Hollande outlines 2013 difficulties, calls for mobilisation in 2014

Speaking Tuesday in the traditional New Year address, President Francois Hollande told the nation that France has come through a "difficult year" on the domestic and foreign fronts and he urged a mobilisation by the French people to meet the challenges in 2014. The French leader said on national television and radio that France had been called upon to meet foreign situations that required intervention by Paris, sometimes militarily. Hollande said France had to tackle the problem of terrorism in Mali, when last January 3,500 French troops were deployed to counter a threat to that country by several Islamist extremist groups. In Syria, he noted the French role in bringing pressure on the Syrian regime to renounce the use of chemical weapons in that conflict and the success in getting Damascus to dismantle and destroy its weapons of mass destruction. Again, abroad, Hollande noted that France had been called upon to intervene to halt mass killing in the Central African Republic in November, when the President bolstered the French presence there to 1,600 troops and urged the UN to play a strong role in that country. The French leader, citing the success in securing the release of a hostage in Cameroon on Tuesday, said he would "do everything to get freedom" for the other six French hostages held in Mali and in Syria. But Hollande devoted most of his address to domestic issues, primarily the economic reforms he has espoused in the past 12 months. He said 2013 was especially difficult on the economic plane because ""the crisis showed itself to be longer and deeper" than anticipated. He vowed to continue to tackle unemployment, which he said remained at a high level, and he said "we will need the mobilisation of everyone to win the battle" for the economy. He said France "has all the trump cards" to be able to meet the challenge and he outlined further efforts to curb spending and spur on local business investment and cut energy costs.