Paul Krugman On The French Election

Paul Krugman has never been a fan of the way in which Europe responded to the financial crisis.  He looks at the French election from that perspective.  He argues that France is still a great place to live.  Le Pen has nothing on offer that will improve the lives of its citizens.  She won't make them safer and she has no plan for growing the economy.  However, there is a lot of resentment in France about the  loss of French identity.   The target of her attacks is basically the European Union.  She opposes open borders and the loss of French sovereignty to bureaucrats in Brussels.  Krugman grants her the last point.  He argues that Brussels has been particularly insensitive to the needs of smaller nations.  He has been a consistent critic of fiscal austerity, which was the wrong medicine for dealing with recession,  and he believes that the central bank created more problems than solutions during the financial crisis.  Apparently, he has few problems with the performance of the ruling parties in France. They failed to earn a spot in the run off election.  One can't blame the rise of Le Pen in France entirely on Brussels.