German leader’s new Euro vision

Germany’s new president has urged his countrymen not to turn their backs on European unity despite the eurozone debt crisis, and extended a hand of welcome to “people of all origins”.

Joachim Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor and East German democracy activist, was sworn in yesterday after parliament voted him in to office last week.

In his inagural address, the 72-year-old said: “In times of crisis in particular, the inclination to take refuge at the level of the national state is particularly marked. But European co-operation cannot be shaped without the life breath of solidarity.”