The liberation of Europe -- socialism rising

Next week François Hollande will be sworn in as the first Socialist President of France in 17 years.  This is the beginning of the end for Europe's EU-imposed austerity madness, the euro currency, and hopefully the EU itself.

At last we have the leader of a country too large and powerful to be bullied back into line by the EU, openly rejecting the austerity mandate (massive cuts when unemployment is already near 20% in some countries!) and calling for fiscal stimulus, to be paid for by higher taxes on the rich and corporations.

The markets, pundits, EU bureaucrats, etc. will throw a fit, but as other countries see France succeeding, they’ll follow suit.

It's already starting, in fact.  Last week's local elections in Britain produced major losses for the Conservative party, which has also been pursuing austerity (though not at the EU's behest).  Part of this was due to a major loss of votes to the upstart UK Independence Party, which won an average of 14% of the vote in those constituencies where it ran a candidate.  But that should be of no comfort to EU supporters and austeritards, since the UKIP, as its name suggests, is a single-issue party whose defining aim is to get Britain out of the EU.

Greece's election on Sunday produced an utter mess, with several radical and extremist parties winning big -- but the clear theme was a mass voter rejection of both major mainstream parties, because of their acquiescence in the EU's austerity decrees.

In Spain, Portugal, Italy, and elsewhere, Europeans have been backed against the wall by austerity policies and the un-democratic EU pseudo-government that imposes them -- and the backlash is ready to begin, as the new France shows the way.

There will be a need for those of us who understand what’s happening to explain it to Americans. Republicans constantly blame Europe’s crisis on socialism and debt, whereas it’s really caused by austerity policies similar to what they themselves advocate for this country. When France begins to escape the austerity death spiral, we need to make sure that Americans understand the significance of it.

Update:  Greece's likely new leader explicitly abandons the country's commitment to the EU's austerity demands -- and thus, implicitly, renounces the EU's bail-outs.

[For background posts on Europe and the EU, see here.]