It’s Sarkozy’s (George Bush’s) fault

French President-elect Francois Hollande suggested Friday that the government of outgoing leader Nicolas Sarkozy underestimated the country’s budget problems and wants a new audit of France’s books.

But Hollande, a Socialist elected Sunday to lead the world’s fifth-biggest economy, said that wouldn’t hurt his ability to fulfill campaign pledges. Those include higher taxes on the rich, thousands of new teaching jobs and freezes on some government spending.

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