The sad saga of Francois Hollande

The president of the French Republic is certainly a person to pity and feel for. He took over a country that was in a bad economy, a crisis exasperated by the fact that the entire European continent is doing wrong. His promised change and reform have yet to materialize.
His government is increasingly falling into anarchy with ministers feuding left and right, those feuds became even more evident and  public when on a recent visit,  Arnaud Montebourg, refused to sit next to other French ministers like Jean Marc Ayerault, Pierre Moscovici and Fleur Pellerin in official photos, demonstrating total collapse of the unity in the government.

The latest setback in the Hollande saga is the ecological tax, called the eco-tax. The eco-tax is a tax that will be applied on all HGV vehicles that weight above 3.5 tonnes travelling on the public roads in France. They will be equipped with GPS like technology to track their trips and they will be taxed accordingly.This of course, is a simplification of the tax. The prime minister, Jean Marc Ayerault, announced it and the backlash was immense. Bretagne, a region in the North of France that depends on agriculture and is very dependent on heavy transportation was the main seat of the adversity. Bonnets Rouge (Red Bonnets), an organization made of Bretons, decided to begin manifestations against the president. Other movements, the extreme left (Communists) and the extreme right (Front National) took the opportunity and co-opted the Bonnets Rouge movement, the crowds and wildness grew.

Ayerault and Hollande of course seeing the catastrophe that was beginning decided to postpone the tax and to begin negotiations with opposed parties. The postponing of course made them look doubly weak in the eyes of the public and in the eyes of their own party, strengthening and giving legitimacy to the grievances of the now completely co-opted by the political fringe parties, Bonnets Rouge. Francois Hollande and his Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayerault continued their tenure as the most unpopular politicians in France. The incompetence of the current administration continue to confirm that Ayerault was the wrong choice for Prime Minister and that Hollande should have picked Martine Aubry instead. And it is looking more and more likely that Hollande will be a one term president.