What’s the Matter with France?
As we reach a midway point in François Hollande’s presidency, let’s put his staggering unpopularity and political difficulties into context.
1. The French Socialist Party (PS) remains haunted by François Mitterrand’s 1983–4 U-turn.
Elected on a platform of “Keynesianism in one country,” Mitterrand was forced to choose between spending more money and keeping the franc within the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). Outsiders were betting he couldn’t do both — and they were right.
After much discussion with his anti-ERM “visiteurs du soir,” he opted to follow the advice of his finance ministry and give up his Keynesian policies. But instead of declaring a clean break with socialism, Mitterrand presented his decision as a commitment to European integration. Market-friendly policies were introduced through the backdoor without any ideological change at the party level.
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