French President Francois Hollande listening to youths during his visit at the Institute of Artisanal Trades (Institut des Metiers et de l'Artisanat) in Villiers-le-Bel, Paris suburb, yesterday. Photo: Reuters

France’s most unpopular president in decades said yesterday he had some regrets and understood voters had doubts at a time of crisis – and pledged to respond by accelerating reforms to put the country back on track.

Launching a fresh bid to reconnect with disgruntled voters on the second anniversary of his election, Francois Hollande allowed himself to be questioned in a rare one-hour live radio interview by listeners angry with high unemployment and taxes.

The Socialist leader, whose popularity has fallen to record lows over higher taxes, rampant unemployment and squabbles among ministers, told the show broadcast on RMC radio and BFM TV that he understood voters had doubts when times were tough. He asked to be judged at the end of his five-year mandate.

“I do have regrets. I could have gone faster, I could have done more to alert the French people about how serious the situation was. I could have reacted more quickly on some debates,” he said in a rare display of regret for a president in office.

When asked if he had lost touch with voters and acted like an amateur, he brushed aside the accusation, which stemmed from a widespread voter feeling that his two first years in power were ones of drift and uncertainty over issues ranging from taxation to immigration.

“You say there has been some amateurism over the past two years,” he said. “Amateurism when I got involved in pulling the eurozone out of its crisis? Amateurism when I decided to intervene in Mali when no one else did and terrorism was on the path to win there?”

Hollande, who made no comment about Monday’s European Union warning that France would miss its 2015 budget deficit target unless it made rapid policy adjustments, vowed to do more.

“I hear the anger, I am not deaf. We must act even faster,” he said. “I have nothing to lose.”