Post date: Jan 14, 2012 2:24:22 PM
The Socialist challenger for the French presidential elections, Francois Hollande, says that incumbent President Sarkozy has been downgraded, not France. Sarkozy was already lagging behind his Socialist rival before Standard & Poor's downgraded France's triple-A.
PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 14, 2012) (REUTERS) - French president Nicolas Sarkozy's rival in the presidential elections, Francois Hollande, said on Saturday (January 14) that it was Sarkozy's politics which had been downgraded, not France.
"It is (Sarkozy's) politics which has been downgraded, not France. France still has considerable assets, a good dynamic demography, high productivity, recognised expertise, quality public service and lots of savings. Our country can recover, but under a certain number of conditions," Hollande told reporters in Paris.
The loss of France's coveted AAA sovereign credit rating was received as national humiliation in France after Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency's overnight cut to AA+.
"The downgrade of our financial rating is really serious. And for two reasons, one is that it means an unhitching, and unhitching of France from Germany as we will not longer be in the same category of country. Germany retained their AAA, we lost ours. And on top of this, we have been downgraded a notch with a negative perspective," Hollande said.
The cut poses a major blow for Sarkozy barely three months before presidential elections.
In addition to the downgrade, Friday also marked 100 days to go to the first round of voting in presidential elections in France, Nicolas Sarkozy was facing what many commentators say amounts to a political mission impossible: to crawl back from ratings so low they are nearly unprecedented and secure himself a large enough slice of the electoral cake to go on and win a second term.
Sarkozy is narrowing the lead of his Socialist rival Francois Hollande ahead of presidential elections this year but even before the downgrade, polls were showing he stands to lose May's second round vote.
If current trends are maintained, Hollande would win 54 per cent of the second-round vote, a crushing victory.