Austerity versus democracy

A national newspaper today features a lengthy comment about François Hollande, the President of France.  It asserts that:

He would defy economic reality and, above all, he would attempt to stand up to Germany, and the austerity policies dictated by the Bundesbank on the whole of the crisis-hit eurozone. Once he took office, Hollande began to govern as though France had full economic sovereignty, and didn’t have to obey German-imposed rules about levels of debt and spending.

While I accept that Hollande has not governed well, I cannot help but admire his opposition to foreign rules.

Hollande is elected by the people of France, and should put loyalty to the people of France ahead of any loyalty to foreign upstarts.  Then again, people who do not believe in democracy cannot be expected to grasp that simple fact.