(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Francois Hollande sounds rational whether it is foreign policy or economics. The new French president has, at least, distanced himself from the crowd who believe in playing to the gallery and sticking with the stigma of status quo.
His debut foreign policy initiative of calling it a day for Afghanistan, and vowing to bring back his troops by year-end, 24 months before the Coalition deadline, is genuine leadership. It is perhaps not exigency that Hollande is catering to but a well-calculated piece of wisdom wherein he wants to see the war-torn southwest Asian country stand and decide on its own, and that too at the earliest.
His conviction that a prolonged stay of allied forces would come to derail whatever they have achieved in terms of security and reconstruction over the decade is a valid submission.
This is why Hollande made it a point to visit Kabul within days of his inauguration and assured his more than 2,000 men in action that there won't be any lingering on his part as the Western allies keep shifting the poles. He aired the same as he point-blank told more than 50 heads and state and governments at the Nato summit in Chicago.
So is his distanced perception when it comes to economy. Paris is now no more part of the elite club that used to lecture the developing economies to tighten their belts and opt for austerity. Hollande has a way out of his own, and has proposed for pan-European bonds to generate liquidity for the banks and the respective governments. This is so at a time when private investors are jittery and cash flow is at its lowest bid.
How articulately France manages to convince Germany and the like for an exceptional treatment for ailing economies in the region will go on to redefine his leadership skills.
Greece will be closely watching out for whatever France does and steals the show from the clutches of the international donors - who have spelled out the harshest of terms for recovery. The eurozone is desperately in need of a proper strategy to fend off debt-servicing, inflation and unemployment crises at hand, and France as one of the leading growth engines of Europe cannot sit back to see the demise of euro.
While Hollande has exhibited initiatives, he is in need of walking the extra mile to strike a difference.
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