President Nicolas Sarkozy: The European Union

Socialist President Dept: France elected Fran ois Hol-lande as its first Socialist president in 17 years, ousting right-of-centre President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to Vancouver Sun. How the results will affect Europe's economic planning remained to be seen and french and Greek voters delivered a sharp rebuke to their governments in national elections Sunday, raising questions about the viability of the European Union's austerity program intended to preserve the euro as Europe's dominant currency. In Greece, voters delivered a stinging judgment against the two ruling parties that had sup-ported austerity agreements with the EU, cutting their support by nearly half and raising doubts about whether they would be able to form a new government. The biggest winners in Greece were the Radical Left coalition, which finished second, and the Golden Dawn party, a neo-fascist anti-immigrant group that won parliamentary seats for the first time, with nearly seven per cent of the vote. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.