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Sarko's First Budget Offers No Big Shakeups

Eschewing austerity, France set to run another huge deficit

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 27, 2007 9:16 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Nicolas Sarkozy presented his first budget to the French national assembly yesterday, but tax cuts have largely replaced the overhaul of the public sector he promised during his election campaign. Super-Sarko's plans to shake up the French economy have run aground, the Guardian reports: huge public debt, ballooning social security deficits, and a too-strong euro have left the government paralyzed.

Sarkozy's budget sans belt-tightening comes on the heels of France's prime minister, François Fillon, telling the papers that France is "bankrupt." Le Canard Enchaîné, France's muckraking political weekly, reports that Sarkozy is already looking to sack his friend and PM, saying, "He's pissing me off. I can't get rid of him straight away, but in May anything will be possible."

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, left, waves as he arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon at Strasbourg prefecture, eastern France, Friday Sept. 7, 2007, to join the weekly Cabinet meeting. France's government met in Strasbourg, the first time in 31 years that a Cabinet session had taken place outside Paris. (AP...
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, left, waves as he arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon at Strasbourg prefecture, eastern France, Friday Sept. 7, 2007, to join the weekly Cabinet meeting. France's...   (Associated Press)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, at left, addresses reporters during a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Sarkozy said Tuesday that neither the European Union nor France paid money to Libya for the release of five Bulgarian nurses...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, at left, addresses reporters during a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Sarkozy...   (Associated Press)
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon exits a booth prior casting his ballot at a polling station in Solesmes ,western France, Sunday June 10, 2007 for the French parliamentary elections which are expected to seal President Nicolas Sarkozy's grip on power. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon exits a booth prior casting his ballot at a polling station in Solesmes ,western France, Sunday June 10, 2007 for the French parliamentary elections which are expected...   (Associated Press)
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, left, is reflected into a mirror as she arrives with an unidentified aide for a press conference at the Finance ministry in Paris, Monday, Sept. 24, 2007. France, says its prime minister, is bankrupt. The head of the European Central Bank is no less damning,...
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, left, is reflected into a mirror as she arrives with an unidentified aide for a press conference at the Finance ministry in Paris, Monday, Sept. 24, 2007. France,...   (Associated Press)
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Nicolas Sarkozy • France • budget • Francois Fillon

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