An Economic View of France From Hollande

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- With the first round of French presidential elections slated this weekend, investors have speculated what a potential François Hollande victory would do to the global economy in his first year.

Hollande's proposal to increase taxes on France's highest income earners and his suggestion that the European Central Bank lend directly to states instead of banks have left investors unclear of how the Socialist Party candidate would govern.

French Socialist Party candidate François Hollande

"Whatever people thought of what Nicolas Sarkozy has done, the lack of continuity that is going to result from new leadership in France I think is going to be a very very big concern to investors; and if there's a shift in power, we essentially know what we have in Sarkozy, and we don't know what we have in Hollande - we do know what he stands for, which involves printing euros and higher taxes for people at certain income brackets," said Jeffrey Sica, president and chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management.

As French polls give Hollande a wide lead, 57% to 43%, over Sarkozy, we took a peek at what he's outlined for the French economy in his first year. The platforms (pulled from Hollande's Web site) are based on the assumption that the Socialist candidate would hold his lead and become president of France.

Hollande hopes to reduce his presidential pay and that of his cabinet members by 30%, which he would sign at their first meeting.

The prospective new president has also promised to lock in fuel prices for three months, and he has guaranteed above-inflation interest rates on tax-free savings accounts. Hollande's platform said he would enact these new policies to provide French consumers with more purchasing power.

France would withdraw its NATO troops from Afghanistan by late 2012. It would also repeal the circular Guéant on foreign students, which passed in January and made it more difficult for foreigners who had recently completed French university degrees to get jobs in the country.