MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) – The extremely low approval rating of French President Francois Hollande is directly related to France’s socio-economic situation and the problems with the country's economy, the acting director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Aleksei Gromyko told RIA Novosti on Monday.
"The French president’s rating directly reflects these [socio-economic] problems. These problems can be solved neither in 2014 nor in 2015. This means that despite the fact that the presidential election will not be held soon, Hollande is not likely to count on the settlement of economic issues and win the election," Gromyko said.
The French Institute of Public Opinion published the results of a poll that revealed that only 17 percent of French citizens approve the work Hollande has done as the country’s president, while 80 percent are not satisfied with his policies.
“These problems are not so much cyclical as structural. France is currently not among the EU countries experiencing the worst times, but the country is actually on the verge of the negative case scenario, it could become a new headache for the European Union," the analyst added.
The acting director of Russian think tank stressed that France could be labeled the “sick man of Europe,” due to the country’s high level of unemployment, public debt and budget deficit. The title was given to Turkey in the beginning of 20th century and to the United Kingdom in mid-‘70s in connection with serious issues in the countries’ socio-economic sphere.
