Wall Street Journal
May 1, 2012
As French and Greeks go to the polls to elect new leaders Sunday, more attention is being directed to Paris than to Athens.
France is indeed more important in the usual scheme of things. The views of François Hollande, favorite to win Sunday’s run-off election, already appear to have prompted a shift in European political rhetoric from austerity toward growth. Mr. Hollande would also be expected to alter France’s relationship with Berlin and the European Union institutions.
But what of Athens? Since Greece got its second bailout in March, the country has faded from the spotlight as a potential source of euro-zone instability.
One euro-zone government official who sits on the influential Economics and Financial Committee of the European Union, says the mood has shifted. “There is a growing sense that Greece can only be sorted out by the Greeks,” he said, and that Europe–with the help of the International Monetary Fund—has “done [its] bit to keep the country in the euro zone”.
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