering race with
each other for economic uplift and prosperity.
With the advent of a
socialist party president, France may exercise a great
deal of economic freedom within the framework of the
European Union. He would want to renegotiate the deal
agreed by the 27 countries of the euro zone
incorporating strict limits on spending. But in
response the female German Chancellor Merkel has
categorically stated that it cannot be renegotiated.
One might witness in the
coming time, a war of wits between an ultra
conservative German chancellor and a newly inducted
liberal socialist French president. It might be
manifest sooner than later, if they would be able to
reach some kind of a quid-pro-quo for a smooth sailing
between themselves, to maintain euro's credibility and
save the union from disintegrating. If not European
Union might, practically, fritter away. |
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