奥朗德满载希望开启访华之旅_BEC初级作文

奥朗德满载希望开启访华之旅

Hollande defeated former president Nicolas Sarkozy in last year's election partly on the promise that he would reject austerity and lead France back to economic growth and partly because he promised that his government, unlike that of his predecessor, would be scandal free.

Now Hollande is being forced to admit that there is no magic wand to reinvigorate the ailing French economy. He is facing difficult decisions on how to reduce public expenditure.

Worse, his government is being mired in its own corruption scandal.

In his first year in office, unemployment in France has risen to 3.2 million, the highest level in 15 years. Debt has climbed above 90 percent of GDP and the promise to reduce the deficit this year to 3 percent of output has been shelved. With little or no growth there is no alternative but to cut public spending. According to its own assessment, France needs to cut 60 billion euros ($78.27 billion) in spending by 2017.

Hollande's dramatic drop in opinion polls is partly because of his failure to bring about economic growth and partly because of ministerial scandals. Recently, one of his closest ministerial confidants, Jerome Cahuzac, admitted that he had hidden 600,000 euros in a Swiss bank account, after having repeatedly denied it. He was forced to resign and is now being investigated for tax fraud.

Now the president has decreed that ministers should reveal details of their personal wealth in an effort to regain public trust. Each of France's 37 ministers is required to publish details of their personal finances. The list of assets includes details of bank accounts, life assurance policies, property and other expensive items such as cars, art works and antiques.