Francois Hollande facing EU fiscal pact battle
French President-elect Francois Hollande is to start work on forming a new government, after telling supporters his victory gave hope of an end to austerity.
Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in eurozone member-countries to focus on promoting growth.
Mrs Merkel congratulated the president-elect by phone and invited him to Berlin to hold talks soon, but she warned the fiscal compact was "not up for grabs".
Hugh Schofield reports.
08 May 2012
- From the section Europe