Hollande wants ‘new path’ in Europe

FRANCE: French President Francois Hollande said he wanted to “open a new path” in Europe after his inauguration on Tuesday following his May 6 election victory.

“Such is the mandate I have received from the French people on May 6. Put France back on its feet with justice, open a new path in Europe, contribute to world peace and to the preservation of the planet,” he said.

“I am addressing a message of confidence to the French people. We are a great country that has always risen to its challenges,” he said, also vowing that he would run the country with “dignity and simplicity”.

“I take stock today of the force of the pressures our country is under: massive debt, feeble growth, high unemployment, damaged competitiveness, a Europe that is struggling to get out of the crisis,” Hollande told a select group of dignitaries at the Elysee Palace.

“Nothing is inevitable as long as we are driven by a common will, as long as a clear course has been set, and we apply all our strength and the assets of France.”

After brief ceremonies in Paris, the 57-year-old career politician was to dash to Berlin to confront Chancellor Angela Merkel over their very different visions as to how to save the single currency bloc.

“Power will be exercised at the summit of the state with dignity and simplicity,” Hollande declared in his inaugural address, promising to find a “new path” to lead Europe out of its current troubles.

Hollande was also to make the much-anticipated announcement of who will lead his government as prime minister, with Jean-Marc Ayrault, the head of the Socialists’ parliamentary bloc, tipped as favourite.

Hollande was welcomed to the Elysee Palace by his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who led him to the presidential office for a private head-to-head and to hand over the codes to France’s nuclear arsenal.

Then Hollande ushered Sarkozy to his car for a final farewell, outgoing first lady Carla Bruni exchanging kisses with successor Hollande’s partner Valerie Trierweiler, elegant in a dark dress and vertiginous heels.

Hollande then signed the notice of formal handover of power and headed back in to the palace ballroom, where a crowd of Socialist and trade union leaders, churchmen and military officers were gathered.

No foreign heads of state were invited to what was a low-key ceremony for a post of such importance, leader of the world’s fifth great power.

After the swearing in, Hollande was to ride up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe in an open-topped Citroen DS5 hybrid, waving to the crowd.

But the real work was to begin later in the afternoon, when Hollande was to fly to Berlin from an airbase north of Paris, for tense talks with Merkel, the leader of Europe’s biggest economy and France’s key ally. AFP