While a common refrain was that Hollande would quickly give up his "irrational" campaign promises about carrying out the will of the French people and instead follow Sarkozy in being Angela Merke's poodle there are already signs this is not the case.
And he has found friends-many in Europe have great hope in him as France is a major powerbroker in Europe. If anyone can force Merkel to grasp reality it's him. President Obama has joined him in arguing about doing something for growth rather than mindless austerity.
"France will use an informal summit of European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday to propose that members of the euro zone start working on a new architecture of the currency bloc that would eventually allow for joint-debt issuance—the so-called euro-zone bonds."
"France's new President François Hollande, who founded his election campaign on a pledge to rekindle economic growth with European instruments, won't demand the immediate introduction of euro-zone bonds, French officials said ahead of the summit."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304840904577421811753057708.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel has voiced opposition to the immediate introduction of euro-zone bonds, but has repeatedly said the financial instrument could be a crowning achievement in a long process toward deeper fiscal integration. Mr. Hollande will propose that euro-zone countries begin working on the concrete steps of that process, the official said. Drawing a clear path toward integration will help stimulate confidence and investment in the monetary union, he said."
At this point there's at least some reason to hope for positive change. What's becoming clear is this-the German status quo can't last forever. Simply austerity today, austerity tomorrow, austerity forever isn't selling politically and if Merkel does about the only thing she seems capable of-digging her heels in ever more tightly the EU will implode.
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