http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/09/austerity-programs-hit-france-marchers.html
Hollande Renigs on Promise
Recall that Hollande ran on a platform to rework the Merkozy Treaty.
We now clearly see that was just another campaign lie. However, Hollande has followed through on all of his economically destructive ideas including massive tax hikes, lowering retirement age, and pressuring companies to not lay off workers.
Destructive follow-through of the worst ideas, with no follow-through on the best campaign ideas is typical of presidential elections everywhere.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
and.....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/30/french-protesters-march-resistance-austerity
Sunday, September 30, 2012 12:16 PM
Austerity Programs Hit France; Marchers Demand Vote on Treaty, As Hollande Renigs on Promise
Following protests in Portugal, Spain, and Greece, a wave of Leftists march in Paris against austerity.
Thousands of leftists marched through Paris on Sunday demanding a referendum on the EU’s new fiscal discipline treaty in the latest of a series of anti-austerity protests in countries hit by the eurozone crisis.
The demonstration, the biggest political rally in France since May elections brought Socialist president François Hollande to power, followed protests on the streets of Madrid and Lisbon on Saturday.
The communist-backed Left Front and 60 other organisations backing the Paris march said tens of thousands of supporters turned out for the protest, timed to coincide with the opening this week of a parliamentary debate on ratification of the fiscal treaty, which Mr Hollande had originally vowed to renegotiate.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Left Front leader, said austerity policies were “dangerous for all the people of Europe”. Demanding a vote on the treaty, he added: “Democracy is sicker than we thought.”
analysts worry that the recent upsurge in political unrest in Portugal, Spain and Greece – where the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has risen to third in national surveys – could be a sign of more trouble ahead as repeated rounds of austerity bite even further into daily lives.
“The cracks are showing in Spain’s social and economic fabric,” said Nicholas Spiro, a London-based sovereign risk consultant. “The risk is that in seeking to retain as much domestic ownership of the terms attached to any [EU rescue] programme, the government [of prime minister Mariano Rajoy] overdoes it and sparks an even more intense social and political backlash.”
In Portugal, tens of thousands of trade unionists turned out in Lisbon’s central square for a peaceful protest against terms of the country’s €78bn EU-IMF bailout.
Greek unions have also vowed to hold big protests if the government moves forward with a new €13.5bn austerity programme agreed last week by the coalition government.
The recent upheavals in Portugal – where there had been widespread bipartisan support for the bailout since it was launched 16 months ago – has come as a particular shock to eurozone leaders, forcing Lisbon to reverse a rise in social security taxes designed to hit mandated budget targets.
Hollande Renigs on Promise
Recall that Hollande ran on a platform to rework the Merkozy Treaty.
We now clearly see that was just another campaign lie. However, Hollande has followed through on all of his economically destructive ideas including massive tax hikes, lowering retirement age, and pressuring companies to not lay off workers.
Destructive follow-through of the worst ideas, with no follow-through on the best campaign ideas is typical of presidential elections everywhere.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
and.....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/30/french-protesters-march-resistance-austerity
French protesters march in 'resistance' to austerity
Thousands take to the streets of Paris in move described by government minister as 'fundamental error'
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Protesters carry a banner reading 'no to austerity' at a march in Paris. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against the spread of economic "austerity" in France and Europe.
Chanting "resistance, resistance", the crowds had been rallied by around 60 organisations, including the leftwing Front de Gauche and the French Communist party, which oppose the European budget treaty.
"Today is the day the French people launch a movement against the politics of austerity," said the Front de Gauche president, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
A few hours before the protest started Jérome Cahuzac, a junior budget minister, described the demonstration as a "fundamental" error. "I think they are committing a fundamental error in thinking that the policies we are following are weakening France, when in fact these policies are strengthening it," he told Europe 1.
The French prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, defended the European budget treaty and accused the protesters of taking a risk with history. "To take the risk of aggravating the crisis, which is not only an economic crisis but also a euro crisis … The ambiguity of saying 'non' is also something that could lead to the end of the euro."
He added that he and the president, François Hollande, "would never be responsible … for the disappearance of the euro. The support of the majority in these circumstances is essential. We can't swerve away, the future of the euro as well as growth and prosperity are in doubt," Ayrault added.
For Annick Coupé of the Solidaires union, the demonstration on Sunday was aimed at creating a "show of force for the weeks to come" in which the government will consider pension, social security and employment reforms.
"Just because we helped defeat Nicolas Sarkozy [the former right of centre president] doesn't mean we're now going to shut up," she said.
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