Hollande points to how some other European leaders have joined him in talking more about growth recently as a sign that he is riding the crest of a wave launched when he became his party’s presidential candidate. His entourage insists that he is a moderate figure, a pragmatist who will reach accommodation with tough-minded German Chancellor Angela Merkel. There is thus no need, they say, to fear a rerun of the disastrous early period of the last Socialist president, François Mitterrand, with its populist policy resulting in soaring inflation, yawning trade deficit and two devaluations. Markets can sleep easy with the new occupant of the Élysée Palace, and on the Monday after his victory, the Paris bourse did indeed rise. In this cheery scenario, Hollande will be the reasonable leader who leads Europe to sunnier days.