We only know what we have read and what you read abroad is different, I take the British press with pinch of salt. They are against anything German and next to the Germans come the French. Or is it the other way round?
Time will tell whether Sarkosy and Carla will remain married, but remarks about wives in politics have nothing to do with the politics in question which are what will become of the French / German alliance now that Sarkosy has been defeated, amd what this thread is about.
Greece seems set for a final ruin. Why, when the Greeks had 55% of their workforce working in the public sector and retiring at 55 years of age, should they be financed by Germans who retire at 65 (and soon at 67 )years of age. The Greeks must realise that those days are over, there are enough Greek billionaire's who could shoulder part of the Greek debt instead of the patient German, French and British tax payer.
Hollande is right to say he wants to drop out but the difficulty is doing it. He's going to have to go along with Merkel whether he likes it or not, but she is not quarrelsome or sensitive and has smoothed out worse problems in the last few years.
Merkel went to school in the communist East Germany and speaks fluent Russian. She has learnt English in the meantime but will not discuss politics in English. You have to understand German to realise what an intelligent far thinking poitician she is.