Analysts say French leaders are continuing with austerity measures and cuts although reports indicate that France is in a double-dip recession, Press TV reports.
Å“France is in recession because President Francois Hollande has chosen austerity. But austerity has led all of Europe into recession,” Copernic Foundationâ„¢s Pierre Khalfa said.
On June 26, Franceâ„¢s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) confirmed that France is in recession, after registering two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. It said that the European countryâ„¢s economy had contracted by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of the year.
The French government has failed to change its direction in dealing with the economic crisis.
Earlier on Saturday, French paper Le Monde announced that Paris was seeking $18.2 billion in spending cuts in 2014, in order to reduce the countryâ„¢s public deficit.
Å“What we need today is total change in the direction across Europe. We must change our economic and social policy and democracy. The European people have not been permitted to choose their future,” Khalfa added.
Meanwhile, a survey recently conducted by Ifop also showed that President Francois Hollandeâ„¢s popularity rating has dropped by nearly 30 percent.
The country has not only been struggling with a worsened economy but it has been also hit by a record high number of 3.26 million jobseekers in April, despite campaign promises by Hollande to curb the rise in unemployment by the end of 2013.
SZH/AS
Republished with permission from:: Press TV