Francois Hollande, who dubbed himself “Mr. Normal” during the presidential election campaign, Tuesday moved into Elysee Palace following his May 6 victory over right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy. With his elegantly turned out partner Valerie Trierweiler standing nearby, Hollande vowed during his swearing-in ceremony as the new French president to govern with “dignity and simplicity”, contrasting his style with the flashy Sarkozy. In his inaugural address, Hollande called for a European pact for growth to balance German-driven austerity measures. Sworn in with all the pomp of the French Republic, Hollande won support from Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who vowed to use their parliamentary blocking power to delay ratifying a European budget discipline treaty until Chancellor Angela Merkel accepts accompanying measures to boost growth and jobs. “I will propose to our partners a pact that will tie the necessary reduction of our public debt to the indispensable stimulation of our economies,” Hollande said in his 10-minute maiden speech. Hollande's inauguration with military honors, capped by an open-topped motorcade ride up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe in torrential rain, marks a potential turning point in the euro zone's debt crisis amid a deepening political crisis in Greece, Europe's most pressing debt headache. Hollande, 57, is only the second Socialist president of modern France, after Francois Mitterrand's 1981-95 tenure, and rode to the presidency on a wave of resurgent leftist sentiment amid Europe's debt crisis and anti-free-market protests around the world. As he arrived at the 18th-century Elysee Palace that is the traditional residence of French presidents, Hollande was greeted by Sarkozy on the red-carpeted steps. The two held a 40-minute private meeting that is traditionally the moment when the outgoing president hands over the codes to France's nuclear arsenal.
