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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Hollande goes on the offensive - two years to achieve political union in Europe

The French media called it François Hollande's "grand oral exam". The French President has just held a big press conference at the Elysée palace marking his first year in office. And he said a couple of very interesting things about his vision for the eurozone and Europe.

Hollande pledged to launch an "offensive" to "drag Europe out of its lethargy".

He called for an "economic government" for the eurozone,
"which would meet every month, with a real president appointed for a long term and who would be assigned this as his only task."
According to Hollande,
"This economic government would discuss the main economic policy decisions to be taken by the member states, would harmonise taxation, would start convergence in the social [policy] domain...and would launch a plan to fight tax fraud."
As if these remarks weren't controversial enough, Hollande re-stated his belief that the eurozone should have its own "budgetary capacity" and "the possibility to, gradually, borrow money". In the Q&A session he also suggested the ECB could be doing more on liquidity.

The French President concluded the EU-related part of his keynote speech by saying,
"Germany has said several times that it is ready to move to a political union, to a new stage of [European] integration. France is willing to provide the content to this political union."
With a real coup de théâtre, Hollande gave himself "two years to achieve" this political union. 

It will be extremely interesting to see what the response from Berlin will be. For the moment, Hollande's press conference is another reminder of how distant France and Germany are in the debate over the way ahead for the eurozone - with Paris sticking to its 'solidarity/integration first and supervision/discipline later' line, and Berlin insisting that things should evolve the other way around. 


denbo said...

Hollande has been so successful leading France out of its economic recession I have no doubt of his success.

theyenguy said...

Ideas come from fathers, that is from starters, and serve as the basis for every age, epoch, era and time period … their ideas form the basis for economic and political authority.

Liberalism began on November 22, 1910, when a handful of senators and bankers left Hoboken, New Jersey on a train to design the creature from Jekyll Island, that is what would become the US Federal in 1913; Wikipedia relates these included Senator Nelson Aldrich, Senator A.P. Andrew, Paul Warburg, Frank A. Vanderlip, Henry P. Davison, Charles D. Norton, and Benjamin Strong.

Liberalism’s Banker Regime was embraced by President Nixon, who took the US off the gold standard and was able to fund the Vietnam War.

The world central banks’ monetary policies of Cordinated ZIRP and Easing, known as Global ZIRP, facilitated Inflationism to the point where Nation Investment, EFA, Small Cap Nation Investment, IFSM, and Global Industrial Production, FXR, rose to and fell from new highs this week reflecting Peak Democracy.

Through trust in monetary expansion policies of the world central banks, the world stands at Peak US Hegemony, as Liberalism’s Banker Regime has succeeded in coining Peak Money, that is Peak Wealth, measured by World Stocks, VT, rising to and falling from its high. The crack up boom, which came on rising credit of all types, has reached its zenith.

The World passed through Peak Credit in early 2013, with Aggregate Credit, AGG, trading lower.

The world has achieved Peak Discretionary Wealth reflected in investment in Retail, XRT, Consumer Services, IYC, Global Consumer Consumer Staples, KXI, Global Consumer Discretionary, RXI, Homebuilding, ITB, and US Health Care Providers, IHF, rising to new and falling from their highs.

It is sovereignty that begins seigniorage. Liberalism through the monetary policies of the world central banks has succeed in producing Peak Sovereignty and Peak Seigniorage.

Authoritarianism’s fathers or starters include Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. Spiegel reports have called for a region of true European economic government.

And the Telegraph reports that EU Finance Ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Michel Barnier, and Olli Rehn spearheaded the Cyprus Bank Deposit Bailin.

The Luminaries of Authoritarians are providing the few scarce ideas that are powering up the Beast Regime of regionalism, totalitarianism, and debt servitude, as foretold in bible prophecy of Revelation 13:-14. This monster is rising from EU sovereign default and from the banking crisis of the PIGS, that is the Mediterranean Sea nations of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.

It is the debt issuance, run away fiscal spending, national wage laws, anti-competitive legislation, and clientelism of European socialism and Greek socialism, as well as the excesses of the world central banks’ monetary policies that have crossed the rubicon of sound monetary policy, that has made “money good” investment bad, and will result in the collapse of the second iron leg of global hegemony, that being the US, and will result in the rise of the Ten Toed Kingdom of regional governance as seen in King Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue of Empires, Daniel 2:25-45.

Liberalism featured the fiat money system where sovereign nation states gave the seigniorage, that is moneyness, of investment choice to credit and currencies, producing a currency cary trade, toxic debt, and moral hazaad based prosperity.


Rik said...

Well Merkel will make as little fuzz about this as possible and hopes it blows over as PR/Media event. As policy event it is completely unrealistic anyway.

Good thing about Merkel, she is on top of the situation (well most of the time) and does the logical thing from there. With very little surprises. With Hollande it is like with a drunken guy shooting a gun in the air (and everywhere else), you never know where the bullit will end.

Some of the other German ministers likely will keep the discussion going on, by making some stupid/counterproductive remarks (in the Hollande has been smoking some really funny stuff way).
Very similar with the AfD media policy.
Schauble in between the 2 he is clearly learning but not a yedi yet.

Anti-rescue camp will make some noise. Some like Weidmann understands the mechanism (others not). Will use it as another opportunity to get media attention for his views.
Rest is likley to jump onto it.

AfD will have another media event. Hard to see they will let the opportunity slip. Positive for them, hard to see how any potential AfD voter will agree with Hollande.

Anti-French media in Europe will probably start right away. While the best strategy is first let him hang himself before start shooting at him.

Looks anyway very desperate by Hollande. Looks totally unrealistic why put yourself on the map with that if you always shoot yourself in one foot. Elections are far away, best to focus first in getting things under control, without that whatever you do will end in failure (and getting butchered in the ballotbox).
Not great if you have to p&%# off people you need lateron in the process to try (it is not more than that) restore some credibility at home (with the stress on some). Desperate people.....

Anonymous said...


It's called economic central planning.

You know, how many tractors do we need to make in the next 20 years...?

And it has failed time and time again throughout history, often to devastating effect.

Anonymous said...

Todos os paises da Europa estão nomesmo barco o Sir Presidente françois Hollande têm a sua responsabilidade com a Alemanha e todos os parceiros da UE devem procurar uma solução comuns para travarem o excesso da austeridade dentro da Eurozona

christina speight said...

Talk about "folie de grandeur"! Social cohesion is beginning to crack in France as measured by the French unit bvy which they measure such things - 'l'autoincendie" - rising rapidly

Ah well if they have a new treaty ready in 2 years we can always veto it and then have a quickie 'IN/OUT' referendum. Speeds things up no end.

But nothing will actually happen.

Anonymous said...


Bedava Oyun Oyna

İlahi Dinle

Blankfiend said...

Hollande makes no sense - he's speaking European.

Anonymous said...

Hollande is an utter incompetent.

I see that the majority of his speech just focused on attacking the UK, the very country that is taking in all of the economic refugees that are leaving France en masse at present.


Anonymous said...

I know that I have asked this question before, but why are France keen on endlessly trying to hand over their sovereignty to third parties?

I just don't get it.


Rik said...

@anonymous 11.51
They want somebody else to pick up their future bills. They know they won't get away with doing nothing on the sovereign power front. Last part of OE's post summarises it perfectly.

And of course it is assumed that it basically will be rules for everybody but "La Grande nation".

Anonymous said...

Hollande goes on the offensive, shoots himself in the foot and then surrenders.

The usual French solution then.

PS. Hollande - Re. your "Culture tax" on smartphones/PDAs/tablets etc with wifi access : You are quite right, it is France's culture to tax. Why not put a tax on the culture tax?

Will you be paying royalties to Les Rosbifs, seeing as you seem to have borrowed much of their language and culture?