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 While Hollande reacted to defeat in March's town hall elections by
bringing in a new prime minister and promising to speed up reform of
France's complex local government, faced with the rise of the
far-right he has this week merely reiterated his call for Europe to
re-focus on economic growth and investment.
Officials say France will not only maintain its structural reforms
and hit deficit and debt targets, but will also tilt policy towards
growth and social justice to counter the surging National Front.
Some fear Hollande may not be able to square the circle.
Business leaders are worried there could be a new U-turn only months
after he announced a pro-business switch with plans to phase out 30
billion euros in payroll tax over the next three years as he
squeezes 50 billion euros of cuts from state spending.
"There are constant back and forths, contradictory signals ...
Businesses are very nervous and worried about the government's
actions," Pierre Gattaz, head of the Medef national employers
federation, told Reuters.
"We have not yet fixed any of the French economy's woes: neither
competitiveness nor complexity."
Those concerns were borne out by data showing the euro zone's second
largest economy achieved no growth in the first quarter as consumer
spending shrinks, export growth slows and unemployment holds
stubbornly high above 10 percent.
For some Socialist lawmakers the weakness of the economy and the
rise of the National Front make the argument that France needs more
flexibility from EU partners and that the bloc's policy should
better support growth.
"France's weakness today is also its strength," Socialist lawmaker
Christophe Caresche said, putting bluntly what some French officials
are saying privately.
"Either the Germans sit back and watch France sink deeper in the
crisis - for which they will also pay a price - or they realize what
is going on and what they have to do, namely to be more flexible,
have a more active investment policy at European level," Caresche
told Reuters.
CHANGE OF FOCUS?
At a somber gathering of EU leaders in Brussels to pick through the
results of elections where Euroskeptics made broad gains, Hollande
explicitly put the blame on the bloc's focus on budgetary austerity
and urged a "re-orientation".
He may have done so from a position of weakness, his defeat made all
the more striking by the victory of ruling German conservatives and
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who also wants a greater focus
on growth but is eyeing tough reforms.
But at a time when the growing hostility to austerity among European
voters is leading even Berlin to talk of the need to focus more on
jobs, the European Commission - which will soon have a new line-up -
and other EU states could temper their approach to France.
 The Commission has already granted Paris an extra two years to get
its budget deficit down to the EU limit.
"The FN win is something EU leaders and officials will have in mind
and they could have a slightly more careful approach,"
Brussels-based CEPS think-tank researcher Marco Incerti said,
although he did not expect a complete change of tack.
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"What could play an even more significant role is that other
countries, including Italy, which will take over the EU presidency
in July, are calling for a softening of EU rules."
The first test will come when the European Commission's reports on
member states fiscal policies on June 2, followed by the French
government's supplementary budget for 2014 scheduled for June 11.
While Hollande has a stable majority in parliament, 41 deputies
abstained in the vote for a three-year, 50-billion euro plan to cut
public spending in April.
The rare dissent meant the measure was only approved with a narrow
majority and rebel lawmakers have given notice they will propose
amendments to the supplementary budget that could threaten its goal
of keeping deficit cuts on track.
"COMING TO FRANCE'S RESCUE"
The International Monetary Fund warned this month about the risk of
slippage in implementing the government's fiscal plans because of
the triple commitment to cut taxes and spending and shrink the
deficit.
Those fears were amplified by France's state Court of Auditors which
warned on Wednesday on this year's 2014 tax intake after a
14.6-billion-euro shortfall in 2013.
The European Commission has already said it sees Paris missing a
deadline to bring its public deficit down to the EU's
3-percent-of-GDP ceiling in 2015.
While the real crunch on the deficit could come in October when the
European Commission reviews France's 2015 budget plans, French
officials expect the EU executive to renew calls next week to open
up the economy, cut red tape and make labor rules more flexible.
There will be a lot of focus on how strongly it will word any
warning to France and the degree of pressure on reforms, especially
after Hollande lashed back at the Commission last year for trying to
"dictate" terms of France's pension reform.
For some of France's neighbors the fact that the same messages are
repeated every year is proof it is not doing enough.
The French discourse is "Germany must come to France's rescue and
change all of Europe's policies ... but in Germany we see no
contradiction between tidying up finances and growth," a
high-ranking German official said.
"All of the euro zone countries have made efforts with structural
reforms. Where are the French reforms?"
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Yves Clarisse. Editing
by Mark John)
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