France's new leader promises deal to kick-start growth in Europe

FRANÇOIS HOLLANDE vowed to secure a deal on a growth compact to kick-start Europe’s recovery in his inaugural address as French president yesterday.

At a pomp-filled swearing-in ceremony at the Élysée Palace, Mr Hollande framed his election as a turning point in Europe’s approach to the sovereign debt crisis.

“Europe needs plans. It needs solidarity. It needs growth,” Mr Hollande said, laying down a marker just hours before travelling to Berlin for his first meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel. “I will propose to our partners a new pact that links the necessary reduction in public debt with indispensable stimulus for our economies.”

He said he would press the need for Europe to protect its interests, especially regarding reciprocity in trade.

After the traditional handover of power with outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Hollande travelled up the Champs-Élysées in an open-topped car and, in heavy rain, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Mr Hollande is only the second left-wing president since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, and the first in 17 years.

His prime minister will be Jean-Marc Ayrault, a 62-year-old longtime ally and head of the Socialist Party group in parliament. Mr Ayrault, a German speaker with good contacts in Berlin, is a low-key, centrist social democrat with a reputation for seeking consensus.

The rest of the government should be unveiled today, ahead of a first cabinet meeting tomorrow, and will include as many women as men.

Mr Hollande is due to fly to Washington tomorrow to meet President Barack Obama and attend G8 and Nato summits at Camp David and Chicago.

The French president said he wished to deliver a “message of confidence” to France and Europe. “My mandate is to bring justice back to France, open up a new path in Europe, contribute to world peace and preserve the planet,” he said.

The new president said he was fully aware of challenges facing France – huge debt, weak growth, low competitiveness, and a Europe that was struggling to emerge from the crisis.

In a veiled swipe at Mr Sarkozy, he said he would run a “dignified”, “simple” and “sober” presidency and ensure parliament played its full role.

“I will set the priorities but I will not decide for everyone, on everything, and be everywhere,” Mr Hollande said.

He listed the achievements of all other Fifth Republic presidents, from Gen Charles de Gaulle to Jacques Chirac. His only mention of Mr Sarkozy was to wish him luck in the future.

Anxious to burnish his credentials as a modest president sensitive to France’s straitened circumstances, Mr Hollande had asked for the inauguration ceremony to be kept as low-key as possible.

He invited only three dozen personal guests to the inauguration and neither his nor his partner Valérie Trierweiler’s children attended his swearing-in.

The appointment of Mr Ayrault as prime minister was interpreted as a signal that Mr Hollande intends to plot a centrist, pragmatic course.

The former German teacher and long-time ally of Mr Hollande is seen as a conciliatory bridge-builder who brought together the socialists’ fractious parliamentary group as its leader in the National Assembly since 1997.

As a special adviser to Mr Hollande’s election campaign, he was entrusted with liaising with other European left parties, notably the opposition Social Democratic Party in Germany.

Last year he met a senior adviser to Dr Merkel in Berlin in an effort to build ties with her conservative government.

Mr Hollande, who like Mr Ayrault comes from the Socialists’ social democratic wing, has said he wants to hand back influence to the prime minister after five years in which Mr Sarkozy concentrated power at the Élysée.

The incoming prime minister has supported Mr Hollande’s calls for a new focus on growth at European level, but has stressed that Paris will stick to promises to balance the budget by the end of the president’s five-year term.