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French President Nicolas Sarkozy's fiscal pact referendum deals a hammerblow to Angela Merkel's
Fire up the pop corn.The French president, who is struggling in his bid to be re-elected, said he intended to insert the "balanced budget" rule into the French constitution, as agreed in the pact. But in a concession that will dismay the German Chancellor, he said he was prepared offer the electorate a say on the controversial issue. "If the Senate were to block the rule's adoption, then before the end of 2012 I would organise a referendum to ask the French people what they think," he said. Ms Merkel has said that the pact, which binds eurozone countries to keeping their deficits below 3pc, was "non-negotiable" and would "last forever". Mr Sarkozy had been her key ally, along with Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister who was deposed at the weekend amid a political rebellion against the pact. The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix said elections would be held on September 12. Francois Hollande, the front-runner in the French presidential race after the first round on Sunday, said on Wednesday he planned to re-write the fiscal pact to make it a "growth pact". The socialist leader told reporters that if he were elected on May 6, he would immediately send a letter to EU leaders to propose a new agreement that would include a financial transactions tax and so-called eurobonds, or debt issued by the eurozone collectively. Posted by: tipper 2012-04-25 |
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