The presidential New Year’s wishes had barely ended when the two leaders of the self-proclaimed republican right unleashed their artillery via Twitter. The rather conventional remarks of Franรงois Hollande were subject to criticism and sarcasm from both. It was mainly the economic and social aspects that were the targets of their tweets.
Christian Estrosi deemed “the words dramatically insufficient regarding the economy and employment.” His diagnosis is clear, and the culprit is evident: “the economic and social state of emergency was caused by the policies of this government.”
As for the president of the departmental council, Eric Ciotti, he would criticize the President of the Republic even when he breathes: “The socialist government is primarily responsible for the economic and social state of emergency.” For him, the future is already anticipated: “Franรงois Hollande’s employment plan has the bitter taste of previous pacts: we know the outcome.”
Of course, for the two eminences of the Cรดte d’Azur right, the future is seen through an interpretation entirely opposed to the President of the Republic’s wishes: 2016 will not only be a year of bravery and resilience but rather, as in 2015, certainly a year of suffering.
In truth, for both of them, there is only one year that matters: 2017!
While any opinion, being subjective, can be expressed and must be accepted, it remains true that economic results can be quantified.
In this case, a comparison with the previous five-year term, in which the two elected officials were heavily invested, puts their criticisms into perspective.
Figures at hand:
PNB deficit on January 1, 2012: 5.2%
Number of additional unemployed during the 2007-2012 five-year term: + 783,700
We could add the CTUP index (base 100=USA), which measures the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry over the last 10 years (2004/2014), between France and the main industrialized European countries: while France moved from 114.6 to 124.3, Germany had a much more limited increase: from 117.4 to 121.1, and the United Kingdom from 107.4 to 108.7.
Did it all start on May 7, 2012?
