Austerity Reaches the Hollande Government in France

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With his first Bastille Day approaching on Saturday, François Hollande and his government have had a good start to his presidency , impressing the French with a down-to-earth style. Mr. Hollande, a Socialist, and his prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, have ordered downgrades in official luxury that have set a tone self-consciously different from that of the supposedly "bling bling" presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.

...

Official cars have been diminished in size and in luxury. Mr. Hollande has given up the presidential Citroën C6 for a smaller but hardly shabby Citroën DS5 diesel hybrid. He has reduced the ranks of his official drivers to two from three, and they are now supposed to stop at red lights.

Full: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/world/europe/austerity-reaches-the-hollande-government-in-france.xml

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1. <sigh>

if only we could have one of those evil socialist leaders to set a tone of simplicity like this.