• by Mario Soares
• Tuesday, May 08, 2012
• Inter Press Service

French president-elect Francois Hollande is man of broad vision and precisely what France needs to pull itself out of the current crisis and put in place a policy for economic and social recovery. But his victory Sunday goes far beyond this: it is a resounding confirmation of numerous signs that Europe has recognised the failure of neoliberal ideology and is changing course, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

In this analysis, the author writes that in many countries Europeans have finally seen that the austerity policies imposed to please the usurious markets are leading us down the wrong road. They have forced European countries and the euro zone into a spiral of disintegration and decline. In this context, with the victory of Hollande the European political pendulum seems to be swinging back towards the left.

The axis that departing president Sarkozy forged with German chancellor Angela Merkel has fallen apart. Faced with numerous domestic problems and a growing opposition, Merkel will clearly have to change her policy and come to an understanding with Hollande. Unlike Sarkozy, Hollande had the political discernment to recognise that all countries of the euro zone depend on the future of the EU, which is the only body able to bring about a policy change at the continental level, which is what is needed to prevent the European project from sliding into disintegration and irreversible decline.

* Mario Soares is ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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