France's Socialist President François Hollande vowed Wednesday to stick to a fiscal program he set out in January, even as he returned from a short vacation to find the country's economy stagnant and fewer French people trusting his policies can repair the situation, reports The Wall Street Journal.
While Mr. Hollande was away, France recorded a second consecutive quarter of no economic growth, forcing the government to slash its growth forecast and give up on its deficit-reduction target.
The mediocre economic performance has fueled arguments on the left that the government should do more to support households, while business leaders say it should do more to help them instead.
But Mr. Hollande said he wouldn't go beyond existing tax and spending-cut plans.
"Any zigzagging would make our policies incomprehensible and wouldn't produce any results," Mr. Hollande told French daily Le Monde.
The president's attempt to regain the initiative comes as his pro-business shift, unveiled at the start of the year, has had little impact and faces mounting criticism.
Members of his own Socialist majority in parliament argue tax cuts for business are too generous and plans to cut public spending by €50 billion ($66.4 billion) in the next three years will further hurt the economy.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hollande is pulled in the opposite direction by the European Union: to meet fiscal rules, he will need to further cut spending this year and next to get the deficit down. Last week, Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank and a board member of the European Central Bank, kept up the pressure on France by saying the country must set an example with its budget.
Caught between the fractious majority and European demands, analysts say Mr. Hollande can only make incremental changes.
"If he goes one way he'll lose the majority. If he goes the other way, he'll lose Brussels," said Antonio Barroso, an analyst at political risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence.
Mr. Hollande said existing plans—including a liberalization of regulated professions and an overhaul of financing and legal procedures in the housing sector—will deliver a quick economic boost.
"I want to accelerate reforms to lift the level of growth and move more quickly," Mr. Hollande said.
Mr. Hollande did grant some concessions to the left of his party Wednesday as he said he would find a way to cut taxes for low-income households after the constitutional court struck down initial plans.
But he also asked for concessions and patience from his party, warning the socialists must stick together or face defeat in elections just over 2½ years from now.
"The judgment in 2017 will be on the president, the government and the majority," he said.
Read more of this report from The Wall Street Journal.
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French government ‘disarray’ in face of an alarming economic scenario