Weekly brief

President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared on eight television stations on Sunday, January 29, to outline a number of proposals to boost France’s economy, the Guardian reported. In the interview, which was watched by a record 16.5 million French viewers, Sarkozy proposed to raise the nation’s “value-added” consumption tax (TVA) by 1.6 percent to 21.2 percent, adding to a 0.1 percent tax on financial transactions and a 2-percent increase to taxes on financial profits, according to the New York Times and le JDD. Sarkozy also hinted at the lack of competition created by the nation’s 35-hour work week, a political accomplishment of his rival Socialist Party. Assuring spectators that the speech came not as a campaign move but as the action of an acting president, Sarkozy did not officially announce his intention to seek re-election in April, as expected by many, but instead hinted that he would make a formal announcement in February or March, according to le Nouvel Observateur.

 Following Sarkozy’s proposals on Sunday, January 29, Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande announced while on the campaign on Monday, January 30, that he would undo the proposed increase to the nation’s consumption tax if elected, as the poll leader continued to build up his campaign this past week, le Parisien and TF1 reported. Hollande, who officially presented the platform of his candidacy on Sunday, January 22, answered criticisms of his lack of a detailed fiscal plan on Thursday, January 26, by presenting plans to reduce tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations to boost investment in small businesses, education, and the creation of new jobs, according to Bloomberg. While Hollande has consistently been ahead in polls, Sarkozy’s campaign got a boost from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose party announced that she would campaign for the not-yet-declared candidate Sarkozy in fear that a swing to the left could ruin efforts by Merkel and Sarkozy to promote greater austerity across Europe, as explored by the Wall Street Journal.

 A week after four French soldiers were killed by a “Taliban infiltrator” of the Afghan military, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Friday, January 27, that the nation would withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan by 2013, a year earlier than projected by NATO agreements, the New York Times and la Libération reported. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris that day and laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in commemoration of the soldiers killed, agreed that the accelerated departure and return of power to Afghan forces would be best for Afghanistan, according to the AP. Sarkozy also announced that French training of Afghan forces, which had been suspended following the shooting on January 20, would resume on Saturday, January 28, having been assured that appropriate security measures had been taken by Afghan allies, according to RFI.

 French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed on Thursday, January 26, Alassane Ouattara, president of Côte d’Ivoire, for a three-day visit after French troops helped to dismantle the regime of Laurent Gbagbo, who was declared the loser of November 2010 elections but who refused to concede to Ouattara, the declared victor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Ouattara and Sarkozy signed a pact for military cooperation on Thursday, January 26, before the Ivorian president reassured French industries on Friday, January 27, that peace had returned to his nation and encouraged French companies to return to the Côte d’Ivoire where French companies employ 40,000 people, according to AFP and la Libération. With an anticipated growth to GDP of 8.5 percent in 2012, Côte d’Ivoire is one of the most economically promising nations in francophone West Africa, according to le Point.

European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Monday, January 23, for their first summit of the year in hopes of making progress toward addressing the European debt crisis, for further talks on a deficit-control treaty being promoted heavily by Germany, and to the finalize the conditions of a €500-billion rescue fund, 20 Minutes reported. While the summit aimed to advance collaboration between the 27 E.U. members and the 17 nations using the common currency, lingering uncertainties about Greek debt plagued discussions and hindered consensus, as covered by Bloomberg and le Nouvel Observateur. An inability to agree on a complex swap of Greek debt drove down European banks’ shares, as European markets saw a two-week low at closing on Monday, January 30, according to Reuters.

 After its first policymaking meeting of the year, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced in a press conference on Wednesday, January 25, that interest rates would remain near zero through 2014, prolonging previous predictions as unemployment is expected to stay high over the coming three years, the LA Times and the Washington Post reported. Bernanke said unemployment would remain steady at the current level of 8.5 percent through the year and would make its way down to between 6.7 and 7.6 percent by the end of 2014. In projecting its policy for the coming years, the Fed announced it would fix the target inflation rate at 2 percent, according to le Figaro. While unemployment remains a key issue for the United States, the Labor Department announced on Friday, January 27, figures showing that the nation’s GDP grew 2.8 percent in the last quarter of 2011, projecting that the nation’s economy was beginning to pick up again after stalling for much of last year, according to the Washington Post.

 Two weeks after Standard & Poor’s cut the sovereign-debt rating of nine European countries, including France, and the European Financial Stability Facility, fellow rating agency Fitch cut its ratings of five European nations on Friday, January 27, le Figaro and Reuters reported. Citing short-term vulnerabilities to financial and monetary shocks, Fitch downgraded its rating of Belgium, Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Cyprus, warning that there was a 50-percent chance it could make future downgrades in the next two years. Debt bond sales across the continent were expected to surpass €33 billion, according to Bloomberg.

 French Prime Minister François Fillon announced on Monday, January 30, that the government was revising projected economic growth for 2012 down from its previous estimate of 1 percent established in November to 0.5 percent, le Point and Ouest-France reported. Fillon announced that the lower growth would mean 5 billion less in revenue for France in 2012, though he emphasized that austerity measures and taxes to financial transactions would “reabsorb” the loss, according to the Washington Post. The lowered estimate came after the International Monetary Fund predicted a 0.2-percent growth for France in 2012 last week, according to le Monde.