The approval ratings of France’s socialist president François Hollande and prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault have fallen sharply since June, two opinion polls showed yesterday.
The polls highlight public frustration over stalled growth, unemployment at a 13-year high and a series of mass layoffs that have made the socialist government appear impotent in the face of an economic crisis.
Mr Hollande, preparing to unveil a 2013 budget, must cut the deficit by €30 billion to meet European Union targets, and ask parliament to ratify a European fiscal pact.
With scores as low as 44 per cent, his post-election honeymoon has ended far more quickly than that of conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, whose popularity remained above 50 per cent eight months into his 2007-2012 presidency.
Mr Hollande, who was elected in May and advocates a low-key style of leadership and little involvement in day-to-day affairs, has had to step up attempts to appear proactive in fighting the crisis, adopting aspects of Mr Sarkozy’s style.
Mr Ayrault has complained that journalists have grown too used to a Sarkozy-era pace of near daily policy announcements. Eight per cent of respondents in the BVA poll declined to offer an opinion about the prime minister’s performance. – (Reuters)