France: So long, Sarko. Hello, socialism

“Joy. Immense joy,” said Nicolas Demorand in Libération. The victory of Socialist François Hollande over President Nicolas Sarkozy means that the French Left has truly arrived. No longer must we regard modern France’s only Socialist president, François Mitterrand, as “an anomaly of history”: After 17 years, we finally have another one. The French people have said no to Sarkozy’s brutal policies of austerity and targeting immigrants. We can savor this victory for only a moment, though, because the huge task of “restructuring society” lies ahead. Hollande has a mandate to “reduce inequalities among French people, regardless of who they are or where they come from.”

You call this a leftist victory? Dream on, said Ivan Rioufol in Le Figaro. Hollande only won the election because the far-right supporters of Marine Le Pen stayed home or cast blank ballots, proving that the French Right has got to be “the dumbest in the world.” Culturally and sociologically, France is a center-right country. Yet our main right-wing party has failed to emphasize French national identity, and thus to connect with the people. The only clear message conveyed by Hollande’s victory is “the reality of multiculturalism in France.” Surely “I can’t be the only one surprised to see so many foreign flags” being waved by Hollande supporters during the victory celebrations on election night—Algerian, Moroccan, Palestinian, etc. The Muslim-majority neighborhoods—where people identify as Muslims first and French second or third, if at all—went overwhelmingly for Hollande.

Now comes the hard part, said Sylvie Kauffmann in Le Monde. The first round of the presidential election was the anti-Europe round, in which voters rejected traditional pro-European views and voted in large numbers for isolationist candidates of the far Right, like Le Pen, or the far Left, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon. But the second round was a referendum on austerity, closely identified with Sarkozy. Hollande’s clear victory there makes him a “beacon of hope for Europe,” promising a “miracle cure of growth” rather than cuts. Alas, that hope rests on “a gigantic misunderstanding.” Whether or not Hollande renegotiates the fiscal pact with Germany, he will still have to implement painful structural reforms.

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A new relationship between France and Germany will be good for all of Europe, said Stefan Ulrich in the Munich Süddeutsche Zeitung. While the Sarkozy partnership with Chancellor Angela Merkel, known as Merkozy, was weighted toward the right, the new tandem of “Merklande”—or “Homer,” as one wag dubbed it—covers the entire center of European politics, from social democratic to conservative. “An understanding with Hollande will protect the chancellor from becoming an isolated hegemonist within the EU.” Together, the two can ensure that whatever agreement they come up with will be accepted as fair by the rest of Europe. “But if they fail, the citizens’ fear, frustration, and anger could sweep a nationalist demagogue into power” in France next time.