France Hands Socialists Absolute Majority

Now we’ll see what kind of cojones M. Hollande has. He’s got some nasty choices ahead of him if he’s to deliver growth and debt reduction without hitting France’s social safety net too hard. Tax increases are pretty much a certainty, for example, but the people obviously understand and accept this. If he can help turn the European juggernaut away from deep austerity policies and towards some more growth-oriented stance he’ll keep their support, I think.