Hollande Snub Fuels Charm Offensive to Show He’s No Sarkozy
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President Francois Hollande, the most-unpopular French leader in more than 30 years, is struggling to show supporters he’s not dipping into predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy’s playbook to reverse an economic slump.
The European debt crisis, which is in its fourth year, and France’s stagnating economy are preventing the Socialist president from veering too far from efforts advocated by Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel to cap the budget deficit, shrink government spending and push through structural changes.