Victorious Hollande pledges he will 'finish with austerity'
Source: Agencies |
May 8, 2012, Tuesday
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IN a whirlwind first day after winning the French presidency, Socialist Francois Hollande already has a to-do list that includes an invite to the White House, visits to the G8 and NATO summits and a World War II ceremony with his defeated rival.
The president-elect, who has said he will buck Europe's austerity trend and NATO's timetable for Afghanistan, appeared before thronging crowds on Place de la Bastille in Paris in the early hours yesterday, pledging "to finish with austerity." Hollande will officially become president on May 15.
He has his work cut out to fulfil the hopes his victory has stirred on France's Left, overjoyed to have one of their own in power for the first time since Francois Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995.
Hollande is due to appear alongside Nicolas Sarkozy at a ceremony today marking the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
US President Barack Obama has extended an invitation to the White House ahead of this month's G8 summit at Camp David, Maryland.
After that, Hollande will attend a NATO summit in Chicago, where he will announce he is pulling French troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the year.
Among the other international leaders calling with their congratulations was Germany's Angela Merkel, who told reporters in Berlin that she and Hollande had spoken for the first time on Sunday.
"We said we will work well and intensively together," she said. Merkel has invited Hollande to Germany after his inauguration.
Final results from France's presidential election show Hollande narrowly defeated Sarkozy with 51.62 percent of the vote, or 1.13 million of the 37 million votes cast in Sunday's election.
Hollande has pledged to tax the very rich at 75 percent of their income, an idea that proved wildly popular.
Hollande also wants to modify one of Sarkozy's key reforms, over the retirement age, to allow some people to retire at 60 instead of 62. He wants to hire more teachers and increase spending in a range of sectors, and ease France off its dependence on nuclear energy. He also favors legalizing euthanasia and gay marriage.
Hollande has said one his first acts will be to write a letter to other European leaders calling for a renegotiation of a budget-trimming treaty aimed at bringing the continent's economies closer together.
The president-elect, who has said he will buck Europe's austerity trend and NATO's timetable for Afghanistan, appeared before thronging crowds on Place de la Bastille in Paris in the early hours yesterday, pledging "to finish with austerity." Hollande will officially become president on May 15.
He has his work cut out to fulfil the hopes his victory has stirred on France's Left, overjoyed to have one of their own in power for the first time since Francois Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995.
Hollande is due to appear alongside Nicolas Sarkozy at a ceremony today marking the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
US President Barack Obama has extended an invitation to the White House ahead of this month's G8 summit at Camp David, Maryland.
After that, Hollande will attend a NATO summit in Chicago, where he will announce he is pulling French troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the year.
Among the other international leaders calling with their congratulations was Germany's Angela Merkel, who told reporters in Berlin that she and Hollande had spoken for the first time on Sunday.
"We said we will work well and intensively together," she said. Merkel has invited Hollande to Germany after his inauguration.
Final results from France's presidential election show Hollande narrowly defeated Sarkozy with 51.62 percent of the vote, or 1.13 million of the 37 million votes cast in Sunday's election.
Hollande has pledged to tax the very rich at 75 percent of their income, an idea that proved wildly popular.
Hollande also wants to modify one of Sarkozy's key reforms, over the retirement age, to allow some people to retire at 60 instead of 62. He wants to hire more teachers and increase spending in a range of sectors, and ease France off its dependence on nuclear energy. He also favors legalizing euthanasia and gay marriage.
Hollande has said one his first acts will be to write a letter to other European leaders calling for a renegotiation of a budget-trimming treaty aimed at bringing the continent's economies closer together.
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