SOCIALIST Francois Hollande has been sworn in at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy greeted Hollande in the courtyard of the presidential palace and after shaking hands the two went into a private meeting for the handover of France's nuclear codes.
Hollande, 57, was then officially sworn in following that meeting, having defeated right-winger Sarkozy in an election on May 6 with 51.6 percent of the vote.
The ceremony itself was relatively simple, with no other heads of state invited, and Hollande accompanied only by his partner, journalist Valerie Trierweiler.
Afterwards, Hollande was due to take an open-topped ride up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, with crowds gathered along the route.
In separate ceremonies, Hollande will then pay tribute to 19th-century educational reformer Jules Ferry - father of France's free, secular education system - and to Marie Curie, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist.
Later today Hollande will fly to Berlin, where he faces an uncertain reception from Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Hollande has vowed to refocus European economic policy on growth by re-opening talks on a fiscal pact agreed in March that aims to control European debt by enshrining greater budget discipline.
The deal was Merkel's brainchild and she has repeatedly insisted since Hollande's election that the pact, signed by 25 of the 27 EU countries and already ratified in some, is not open to renegotiation.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/francois-hollande-sworn-in-as-president-of-france/story-e6frg6so-1226356620133
