Though he expectedly won the May 6, 2012 French presidential election, the task ahead is enormous.

François Hollande is the new President of France for the next five years after beating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the runoff poll on Sunday May 6, 2012. The Socialist candidate’s victory had long been predicted by most opinion polls even before the first round.

Now that Hollande has won the election, he needs to get to work to fulfil his campaign promises. There is no pretence that the task ahead of him will be easy. France, like most of Europe, has been going through economic crisis for some time now. However, Hollande in his 60-point plan or manifesto which he unveiled way back in January 2012, believes he has a clear vision of what direction the country needs to take.

For example, he plans to tax the rich in order to tackle the country's budget deficit and fund spending plans. He has also pledged to create 60,000 jobs in education, 150,000 others for young people, impose a tax bracket for high earners and 15 per cent bank profit surtax. He wants to eradicate France's annual budget deficit by 2017. In spite of these apparently reassuring measures, the business community has a different set of priorities.

They want changes to the business environment with some fearing that the new President will tax small and medium firms out of business. The French economy desperately needs structural reform. Unemployment that currently stands at 10 per cent is the highest in 12 years. Public spending is too high and growth is only 1.7 per cent.

Other European countries in economic strife such as Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have embraced austerity packages. While the economic problems of these countries have by no means gone away, their leaders have at least acknowledged the need for drastic measures - short or medium-term pain for long-term gain.

French businesses would also welcome a major shake-up of the labour market, making it more flexible by taking powers away from trade unions. This, they hope, will give businesses more scope to invest, expand and grow, just like Germany’s “mittelstand;” the cluster of medium-size businesses that form the backbone of that country’s economy.

François Hollande therefore needs to show that apart from the good intentions, he also has the political will, nerve and support to implement the reforms that different businesses need. On continental defence, Hollande has already said that he is reluctant to commit to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO’s missile defence shield for Europe. Now, he has to consider whether France needs to maintain its 700-man military staff within the NATO command structure as he feels that France has not been sufficiently rewarded for its contributions.

Parliamentary elections are due month. The new president and his party need to keep up the momentum to secure a majority in parliament to enable him implement his manifesto. Without this, leading the country in his desired direction in the next five years could turn out to be a nightmarish affair.

On the African continent, the Hollande administration will be keenly watched to see if there will be any break with the long-standing tradition of ‘France-Afrique’ that has hitherto kept former colonies closely attached to France. Of immediate interest will be recent allegations that past French leaders have collected kickbacks from some African presidents. Other burning issues are the crises in Mali, Guinea Bissau and the Democratic Republic of Congo.