THE GUARDIAN: The socialist candidate with a narrow lead in the race for the French presidency says he has more to offer than just austerity
In a bruising French presidential race increasingly peppered with personal digs and invective, the socialist frontrunner François Hollandehas sometimes taken comfort in his rural constituency of Corrèze in the Limousin. Hollande recently had the most famous crash diet and makeover in French politics. But on the stump in Tulle where he is mayor, the self-styled Mr Normal shakes hands and loiters over indulgent cheese and sausage at the market.
"Here people make a fuss of me, give me ham, sweets … Can you imagine all these magic potions?" he told reporters, likening local produce to a presidential elixir.
If Hollande maintains his narrowing lead in the polls, he would in May become France's first left-wing president since François Mitterrand. When he arrives in London for a campaign visit on Wednesday it is to amplify his claim that the left could do a better job of handling the economic crisis. With right-wing governments running 23 out of 27 countries in the EU, and austerity measures their only tool, Hollande says he can offer something different. His message – more sober than the high-spending Mitterrand promises of 30 years ago – is that state spending should be brought under control and deficits curbed, but that governments must also find ways to back growth and education or austerity measures won't work. He says his main adversary is big finance "gone mad", which must be regulated. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Tuesday, February 28, 2012
