Hollande is caught between a rock and a hard place.  The rock is the European Commission, which has been pushing him  to reduce deficits significantly. 

My comment on Mathew Dalton's September 19 Wall Street Journal article, "Austerity Seen Easing with Change to EU Budget Policy," was picked up by AP reporter Juergen Baetz.

I was quoted recently in the Harvard Political Review in article by Krister Koskelo entitled “Europe: Between Technocracy and Democracy.”

It is amazing how blind the EU leaders (German Chancellor, ECB, and some in the EU Commission) are to the political dangers involved in trying to force Greece to implement economic cuts that are bound to fail, that have already failed, and that will plunge the country deeper into misery….and anarchy!

The presidential elections in France, the legislative elections in Greece, and the regional elections in Germany together mark a turning point for the EU. The results make clear that, despite their differences, European voters all share a common view that current leaders are not delivering. In France and Greece, voters want an end to unending austerity that doesn't work.

Here's a comment I co-authored with Maxime Lefebvre for Le Monde online (in French).

There's a joke told about Gorbachev who, when asked to say one word about the state of the Soviet economy responded: GOOD. When asked for two words: NOT GOOD. The same could be said about the agreement reached Friday.

The fiscal union that German Chancellor Merkel has been pushing is a side show to the real game, but a necessary one.

Merkel’s modus vivendi has always been to go slowly, to wear her opposition out, and to wait. This strategy, which enabled her to become Chancellor, will be her undoing. 

Agreement on a fiscal pact that brings deeper economic integration by making budget discipline legally binding and enforceable by European authorities is a welcome move, so long as the European Central Bank takes the next move: to become a lender of last resort.

Finally, Italy has a chance to get out of the impasse, and the morass, that it has been in under Berlusconi.

There is a French sign at all railway stations: Caution—one train hides another. The problem for the Eurozone is that even if the action this Wednesday resolves the sovereign debt crisis, there will still be the competitiveness crisis.

As the eurozone crisis rolls on, with world finance ministers urging swift action, eurozone countries seemingly dither. But there may be method behind the madness.