Hollande says he would seek to renegotiate Fiscal

FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Francois Hollande says that, if he is elected, he would immediately ask other European leaders to renegotiate the fiscal treaty aimed at reducing debts to include measures to encourage growth.

Hollande also shrugged off worries that his election 6 May would send markets into panic, called for a more active role by the European Central Bank and said he’d move swiftly to get French troops out of Afghanistan.
Polls suggest Hollande will win the election, unseating conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been blamed for losing touch with French voters and failing to create jobs in a five-year term marked by financial crisis.

In a wide-ranging news conference Wednesday, Hollande said he would focus first on Europe.

If elected, he said he would send a letter the next day to the leaders of the other 26 European Union members proposing a “growth pact” to add to the existing treaty, which was signed earlier this year and focuses on tightening budgets as a way to restore market confidence in the 17-country eurozone.

www.thejournal.ie/hollande-says-he-would-seek-to-renegotiate-fiscal-treaty-if-elected-430789-Apr2012/