Strong showings in recent opinion polls by the French far-right National Front suggest that Nicolas Sarkozy is far from a certainty to make the final run-off election for the French presidency, writes Richard Farmer.
Nicolas Sarkozy
Kohler: did you hear the one about the bond market?
Up to January, the European Central Bank lent European private banks about €500 billion at 1% interest.
The race against a Greek debt clock
Investors are growing increasingly worried about a looming Greek debt default, as the country’s deepening recession means lenders are being asked to agree to even steeper write-offs.
Political snippets: No mad shopping spree for Aussies
Australians certainly did not go on an early pre-Christmas shopping spree.
Maley: a taste of French ratings fear
Are France’s political leaders softening up voters for an imminent loss of the country’s precious triple-A rating? That was certainly the impression last week…
UK-less Europe fights the next war — pity about the current one
Europe’s fiscal compact will address the next financial crisis, but leave the current one to get worse and worse. And the Brits have played themselves out of Europe.
Guy Rundle: Cameron’s bulldog image in danger of losing its balls
The problem for Cameron is that he’s dealing with a triple crisis — party, country and Europe — while his enemies have only one aim, to make the Tories over as a euro sceptic outfit.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: Europe re-engineered on the run, but don’t mention the war
It is extraordinary, unprecedented, the European project that everyone was so solemn about being re-engineered on the run like, well, like the dodgy banks that put us in this mess in the first place.
Merkozy plan means more
referendums
In the past, the ratification of EU treaties by individual states has often been a timely and frustrating process. The new “Merkozy” plan will be no different, writes Keshia Jacotine.
Merkozy bands together to save the euro
Crikey media wrap: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled their joint plan for strict debt discipline guidelines to help save the troubled currency.
Maley: ducking Merkozy’s heavy hand
Is Europe getting fed up with Merkozy — as the cosy duo of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come to be known?
Rundle: why Europe is trapped in the death spiral
In the end, it all depends on Greece. If that can be held together, Italy can be stabilised, and so on. If not, it all goes, and before Christmas.
Guy Rundle: Even Izzy Dye can run Greece as long as there’s a vote
Greece, the eurozone, the EU and the G20 were in crisis yesterday, as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou lost the support of his deputy PM, five members of his cabinet, and several Pasok MPs, leaving the entire country, and the continent, in a state of disarray.
Eurozone’s Halloween treat: a confection of silver linings and hot air
The markets have seized on the latest European deal with relief. But it’s another confection, and a humiliating one at that, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.
Maley: no more Italian dolce vita
As European leaders gathered in Brussels overnight in yet another attempt to stem the region’s worsening debt crisis, attention was focused on the key role that two Italians are now playing.
Guy Rundle: Europe and how a colony on the moon can save it
Europe is on the brink — and it’s a measure of how fast-moving the crisis is that I must add the phrase “at time of writing”.
Euro bailout deal in doubt
Crikey media wrap: The cancellation of a much-hyped meeting between European Union finance ministers in Brussels today, where it was hoped leaders would finally bang out a clear plan to solve the debt crisis, sent share markets tumbling.
Maley: the EU debt clock ticks down
With time fast running out, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy again held emergency talks overnight in an attempt to settle their differences before Sunday’s crucial summit of European political chiefs.
French Socialists pick a candidate — now for the hard part
François Hollande is off to a good start, but there’s a long way to go.
Kohler: surrounded by Europe’s standing armies
Thomas Jefferson definitely got it right 200 years ago when he warned that banks are more dangerous than standing armies.
Maley: doubt on Merkel’s recapitalisation plans
Those hoping last week’s rally will carry through into this week will be somewhat disappointed that plans for a massive recapitalisation of the fragile European banking sector remain extremely hazy, writes Karen Maley.
For ‘dull’ Hollande, it’s ‘game over’ in French presidential race
Despite the misadventures of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, hopes are high in France’s Socialist Party as its voters go to the polls on Sunday to choose a candidate for next year’s presidential election to run against centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
Crikey Says: Sarkozy’s government war on the internet
So as Europe teeters on the brink of another financial crisis, and the US economy struggles to recover amid staggering levels of government debt, what is Nicolas Sarkozy’s priority for the G8 meeting in Deauville?
Oh la la, IMF chief — and future French prez — in rape scandal
Sex and French politics go together like croissants and coffee. But the latest scandal, an alleged sexual assault against a New York hotel maid by IMF chief and French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, leaves a far nastier taste.
