Francois Hollande to be sworn in as President today

Francois Hollande will today be making the transition to France’s Head of State after winning the presidential elections and tying up loose ends with his Socialist party colleagues yesterday.

With no previous ministerial experience, Hollande will be taking over a key European economy during a time of crisis.

After negotiating a strict fiscal treaty to deal with the Eurozone crisis, President Nicolas Sarkozy will be handing over France to Hollande who intends to change the treaty.

Hollande will be taking a message of growth to Berlin within hours of his inauguration but Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel may have been weakened by disastrous election results in the Germany’s most populous state.

Merkel stressed that this will not affect her decision to implement tough European austerity problems.

The first challenge Holland faces will be to attempt to create a wider compromise on his approach will finding conformity regarding Greece’s crisis.

Hollande’s initial week as president has been described as ‘baptism of fire’ marked by a full agenda with his first cabinet meeting, a G8 summit, a trip to the US and a NATO conference.