Election results in France and Greece, as well as our own local elections, have shown that the people of Europe have rejected austerity ("Hollande warned over pact to make savings", The Herald, May 8).

If our leaders have any respect for democracy they will abandon the failed austerity policies.

Not everyone sees it that way, of course. Angela Merkel says the austerity treaty is "not up for negotiation" even as hopes of it being ratified fade and our own Coalition seems to believe the agreement to allegedly "reduce the deficit" is in fact a suicide pact.

Meanwhile Richard Mowbray does not see the elections as bringing better policies (Letters, May 8). Indeed, he reveals himself when he says it is "fortunate" the financial markets – which he apparently thinks are a kind of "economic democracy"– will triumph over elected representatives. If they are any kind of democracy, they are a rather strange sort, where the rich have far more votes than anyone else. Mr Mowbray, I fear, has openly endorsed oligarchy over democracy.

In France he raises the spectre of Francois Mitterrand as a prediction of what will happen under Francois Hollande, but he fails to mention than in Mr Mitterrand's first few years the standard of living increased dramatically and even those wealthy people who had left the country to dodge taxes were coming back. France came under speculative attack by those opposed to popular government. The French government could have resisted, but Mr Mitterrand believed in nothing besides his own desire for power and chose the path of least resistance.

It is unlikely to be the same under Mr Hollande: he has been described as very left wing, but is a centrist who only wants slight changes from France's current direction. I don't think his Government will come under speculative attack as France has recently had highly successful bond sales as his win became certain, but if it does the financial markets will have demonstrated once and for all their utter contempt for the people.

The Greek results are themselves a different story, as the vote has not really delivered any result at all besides that fact the people are opposed to austerity ("Samaras bid to form coalition fails", The Herald, May 8). The "majority bonus" designed to prevent proportional representation and thwart the will of the people has actually made the task of forming a government more difficult and the country could well be heading straight back to the polls.

If these elections do not better reflect the popular will and deliver a government willing to stand up to the so-called troika then I fear violence, particularly as a minority of Greeks expressed their frustration through the extreme right, a phenomenon sadly emerging across Europe.

Mr Mowbray wants to persist with neoliberal economics despite the fact that they have utterly failed. In their most extreme form they led Greece right into crisis and proceeded to exacerbate it as it was stepped up as an alleged solution. In this country they have returned us to recession and will probably increase rather than reduce the deficit.

Iain Paterson,

6 Methven Avenue, Bearsden.

So Richard Mowbray believes in the wonders of the "economic democracy of our day-to-day voting ... through our agents in the money markets" (Letters, May 8).

I don't recall voting in any way for Fred Goodwin or the other self-serving financial wizards who take our money and use it to gamble on complex financial products.

Surely the crash of 2008 should have warned us of the dangers that these compulsive gamblers pose for the rest of society?

Rather than rejecting our politicians, we should be clamouring for them to bring the bankers to heel, so that the banks provide a service to the population rather than a gravy train for the obscenely rich few and a power without responsibility.

Dr RM Morris,

Veslehaug, Polesburn,

Methlick, Ellon.

The victory of Francois Hollande in the French Presidential election is excellent news.

His proposal for a rise in corporation tax to 35% shows the current UK policy of slashing taxes for multinationals is nonsense in a time of large deficits.

Will French companies leave France on mass? No they won't, as they will see the deficit reducing and the economy growing. If only the governments in the UK and Scotland would stop this ridiculous race to the bottom we might all be better off.

Dave Cochrane,

90 Spottiswoode Street, Edinburgh.