President Francois Hollande made his boldest move of his two years at the head of French government, forcing out three dissident ministers who wanted to end the disastrous policy of “austerity”.  It’s the second change of government by the increasingly-unpopular Hollande in as many years.

“The whole world is begging us to put an end to these absurd austerity policies which are burying the euro zone deeper and deeper in recession and which will soon end up with deflation,” outgoing (but outspoken) Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg told reporters in Paris on Monday.  “We must have the intellectual and political courage to acknowledge that austerity policies are making deficits worse instead of narrowing them.”

Montebourg’s fate was sealed earlier in the day by a statement from the President’s office saying that the Prime Minister would “form a team that supports” Hollande’s objectives – reviving the French economy with tax cuts, cutting the public deficit, and trimming spending.  Hollande and Montebourg are Socialists, but Montebourg has long argued that the deficit-cutting loved by conservatives should not be a priority as long as growth is stagnant and unemployment is stuck at over 10 percent.  At  Socialist Party meeting over the weekend, Montebourg said if supposed Leftists continue to repeat the conservative mistakes of obsessive deficit reduction they will lose their voters to populist and extremist parties.

The culture and education ministers were also forced out.  It is speculated that Hollande’s former partner and the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, will move from environment minister to take over the education portfolio.

Hollande’s poll ratings stuck at 17 percent, which are the lowest for any French leader since the Fifth Republic was formed in 1958.