Francois Hollande's triumph in the French presidential election has, it seems, sent a clear message - voters are tired of austerity.
Jubilant Socialist supporters said his capture of Elysee Palace from Nicolas Sarkozy would send a "thunderclap" across a Europe shackled by German-driven demands for deficit reduction and financial orthodoxy.
Mr Hollande himself described his victory as "a new start for Europe, a new hope for the world" insisting that a policy of cutbacks was no longer "inevitable".
It was a message which resounded in crisis-stricken Greece where voters swung sharply towards parties which rejected the stringent terms of their country's international bail-out.
But while the reverberations from Paris will no doubt carry across the Channel the impact on British domestic politics may be less immediate - even if they do carry a warning for the future.
Of course, shadow chancellor Ed Balls was quick to proclaim once again at the weekend that the coalition's deficit-reduction plan had "failed" - and that the Government had cut "too far and too fast", choking off economic growth.
The result's of last week's local council elections suggest it is an argument that is gaining some traction - even if Labour's success was more down to Tory and Lib Dem voters staying at home than a mass conversion to Ed Miliband's cause.
Certainly Chancellor George Osborne was adamant that he was sticking with his strategy, claiming that he had got the balance right between tackling Britain's record debt mountain and nurturing economic recovery.
For now at least there is no immediate pressure from within the coalition to change course - if anything some Tories would like him to bear down even harder on the deficit.
With the next general election still three years away - assuming the coalition agreement holds - the Chancellor does have some time in which to see his plan bear fruit and deliver the promised growth.
However that time is not limitless and continued stagnation - and even recession - will inevitably see demands for an economic re-think intensify.
Mr Osborne is pinning his hopes on a private-sector led recovery, but as his one-time deputy in the Treasury brief, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, has said, voters need to be able to see the "light at the end of the tunnel".
If that does not become apparent over the next 12 months, the clamour for a French-style "plan B" could become overwhelming.