Investors Won't Like The News Out Of Greece And France

German chancellor Angela Merkel says the Merkozy treaty is not renegotiable. There is just one "slight" hitch: France has not signed the treaty and will not sign the treaty unless it is reworked says François Hollande who on May 6 will in all likelihood replace Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France. Moreover, Hollande's demands have gotten steeper and steeper as he inches closer to election.

French president-elect François Hollande has launched a preemptive attack blaming outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy for the huge budget deficit of France. Given Hollande wants to tax millionaires 75%, I find it quite ironic that Hollande blames the problem on "hidden taxes" of Sarkozy. Please consider Brussels raises alert over French deficit

French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered an ultimatum to the EU on immigration, complete with a "Buy European Act" and a threat to suspend the Schengen Agreement that allows passport-free travel among 25 European nations. Hollow Threat for Political Reasons or the Real Deal?

Echoing sentiment that should be widely-held but unfortunately is not German central bank president  Jens Weidmann says Not ECB's Job to Tackle Spain's Problems. Spain should take a rise in its bond yields as a spur to tackle the root causes of its debt woes, not look to the European Central Bank to help by buying its bonds, European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann told Reuters.

Latest polls show French President Sarkozy is losing ground to right-wing anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of the France presidential election. Via Google translate, please consider Le Pen and Bayrou Back

Not many people realize this but in spite of polling anywhere between 16% and 22% in recent election polls, Marine Le Pen might not be included on the French presidential ballot. The reason is Le Pen needs 500 signatures by elected official supporting her campaign. Le Pen says she only has 350. I had been aware of this for some time but figured she could scrape up 500 signatures from a pool of 47,000 or so bureaucrats eligible to sign. Perhaps not.

Politics are heating up in France and Germany as French president Nicolas Sarkozy clings to his political life and German chancellor Angela Merkel is under increasing pressure over more bailouts. The Financial Times reports Merkel to join Sarkozy on campaign trail