Radical Résistance in France: François Hollande’s German Crisis

Abstract

Friendship between France and Germany, which was one of the primary factors behind the European recovery after World War II, has begun, ever so slightly, to change in the face of a stagnant and far less impressive economic recovery from the most recent global financial crisis. The new strain on Franco- German relations, and the new threat to European economic stability, is becoming particularly apparent under the presidency of François Hollande, France’s current Socialist executive. As a result of German interests in implementing Europe-wide austerity policies, and the weak and seemingly ineffective centrist leadership under Hollande, significant changes seem almost inevitable.