Sarkozy and Hollande clash on Eurozone during live TV debate
FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist challenger Francois Hollande clashed repeatedly in their televised debate yesterday, with the conservative incumbent sounding angry and on the defensive four days before the vote.
Trailing Hollande in opinion polls by six to 10 points before Sunday’s decisive runoff despite an energetic campaign and a lurch to the right to appeal to far-right voters, Sarkozy said he wanted the prime-time debate to be a “moment of truth”.
“The example I want to follow is Germany and not Spain or Greece,” the president said, declaring that he and Angela Merkel had saved Greece from an economic wipeout and avoided the collapse of the euro currency.
“Europe has got over it,” Sarkozy said of the crisis.
Hollande shot back: “Europe has not got over it. Europe is today facing a possible resurgence of the crisis with generalised austerity, and that’s what I don’t want.”