Anti-Austerity Parties Win French and Greek Elections

May 07, 2012 from Democracy Now!

Voters in Europe have supported anti-austerity candidates in landmark victories. In France's presidential election, Francois Hollande was elected as the first Socialist to lead France in 17 years. Greek citizens rejected two parties in parliamentary elections that had pledged to enact harsh international bailout measures. Meanwhile, Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party could enter parliament for the first time. Democracy Now! discusses the change sweeping through Europe with Yanis Varoufakis, professor of economic theory at the University of Athens in Greece.

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French presidential election, 2012

A presidential election was held in France on 22 April 2012, with a second round run-off held on 6 May to elect the President of France. The incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy was running for a second successive and, under the terms of the constitution, final term in the election. The ... Explore this topic

François Hollande

François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande is the 24th and current President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra. He was previously the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008, and the Deputy of the National Assembly of France for Corrèze's 1st Constituenc... Explore this topic

French Socialist Party

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. The PS is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement. The party replaced the earli... Explore this topic

Politics of France

France is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of France is head of state and the Prime Minister of France is the head of government, and there is a pluriform, multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legisla... Explore this topic

Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is a French politician who served as the 23rd President of France from 16 May 2007 until 15 May 2012. Before his presidency, he was leader of the Union for a Popular Movement. Under Jacques Chirac's presidency he served as Minister of the Interior in Jean-Pierr... Explore this topic

President of France

The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces and holder of the republics' constitutions, the president's powers, functions and duties, and their ... Explore this topic

Austerity

In economics, austerity describes policies used by governments to reduce budget deficits during adverse economic conditions. These policies can include spending cuts, tax increases, or a mixture of the two. Austerity policies may be attempts to demonstrate governments' liquidi... Explore this topic

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! is a United States daily progressive, nonprofit, independently syndicated program of news, analysis, and opinion, aired by more than 1000 radio, television, satellite and cable TV networks in North America. The award-winning one hour War and Peace Report is host... Explore this topic

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Greek general election, 2012

French presidential election, 2012

Yanis Varoufakis

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