Germany felicitates Hollande’s win in France election

By Shahab Nafees May 7th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Berlin: Francois Hollande has been welcomed by Germany after he won French presidential election and the country pledged to cooperate with France in forming European Union policies, CBS News reported.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that the common objective of both France and Germany was debt crisis and he urged that both countries would work together to deal with it.

Sarkozy’s defeat may be a disappointing episode for German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Hollande has pledged to seek a renegotiation of Europe’s treaty on fiscal stability to seek policies promoting growth instead of austerity, a proposal that has been rejected by Germany’s center-right government.

Westerwelle made a point in speaking French on the outset of his statement at the French embassy in Berlin, congratulating “France’s new President” in an election that he called a “historic event.”

“Overcoming the debt crisis is a joint objective, a German-French objective. We have agreed on a fiscal treaty for less debt and we will now jointly draft a growth pact that will create more growth alongside greater competitiveness,” he said.

“We have no doubt that we will fulfill our joint task for Europe to be a stabilizing factor, a motor for the European development also with the future French government,” Westerwelle said.

France and Germany combined represent almost 50 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product.

“Europe’s destiny certainly also depends on how close the German-French friendship is,” Westerwelle said. “We Germans seek a very, very close relationship and we will also work closely with the new president.”