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France's Hollande faces grilling on unemployment
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article3605429.html Halfway through his term, French President Francois Hollande used a rare prime-time TV appearance Thursday to double down on his pledge not to run again if he makes no headway cutting France's stubbornly high unemployment.
It was only the embattled president's second prime-time TV interview since he came to office in May, 2012. Polls this week showed his popularity falling to new lows, around 12 percent.
EU Commission forecasts this week make grim reading for Hollande: France's unemployment is forecast to stay above 10 percent through 2016, compared to 9.8 percent when Hollande came to office. Last April, when Hollande first made the pledge, unemployment was about 10.1.
Hollande used the interview to defend his record but was hard-pressed by a panel of four regular citizens chosen by the TV channel that organized the interview. One member of the panel, small business owner Karine Charbonnier, was particularly combative and took the president to task for not doing enough to help ease businesses' burden.
It was only the embattled president's second prime-time TV interview since he came to office in May, 2012. Polls this week showed his popularity falling to new lows, around 12 percent.
EU Commission forecasts this week make grim reading for Hollande: France's unemployment is forecast to stay above 10 percent through 2016, compared to 9.8 percent when Hollande came to office. Last April, when Hollande first made the pledge, unemployment was about 10.1.
Hollande used the interview to defend his record but was hard-pressed by a panel of four regular citizens chosen by the TV channel that organized the interview. One member of the panel, small business owner Karine Charbonnier, was particularly combative and took the president to task for not doing enough to help ease businesses' burden.
I hope he doesn't have to follow through on that promise