As the french go to the polls today for the first round of voting in their presidential election it is fair to say that not many Americans are paying attention. We ignore what happens in the Gallic state at our peril however. There's a great piece this weekend in the Washington Post about how the french election could affect the world economy: http://tinyurl.com/7sfdyxq
Basically if the front-runner, Francois Hollande, wins then France may try to renegotiate the the Eurozone treaty. In fact, there are major fears that the financial markets will react negatively to the fact of him getting elected. This is because Germany may lose its partner in making sure that Greece, Italy, and Spain maintain fiscal discipline and avoid default. We have seen the ripple effect of the Greek's flirting with default throughout the world economy and it has not been positive. Let's hope that if Hollande is elected he approaches Eurozone questions with deliberation and caution.
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