Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency - BBC News BBC News Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency 7 May 2012 Media captionFrancois Hollande addressed thousands of jubilant supporters in Paris French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country's presidential election. Mr Hollande - who polled just under 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off - spoke of his pride at becoming president. Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished "good luck" to Mr Hollande. Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries. Shortly after polls closed at 20:00 (18:00 GMT), French media published projections based on partial results giving Mr Hollande a lead of almost four points. Turnout was about 80%. At the scene By Christian FraserSocialist HQ, Paris The excitement has been building for two weeks, it was mixed with relief and perhaps some disbelief when the first estimate was broadcast. They have waited 17 years for a Socialist president. More than 350 polls published since the beginning of this campaign said he would win - still they cannot quite believe it.

President Hollande: "It still takes some getting used to," said Senator Helene Conway-Mouret. "A year ago you would never have dreamed it." A teacher and a lifelong Socialist was standing next to me as the result came in - he wept. "It's an incredible moment," he said. "Not just for the Socialist Party but for France, for Europe. " In over 30 years in politics Mr Hollande has never served as a minister. For much of his tenure as the party's first secretary from 1997 to 2008 he was seen as a consensus manager - a listener more than a visionary. Now he must lead, making tough choices to put France on the path to recovery. Jubilant Hollande supporters gathered on Place de la Bastille in Paris - a traditional rallying point of the Left - to celebrate. People drank champagne and chanted: "Sarko, it's over!" Mr Hollande - the first Socialist to win the French presidency since Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s - gave his victory speech in his stronghold of Tulle in central France. He said he was "proud to have been capable of giving people hope again".

He said he would push ahead with his pledge to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to "growth". "Europe is watching us, austerity can no longer be the only option," he said. After his speech in Tulle, Mr Hollande headed to Brive airport on his way to Paris to address supporters at Place de la Bastille. His voice hoarse, he spoke of his pride at taking over the mantle of the presidency 31 years almost to the day since Socialist predecessor Francois Mitterrand was elected. "I am the president of the youth of France," he told the assembled crowd of tens of thousands of supporters, emphasising his "pride at being president of all the republic's citizens". "You are a movement that is rising up throughout Europe," he said. Mr Hollande has called for a renegotiation of a hard-won European treaty on budget discipline championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy. Mr Hollande's campaign director, Pierre Moscovici, told AFP news agency that Mrs Merkel had congratulated the president-elect by phone, and that the two had agreed to work together on "a strong Franco-German relationship in the interest of Europe". Mrs Merkel later said she had invited Mr Hollande to come to Berlin soon, AFP reported.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has also called Mr Hollande to congratulate him. Media captionNicolas Sarkozy says Francois Hollande must be respected as the new president 'Respect' Mr Hollande capitalised on France's economic woes and President Sarkozy's unpopularity. The Socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year. He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers. In his concession speech, Mr Sarkozy told supporters: "Francois Hollande is the president of France and he must be respected." The outgoing president said he was "taking responsibility for defeat". Hinting about his future, he said: "My place will no longer be the same. My involvement in the life of my country will now be different." During the campaign, he had said he would leave politics if he lost the election. Mr Sarkozy, who has been in office since 2007, had promised to reduce France's large budget deficit through spending cuts. He is the latest European leader to be voted out of office amid widespread voter anger at austerity measures triggered by the eurozone debt crisis.

In Greece's parliamentary election on Sunday, voters turned against the two main parties which supported tough budget cuts. It is only the second time that an incumbent French president has failed to win re-election since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958. The last was Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who lost to Mr Mitterrand in 1981. Mr Hollande is expected to be inaugurated later this month. A parliamentary election is due in June. François Hollande wins French presidential election | World news | The Guardian French elections 2012 François Hollande wins French presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy concedes defeat to Socialist party candidate, who has become first leftwing president in almost 20 years François Hollande supporters react in a concert hall in Villeurbanne to a projection showing that the Socialist party candidate had won the French election.

Photograph: Reuters Sunday 6 May 2012 14.31 EDT First published on Sunday 6 May 2012 14.31 EDT Close This article is 4 years old François Hollande has won power in France, turning the tide on a rightwards and xenophobic lurch in European politics and vowing to transform Europe's handling of the economic crisis by fighting back against German-led austerity measures. The 57-year-old rural MP and self-styled Mr Normal, a moderate social democrat from the centre of the Socialist party, is France's first leftwing president in almost 20 years. Projections from early counts, released by French TV, put his score at 51.9%. His emphatic victory is a boost to the left in a continent that has gradually swung rightwards since the economic crisis broke four years ago. Nicolas Sarkozy , defeated after one term in office, became the 11th European leader to lose power since the economic crisis in 2008. He conceded defeat at a gathering of his party activists at the Mutualité in central Paris, urging them from the stage to stop booing Hollande. "I carry all the responsibility for this defeat," he said.

He had spoken to Hollande to congratulate him. "From the bottom of my heart I want France to succeed with the challenges it faces. It is something much greater than us; France. This evening we must think exclusively of France ." He said that after 35 years in politics and 10 years at the top of government, he would now become a simple "Frenchman among the French". The defeat of the most unpopular French president ever to run for re-election was not simply the result of the global financial crisis or eurozone debt turmoil. It was also down to the intense public dislike of the man viewed by many as the "president of the rich" who had swept to victory in 2007 with a huge mandate to change France. The majority of French people felt he had failed to deliver on his promises, and he was criticised for his ostentatious display of wealth, favouring the rich and leaving behind over 2.8 million unemployed. Political analysts said anti-Sarkozy sentiment had become a cultural phenomenon in France. Hollande is the first Socialist president to win a French election since François Mitterrand's re-election in 1988.

Hours before the official announcement, hordes of cheering supporters began gathering at Paris's Place de la Bastille, a flashpoint of the 1789 French revolution, where the left had celebrated Mitterrand's first historic victory in 1981. The right has held the French presidency since Jacques Chirac's victory in 1995. Hollande's first move as president will be to push Germany to renegotiate Europe's budget discipline pact to include a clause on growth. He has vowed to push growth measures to the centre of Brussels' handling of the eurozone crisis. Ségolène Royal, Hollande's former partner who was defeated by Sarkozy in 2007, said France had voted for change and a new approach to European economic policy. Manuel Valls, tipped for a cabinet post, said Hollande now had to reconcile a France that had been divided during Sarkozy's term. Hollande's victory comes after a brutal and vitriolic campaign marked by the high score of the farright Front National's Marine Le Pen, who came third in the first round with 17.9% and 6.4m votes.

Sarkozy, who had launched his campaign in February with a marked rightwing slant on the values of work, family and national identity, lurched even further towards the extreme right as he courted Le Pen's voters in the past two weeks, stressing the far-right topics of immigration, borders and fear of Islam. Hollande, who has vowed to begin his reforms as soon as he takes office on 15 May, has accepted he will have "no state of grace" leading a country crippled by public debt and in economic crisis, with unemployment nudging a record 10%, a gaping trade-deficit, stuttering growth and declining industry. France's public debt is so high that interest repayments alone account for the second highest state expenditure after education. The rating agency Standards and Poors this year downgraded France's triple-A credit rating, saying that over-high state spending was straining public finances. During the campaign, both Hollande and Sarkozy had promised to balance the books, – France hasn't had a balanced budget for over 30 years.

Hollande's manifesto is based on scrapping Sarkozy's tax-breaks for the rich and putting up taxes for high earners to finance what he deems essential spending, including creating 60,000 posts in France's under-performing school system. He has pledged to keep the public deficit capped, but for his delicate balancing act to work, he needs a swift return to growth in France, despite economists warning of over-optimistic official growth forecasts that need to be trimmed. Asked on Friday what he would do if he loses, Sarkozy said simply: "There will be a handover of power. The nation follows its course. The nation is stronger than the destiny of the men who serve it," he said. The turn-out was high, estimated at around 80%.

First meeting backs 30% wage reduction for all ministers and president, but UMP says new government is bigger and costlier Published: 17 May 2012 The two men stood together during armistice commemorations before laying a wreath together and greeting veterans Published: 8 May 2012 France's president-elect, François Hollande, and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy attend Victory Day commemorations together at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris Published: 8 May 2012 French president promises to unite country and a "new path" EU during low-key inauguration before meeting with Angela Merkel Published: 15 May 2012 Hollande Defeats Sarkozy in France - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Hollande Ousts Sarkozy in French Presidential Election Search Photo François Hollande addressed supporters in Tulle, France. Credit Philippe Desmazes/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images PARIS — François Hollande defeated President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday, becoming the first Socialist elected president of France since François Mitterrand. Mr.

Hollande campaigned on a gentler and more inclusive France, but his victory will also be seen as a challenge to the German-dominated vision of economic austerity as a way out of the euro crisis. Mr. Sarkozy became the latest European leader to lose his post amid economic upheaval and the first French incumbent to be rejected since 1981. In his five years in office, he propelled France, and himself, into a more central role in world affairs, rejoining the NATO military command and helping drive an international military campaign in Libya. He also proved to be a difficult but crucial ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in their joint effort to master the European debt and currency crisis and save the euro. That project, however, received multiple blows on Sunday, when Greek voters sent their own message against austerity. They handed the two main parties, both of which had pledged to follow harsh international bailout terms, significant losses as they streamed to parties on the far left and far right that have opposed budget cuts. In the process, voters cast into question the ability of any party to form a government soon, let alone continue with the austerity program. For their part, French voters may not like belt-tightening, but both Mr. Hollande and Mr.

Sarkozy had promised to balance the budget in the next five years. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The balance between reducing the debt and addressing popular anger is proving complicated for Europeans, and Mr. Hollande has said that he intends to give “a new direction to Europe,” demanding that a European Union treaty limiting debt be expanded to include measures to produce economic growth. Domestically, he has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and raise the tax rate to 75 percent for those earning more than one million euros a year. Calling his victory “a fresh start,” Mr. Hollande pronounced: “Austerity need not be Europe’s fate.” The vote was viewed domestically as a rejection of Mr. Sarkozy and his relentless effort to appeal to the voters of the far-right National Front. “I take the measure of the honor that’s been given me and the challenge that awaits me,” Mr. Hollande said before cheering supporters in the central French town of Tulle, which he represents in Parliament. Mr. Hollande’s victory was narrow but undisputed. With 95 percent of the vote counted, official results showed him with 51.6 percent of the vote while Mr.

Sarkozy, of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement, had 48.4 percent, The Associated Press said. While thanking Mr. Sarkozy for his service to France, Mr. Hollande said: “Too many divisions, too many wounds, too many ruptures, too many cuts have separated our fellow citizens from one another. That’s all finished.” After weeks of energetic, and at times bellicose, campaigning, Mr. Sarkozy was gracious in defeat. “François Hollande is the president of the republic, he must be respected,” Mr. Sarkozy said after calling Mr. Hollande to congratulate him. “I want to wish him good luck in the midst of these tests.” Speaking earlier to party members, Mr. Sarkozy said that he would not lead the party into June’s legislative elections and that now, “I become a citizen among you.” He urged supporters not to give in to division, though, as he saw those elections as winnable for the party. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The French and Greek elections were closely watched in European capitals and particularly in Berlin, where Ms.

Merkel has led the drive to cure the euro zone debt and banking crisis with deep budget cuts and caps on future spending. She spoke on the telephone with Mr. Hollande on Sunday night, congratulating him on his victory in the election, according to a statement by her spokesman, Steffen Seibert. Mr. Hollande has said for months that his first trip will be to Berlin. Photo President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed supporters in Paris. Credit Michel Euler/Associated Press But Ms. Merkel herself was embroiled in electoral politics on Sunday, suffering setbacks in elections in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where her party appeared to be losing its hold on the state Parliament. With another election coming May 13 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Ms. Merkel is not viewed as having much room domestically to compromise on the critical issues of inflation and debt limits. “How Hollande handles Merkel could make or break his prospects for the next five years,” said François Heisbourg of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.

“He has favorable circumstances, but she has domestic politics, too,” he said, and she is seen as likely to agree only to symbolic changes in the fiscal pact — not renegotiating it so much as adding clauses about growth to it. Mr. Hollande, who may take over as president as early as May 14, will have little time to relax. He must travel to the United States for a meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized countries on May 18-19 and then a NATO summit meeting in Chicago on May 20-21, where he intends to make good on his promise to pull French combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, and where American and NATO officials will try to get him to change his mind. Mr. Hollande’s victory will also have important implications for the right in France, with Mr. Sarkozy’s party already split between the prime minister, François Fillon, and the Sarkozy-like party leader, Jean-François Copé. The strong showing of Marine Le Pen of the National Front, who got nearly 18 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, is a serious threat to Mr. Sarkozy’s party.

It now must decide whether to make a deal with Ms. Le Pen for assembly seats in the second round of the legislative election; if not, the Union for a Popular Movement could lose up to 100 seats, political experts say. Mr. Hollande campaigned on “change” and a more traditional presidency, where he would set the main course of policy but not micromanage day-to-day affairs, as Mr. Sarkozy did. For the French, “it is a leap of faith that shows there is a strong will for a different policy course, not just at the national but at the E.U. level as well,” said Paul Vallet, a professor of history and political science at the Paris-based Institut d’Études Politiques. The indebted countries of Europe are also hoping that Mr. Hollande can be a champion buying them more time to adjust. “Some countries in Europe are banking on that,” Mr. Vallet said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Domestically, Mr. Hollande said he would raise taxes in a drive to balance the budget by 2017.

He has vowed to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers over five years and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for manual workers who started their work as teenagers. Voter turnout Sunday was about 81 percent of the 46 million registered voters, down from the 84 percent who participated in the last presidential ballot five years ago — the highest turnout since 1974. The French, voting under gray skies with some rain, expressed a sharp desire for change and a better economic future. Nicole Hirsch, a 60-year-old retiree in the working-class 20th arrondissement of Paris, said she was voting for Mr. Hollande in the hope that he would “bring the change that France needs.” Claire, a 26-year-old engineer in Paris, agreed that change was needed, but still cast her ballot for Mr. Sarkozy. “I would like to believe in the Socialists’ sweet dream, but unfortunately, it is not going to happen,” she said, asking for privacy reasons not to use her last name.

“Their program is unclear and not concrete.” Pierre Marcus, a 59-year-old civil servant, said his vote for Mr. Hollande was motivated by a hope that a Socialist government would take steps to promote economic growth and soften the blow of the crisis on average citizens. “Five years of Sarkozy dismantled social institutions,” Mr. Marcus said. “I think that Hollande will reverse French politics in terms of employment and social issues.” Sebastien Modat, 38, who works in marketing, stopped his jog to get a newspaper. “I found that Hollande had the power to bring people together,” he said. “The right was compelled to take up its traditional topics, creating tension among people.” But the main question, he said, “is how we are going to resume growth.” He voted for Mr. Sarkozy five years ago, but on Sunday cast a blank ballot. “I hope there will be a change in mentalities and more consensus.” Correction: May 7, 2012 A Web summary with an earlier version of this article erroneously stated that Mr. Sarkozy was the first French incumbent to be rejected since 1995. The last time a French incumbent lost re-election was 1981.

Reporting was contributed by Maïa de la Baume in Tulle, France, and Scott Sayare, Nicola Clark, Elvire Camus, Palko Karasz, Eleanor Stanford, Roswana Khan and Meghan Davidson Ladly in Paris. A version of this article appears in print on May 7, 2012, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Socialist Wins French Election Against Sarkozy. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Socialist Hollande in, Sarkozy out, as France elects a new president - CNN.com Socialist Hollande in, Sarkozy out, as France elects a new president By the CNN Wire Staff Updated 9:56 PM ET, Sun May 6, 2012 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande won France's presidential runoff election on Sunday, May 6. In his victory speech, he promised to be a president for all of France.

Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – A vandalized campaign poster in Paris reads, "You've lost!" Defeating incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande will be the nation's first left-wing president since 1995. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – A boy wearing a mask resembling Francois Hollande gestures before the politician's speech Sunday. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Hollande supporters celebrate his win Sunday at Place de la Bastille in Paris. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Nicolas Sarkozy addresses his supporters and concedes defeat Sunday. During the election season, he was fighting to keep his job amid a wave of discontent. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Sarkozy supporters react as results from exit polls and official tallies in the runoff election come in. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – A woman picks up ballots before voting at a polling station in Marseille, France, on Sunday.

Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – People on the French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean line up at a polling station in Saint-Denis. Voter turnout was reported at 73%. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – In South America, a scrutineer unfolds a ballot for "Jesus Christ" as he counts votes in French Guiana's Remire-Montjoly. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – A child looks under the curtain of a voting booth in Henin-Beaumont, France, near the border with Belgium. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Francois Hollande squeezes past members of the public to get into a car Sunday during a visit to Vigeois, in central France. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – A man walks past a local office of the Socialist Party in Paris on Saturday, the day before the presidential runoff.

Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Photos: French presidential runoff French presidential runoff – Sarkozy leaves the stage after his concession speech on Sunday. He was elected president of France in 2007. Hide Caption President-elect Francois Hollande addresses a large crowd of supporters in Paris With nearly all of the ballots counted, he leads with 51.6% of the vote Hollande declares his victory "a new start for Europe" President Nicolas Sarkozy concedes, saying he carries the responsibility for the defeat Francois Hollande defeated French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a presidential runoff Sunday, signaling a shift to the left as the country and Europe fight to dig out of a weak economy. In a victory speech to supporters in Tulle, Hollande declared his win "a great date for our country, and a new start for Europe." The Socialist challenger promised to govern for all of France. "Many people have been waiting for this moment for many long years. Others, younger, have never known such a time. ... I am proud to be capable to bring about hope again," he told the cheering crowd. "Tonight, there are not two Frances. ... There is only one France, only one nation that is united with the same destiny," Hollande said.

The president-elect, who will be the nation's first left-wing president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995, suggested there was a sense of relief in many European countries because of his win. "Austerity can no longer be something that is inevitable," he said. Later, Hollande went to Paris, where he addressed a large crowd at the Bastille. Supporters waved flags and shouted his name. "I know what many people feel -- years and years of wounds, of ruptures, and we have to repair, recover, unite. That is what we're going to do together," he vowed. Hollande congratulated Sarkozy, who earlier conceded to Hollande as results from exit polls and official tallies in the runoff election came in. "I carry the entire responsibility for this defeat, and I'm going to say why.

I fought for the values of responsibility, and I'm not a man who does not accept his responsibilities," Sarkozy said from his Paris campaign headquarters, as members of the crowd shouted, "No!" JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH Why some feel discrimination in France 02:56 "I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people, and more than ever I have the love for my country deeply ingrained in my heart," Sarkozy said. With almost all of the votes counted, Hollande was leading with 51.6% to Sarkozy's 48.4%, the nation's Interior Ministry said. Voter turnout was reported at more than 80%. Exit polls said Hollande won 51.9% of the vote, France 2 television reported. Crowds roared at the center-left candidate's campaign headquarters as the exit poll results came out Sunday evening. Celebratory car horns blared along the Champs-Elysees in Paris. "It's a great night, full of joy for so many young people all across the country," said Thierry Marchal-Beck, president of the Movement of Young Socialists. U.S.

President Barack Obama called Hollande shortly after results were in to congratulate the newly elected president and invite him to the White House. Sarkozy had fought to keep his job amid a wave of discontent over his inability to rein in unemployment. He defended his economic record despite low growth and unemployment at about 10%, saying the impact of Europe's debt crisis could have been far worse. France is a key player in plans to lead the eurozone out of its debt crisis, making the election vital to the region. Sarkozy's defeat marks the latest -- and most significant -- of at least half a dozen European leaders swept from office during the eurozone economic crisis, including the Greek and Italian prime ministers. France's vote came the same day as the Greek parliamentary election. Exit polls in that country indicated Greece's ruling coalition appeared headed for steep losses, while parties on the far left and far right were poised to make significant gains amid anger over austerity measures. Hollande and Sarkozy traded insults last week in the only televised head-to-head debate of the campaign. Sarkozy labeled Hollande a liar and a "little slanderer," while Hollande accused the president of shirking his responsibilities, cronyism and favoring the privileged over France's poor.

Both candidates reached out to France's undecided voters since the first-round vote on April 22 left them the only two standing. Centrist Francois Bayrou, who took 9% of the first round vote, delivered a boost to Hollande's campaign Thursday when he said he would vote for the Socialist and urged his supporters to vote according to their conscience. Sarkozy has been president since 2007. President Hollande | The Economist Socialist victory in France President Hollande The new French president may be more open to austerity, and less able to bring a change of course in Europe, than his public expects May 12th 2012 Tweet THE huge crowd gathered in Place de la Bastille had to wait until late into the night before it actually glimpsed in the flesh the man it had come to celebrate. François Hollande gave his first victory speech in Tulle, his sleepy constituency in deeply rural France, in the early evening of May 6th, soon after it was announced that he had beaten Nicolas Sarkozy by 51.6% to 48.4%.

It was the first defeat of an incumbent French president since François Mitterrand, the only previous Socialist president of France's Fifth Republic, beat Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1981. Only after this low-key provincial start did Mr Hollande hop onto a specially chartered jet and head for the capital, where his supporters were being entertained by an assortment of French rock stars. When, a little after midnight, Mr Hollande at last appeared on the stage at the Bastille a huge cheer went up. Hoarse of voice, he urged the crowds to “remember all your lives” this night. It heralded for all of Europe, he cried, that “change is coming” and that there would be “an end to austerity”. In this section Reprints It is a remarkable achievement for a politician who, before Dominique Strauss-Kahn was ruled out by a sex scandal a year ago, was not taken seriously as a presidential hopeful. Since then, the longtime party hack, who has never held ministerial office, has overcome both a divided party and a bland public image to secure the top job. Having promised “change”, Mr Hollande will now step into office on the back of huge expectations.

But quite what that change means, both in France and in Europe, is rather less clear. A red letter day Mr Hollande has promised to “renegotiate” Europe's fiscal compact, which Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, regards as the centrepiece of euro-zone stability plans, and to block the treaty's ratification if he does not get his way. Germany should not, he told supporters on the campaign trail, “decide for all of Europe”. Mr Hollande intends to press this demand at his first meeting with Mrs Merkel, which will take place immediately after his inauguration on May 15th. Hello world Yet, in reality, the French vote was not simply a rejection of austerity. Voters were fed up with job losses and the recession, certainly. But they were even more fed up with Mr Sarkozy.

Mr Hollande promised them both a “normal” presidency, free of Mr Sarkozy, and a fairer society: he plans a 75% top tax rate, a boost to the minimum wage, higher taxation of companies and wealth, the creation of 60,000 new teaching jobs and a lowering of the retirement age, for some people, back down to 60, where it had been until Mr Sarkozy raised it in 2010. At the same time, however, Mr Hollande has promised to keep to the outgoing government's commitment to bring France's budget deficit down to 3% of GDP next year. He has not wavered over this—a first for a Socialist candidate. Although he says that he will postpone balancing the budget until 2017, a year later than Mr Sarkozy had planned, not once has he advocated a deficit-financed stimulus for the French economy. Where he has been—perhaps deliberately—vague is over how he will achieve this. France's public-accounts office, the Cour des Comptes, says that France will need to find an extra €20 billion ($26 billion) in savings each year just to stick to deficit targets.

That is before adding on the spending pledges Mr Hollande made on the campaign trail—which, at €20 billion over five years, were not outrageous, but also not negligible. Balancing the books will be even harder if growth disappoints, as seems likely; Mr Hollande reckons on 1.7% growth next year, but the IMF expects just 0.5%. “He cannot reach his numbers by tax increases alone,” says Guillaume Menuet, an economist at Citigroup. “He will have to do more to cut spending.” In other words, although this is not quite what Mr Hollande told the voters, it looks likely that he will have to implement a form of austerity. “The anti-austerity vote was true for Greece but not for France,” says Fleur Pellerin, a member of Mr Hollande's campaign staff who is now being tipped for a government job.

“He has said clearly that he will stick to the deficit [target], and everybody knows that they will all have to make an effort; but it will be done in a fair way.” To soften up the public, Mr Hollande plans to introduce some symbolic measures immediately by decree: a 30% pay cut for the president and all government members, and a 25% increase in a means-tested benefit paid at the start of the school year in September. Tough budget choices will be put off until a public-finances audit by the Cour des Comptes, rather conveniently due a few weeks after the parliamentary elections on June 10th and 17th. If it concludes that the hole in the budget is worse than expected, Mr Hollande will have a pretext for postponing spending pledged in the election, and perhaps making deeper cuts than his campaigning suggested. Explore our interactive guide to Europe's troubled economies If Mr Hollande wins a working majority in the elections—as seems likely, not least because Mr Sarkozy's decision immediately to quit politics has left the right in disarray—he will have a remarkably powerful domestic position.

The Socialists already have control of the Senate, all but one of the country's 22 regions, every big city and most communes. An important first step towards that victory is forming a relationship with the German chancellor, Mrs Merkel, that establishes him as a constructive force for change in Europe (see Charlemagne ). The spiritual son of Jacques Delors, champion of European integration, Mr Hollande knows full well the need for a strong Franco-German friendship. This is why the front-runner for the job as interim prime minister, which Mr Hollande will announce on May 15th, is Jean-Marc Ayrault, the loyal 62-year-old head of the Socialist parliamentary group, who has good links in Germany. On the face of it, Mr Hollande stands little chance of securing change to the treaty itself. Mrs Merkel, who backed Mr Sarkozy's campaign, has said she will welcome Mr Hollande “with open arms”. But she has been at pains to point out to France and everyone else that a renegotiation of the European Union's fiscal compact “is not up for discussion” any more than the terms of the Greek bail-out are.

Her government has not wavered in its belief that “sustainable” growth can come only from fiscal prudence and structural reform. The quick fix of deficit spending just makes things worse. Germans think the financial markets vindicate this view. After Mariano Rajoy, Spain's prime minister, said in March that Spain would miss its fiscal target this year, yields on its bonds jumped. With its credit rating already downgraded, France risks similar punishment if Mr Hollande strays from austerity. Nothing in Mr Hollande's programme suggests that he intends the sort of liberalising changes—to loosen the labour market, say, or boost competition—that Mrs Merkel would define as “structural reform” (and that France sorely needs). Moreover, Germany would refuse some of Mr Hollande's longer-term ideas: to allow the European Central Bank to lend directly to states, or to create Eurobonds which the euro zone as a whole would stand behind. But Mr Hollande's more immediate requests may meet less resistance, as they are less far-reaching. His four ideas are: a greater role for the European Investment Bank (EIB); the issue of European “project bonds” to finance investment in infrastructure and energy; a financial-transactions tax; and the more efficient use of structural funds.

To strengthen his hand with Germany, Mr Hollande's advisers say that he will promise quickly to pass a balanced-budget rule in France. “Nothing will be possible unless we also restore German confidence in France,” says one. Home and dry? Mrs Merkel's domestic concerns may help Mr Hollande make his case. On May 6th a state election in Schleswig-Holstein strengthened opposition parties whose pro-growth rhetoric echoes that of the new French president. Mr Ayrault's friends in Germany's opposition Social Democratic Party want growth-friendly add-ons as a condition of supporting the fiscal compact. That support is necessary because approving the compact will require a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag when it votes, probably next month. Mrs Merkel is open to a “growth pact” to complement the fiscal treaty that might contain such plans, with all countries contributing to increase the lending capacity of the EIB and project bonds backed by the European Union (as long as member states do not end up liable). She would support a Europe-wide financial-transactions tax. Mr Hollande's aides have suggested that he might consider a treaty “complemented” by such a growth compact to have been “renegotiated”, as long as its contents are not merely cosmetic.

This would seem to offer a compromise which would leave the two leaders happy. Both are sober and methodical, and thus a better match for each other than Mr Sarkozy was for Mrs Merkel. But there is a large Greek fly in the ointment. A “renegotiation” of the sort being contemplated does nothing to sort out the mess in Greece. Mrs Merkel is adamant that there is no option for Greece but to follow the strictures of the previously agreed bail-out package, or go under. Mr Hollande's position is still unclear. If he agrees with her, what price his position as a new European counterweight, let alone his credibility at home as a man opposed to doctrinaire austerity? But if he disagrees, a rift opens up at the heart of Europe.

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Question: Who was the first socialist President of France?
Answer: Francois Mitterrand