France’s hopeless politicians will determine all of our futures April 22, 2012 WHAT a race. And what a mess. The useless Nicolas Sarkozy was given a bloody nose; the awful, economically illiterate Francois Hollande is in the lead ahead of the second round of the French presidential elections; and the horrendous national front grabbed almost a fifth of the vote. Listening to the candidates last night, it [...]
New financial tax will fail to deliver, top think-tank warns April 22, 2012 A FINANCIAL transactions tax (FTT) will damage the City of London, hurt ordinary people and fail to bring any of the benefits its proponents claim, according to a report out today from a leading think-tank. The damning report from tax expert John Chown and published by the Centre for Policy Studies urges the British government [...]
As France goes to the polls its love for London grows April 20, 2012 WALKING around South Kensington, you may have a feeling of being lost in Paris’s Latin Quarter. There are French cafés, bistros, book stores; you may even come across the Lycée Français, the established hub of the French community. The French are in London en masse and have made some parts of the capital their own [...]
France prepares to go to the polls as Sarkozy trails behind April 19, 2012 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy is forecast to lose the country’s presidential election ahead of the polls opening on Sunday. Sarkozy is neck and neck in the opinion polls with socialist challenger Francois Hollande for the first round of voting, but is lagging behind when it comes to a run-off vote between the top two candidates [...]
Franco-German row breaks out over ECB’s role April 16, 2012 GERMANY has rebuffed French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for a debate on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) role in promoting growth yesterday, reaffirming its attachment to ECB independence. Sarkozy told some 100,000 supporters on Sunday that Europe needed to rethink the ECB’s role in supporting economic activity. “If the ECB does not support growth, we [...]
Sarko calls for ECB mandate to include promoting GDP growth April 15, 2012 FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy wants the European Central Bank (ECB) to add promoting growth to its mandate in order to counter what he says is an inflexible attitude at the Bank. Speaking during a re-election campaign in which Sarkozy is trailing his socialist rival François Hollande in the polls, Sarkozy was keen to play up [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 12, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU seeks new curbs on bonuses Bankers’ bonuses across Europe would be capped at no more than their fixed salaries under strict new curbs sought by senior lawmakers in response to continued public anger over financial sector pay. EU parliamentarians are drawing up new caps on bonuses to be included in the latest [...]
Baroin: France must hit target or risk a crisis April 11, 2012 SCALING back plans to balance France’s budget by 2016 would risk a market backlash, its finance minister said yesterday, taking aim at the opposition Socialists’ economic programme as a presidential election nears. Unveiling multi-year spending forecasts, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative government confirmed it aimed to cut the public deficit to an EU-imposed limit of three [...]
French confidence spikes but oil prices hit German recovery March 27, 2012 FRENCH consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than a year in March, figures showed yesterday, as hopes rose that a change of government in France could boost the economy. However, German confidence, which has grown strongly in recent months, fell very slightly as worries grew over the increasing price of oil. German [...]
SARKO TAKES FIRST ROUND POLL LEAD March 14, 2012 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy overtook socialist challenger Francois Hollande for the first time yesterday in an opinion poll on the first round of France’s April-May election after attacking the European Union’s trade and immigration policies. The conservative incumbent was still shown losing to Hollande in a second-round runoff, but by a narrower margin of nine [...]