Francois Hollande spends inaugural night as president with Angela Merkel

FRANCE’S newly installed president Franc ois Hollande insisted that he and German chancellor Angela Merkel would “co-operate very closely” to deal with Europe’s debt crisis, following talks between the two leaders in Berlin last night.

Mr Hollande flew to Germany for the talks within hours of being sworn in as French president and spent his first night in office in talks and at an official dinner with Mrs Merkel.

The meeting was delayed when the French president’s plane was forced to turn back to Paris after it was struck by lightning en route to Berlin.

Talks centred around plans to re launch the Franco-German partnership that lies at the heart of the EU and the euro currency.

France’s first Socialist head of state in 17 years promised to try to renegotiate the debt crisis pact, signed by 17 nations that use the euro – and nine other European countries – in March.

However Mrs Merkel, a key ally of Mr Hollande’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, has warned that it will not be possible to agree a new deal.

Mr Hollande insisted that he would attempt to renegotiate the fiscal pact, which imposes strict budgetary discipline on member states.

He said: “We have to work very closely together. Of course with regard to the treaty we’ll take a careful look at what the treaty will say and we will look at further developing, growing and nurturing our relationship.

“We want to show the relationship between Germany and France will be constant. Both of us would like to co-operate very closely together – Germany and France, but also Europe as well.”

Mr Hollande went on to say that both he and Mrs Merkel wanted Greece to remain within the euro, as he pledged support for the debt-ravaged nation.

He said: “Chancellor Merkel and I have an express wish that Greece should remain in the eurozone and we have to make it possible for the people of Greece to find solutions.”

Mrs Merkel, who had suggested that she would campaign for Mr Hollande’s rival Mr Sarkozy during the election, backed the French president’s stance on Greece.

The German chancellor went on to say that there would be “close co-operation” between Germany and France in the eurozone.

She said: “We are confident that we’ll find a solution to a lot of the problems and, with regard to the fiscal treaty, there will be close co-operation.

“There are current discussions about how Greece can stay within the European Union. We want to help Greece towards growth and are happy to be there for them.”

New figures yesterday showed the eurozone has avoided a new recession, thanks largely to Germany. However, fresh political turmoil in Greece has revived fears about the fate of their shared euro currency.

Mr Hollande has named a moderate, German-friendly member of his Socialist party, Jean-Marc Ayrault, as his prime minister.

No-one was reported to have been hurt when the Falcon 7X aircraft carrying Mr Hollande was hit by lightning shortly after take-off.

The plane returned to the Villacoublay air base outside Paris as a precaution for inspection. Officials said the president and his entourage were transferred to another aircraft, a Falcon 900, and took off for Berlin shortly afterwards.

Mr Hollande’s first diplomatic foray to Berlin follows a post-Second World War custom for new French leaders to reach out to their German counterparts to solidify European unity.