François Hollande has bested Nicholas Sarkozy in the May 2012 Presidential Elections in France. More is the pity for Europe. German Chancellor Angele Merkel is now the only serious sovereign in Europe. Every other nation has gone back to the weakened and weakening core of socialism.
Cuts must be made across the board in every country, but no nation wants to cut. Even the austere Dutch have witnessed the collapse of their ruling party some weeks ago.
Austerity has become a "mauvaise terme" [A bad word] in Europe, but a necessary evil if Europe wants to survive the growing economic crises afflicting the Mediterranean states.
Voters have resoundingly signaled that they will not suffer the massive budget reductions, deregulation, and other liberal reforms which will make Europe competitive globally!The question now remains: will there be a Europe, a common currency, or even a common market remaining?
Where is Benjamin de Constat? What about Jean-Baptiste Say? What Europeans need now more than every is an education in Austrian Economics. Markets will correct themselves, currency rates will normalize, and recovery will resurface, but only if member states stop the subsidies and individuals learn to do more for themselves and less with the state.
Germany cannot serve as the essential and eternal piggy bank for nation-states which refused to play by the rules of the European Economic Community. The worst offender and greatest fraud, Greece, should never have been allowed into the Euro community in the first place, She now must be expelled if the stock markets, trade systems, and global community hope to witness a European Renaissance out of the inevitable ashes of austerity.