Socialists Sweep French Parliamentary Elections

French President François Hollande

Good news for France; the Socialists have taken more than the 289 seats necessary to control the French Parliament giving President François Hollande a free hand to shape the French economic response to the Eurozone crisis.

Historically, the French have usually given a new president a working majority in the legislature, and Mr. Hollande will have the votes he needs to pass legislation and carry out his plans, whatever they turn out to be. But he will not have the three-fifths majority needed to carry out constitutional changes, which may prove to be important if France and Germany agree on ways to create more of a political and fiscal union out of the countries that use the euro.

The French economy, like most of the Eurozone, is limping along under the catastrophic policies of austerity driven by the ECB and the Germans.  Hollande is pressuring German Chancellor Angela Merkel to slow the drive for austerity and push harder on fiscal plans to grow the collective Eurozone economies.

I wish President Hollande the best of luck in navigating the shark infested Eurozone waters.  He's going to need it.