A victory that opens a new hope in France and Europe
By electing today May 6, Francois Hollande as president, the people of France has released a disdainful and agressive power that has mistreated citizens and workers for 5 years. I mean the joy of Communists who fought tirelessly Nicolas Sarkozy and his policies and who have worked all their forces to victory.
I want to congratulate on his election Francois Hollande. Women and men who gathered about his candidacy to inflict a big defeat to Nicolas Sarkozy has opened a new hope in France, and in Europe.
I want to thank the millions of voters and voters of the Front de gauche who have made a decisive contribution to this result. Without this mobilizing campaign, led by the French Communist Party and the Front de gauche partners, with their common candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, without the proposals of our program, The "human first", without our determined commitment between the two rounds, victory would not have been possible. It opens a new chapter for our country.
Francois Hollande is the first left president elected by the voters for 24 years.
It was essential to put an end to a presidency, for the rich people, targeting systematically the world of work, its social and democratic rights, democratic freedoms.
It was essential that the co-author, with Angela Merkel, of the European fiscal treaty, promising austerity in perpetuity to the people and the full powers of financial capitalism, is disowned by his own people.
To all the peoples of Europe who were waiting for this sign of France, I say: together, it becomes possible to defeat the financial dictatorship that threatens all of us, together we can revive the struggle for a democratic Europe, a Europe of social justice, solidarity and environment development.
Yes, this May 6, 2012, we won an important first battle. A new president seats at the Elysee. The left must promptly respond to social emergencies and not wait. Immediate steps for the recovery of purchasing power, the fight against unemployment and the renegotiation of the European treaty must be taken.
It opens at the same time a new battle, that of parliamentary elections which will now depend on the possibility of keeping the door wide open for change.
We must now elect a National Assembly with a left majority, up to the situation, with MPs ready to vote democratic and social laws without which nothing will change.
We need a lot of MPs who will not have any hesitation to repeal unfair laws of Sarkozy's five-year power and of ten years of far right policies.
We need a lot of Mps who will regain power in the banking and financial sector, to establish a public center of banking and credit.
We need a lot of Mps favorable to significantly raise the minimum wage and wages, determined to take back the retirement age of 60 at the full rate for all, to prohibit dismissals stock, boost employment, industry and public services.
We need a lot of MPs who have the courage to submit to a vote of new rights for workers of both public and private sectors, for self-employed, for young people who deserve better than lifelong internship, for women whose wages are still below those of their male colleagues.
Threats from the right and the far right to prevent these changes did not die with the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy. Their parliamentary candidates must be fought everywhere, and we must block the road at the entrance of FN in the National Assembly. Wherever it has had that opportunity in Europe, the far right has exacerbated social decline. It will not happen in France, this is the commitment of the PCF and its Front de gauche partners.
Tonight, I call the candidates of the Front de gauche in the legislative elections to go back across the battle to rally around those goals all voters who have allowed the victory in the presidential election.
I call all of these voters, to ensure the change, to put the candidates of the Front de gauche at the top of the left in the maximum of places, June 10, and then elect the greatest number, on June 17.

Pierre Laurent
National Secretary of the French Communist Party