Hollande to keep working in Christmas holidays as economic troubles remain

With no flashy schedule for Christmas holidays, French President Francois Hollande would keep working at the Elysee Place as economic troubles are still to fix and to ease growing public discontent, local media reported on Tuesday. "If he takes a few hours of rest at la lanterne home in Versailles, this will be the end of the world," the local broadcaster Europe1 said, citing a source close to the president. Widely criticized for taking a summer holiday shortly after his election in May 2012, the Socialist head of state was planning to visit many places at home and to fly to the Saudi Arabia to sign trade accords between Christmas and New Year's Day. With no sign to go out shortly of the bottleneck, French people are losing faith on Hollande's recovery peldges and doubt he can transform a political rhetoric into concrete vision. The president's approval ratings have tumbled since he took power from above 60 percent to as low as 25 percent, the fastest drop of any recent president, as jobless claims have continued to rise, hitting a 16-year high at 10.9 percent.