Austerity no longer 'only option' for Europe: Hollande
France's president-elect Francois Hollande warned fellow European leaders on Sunday that he would push ahead with his vow to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to growth. "Europe is watching us," Hollande told cheering supporters shortly after his defeat of right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy was confirmed. "I am sure that when the result was announced, in many European countries there was relief, hope and the notion that finally austerity can no longer be the only option," he said. "And this is the mission that is now mine -- to give the European project a dimension of growth, employment, prosperity, in short, a future," he said. "This is what I will say as soon as possible to our European partners and first of all to Germany, in the name of the friendship that links us and in the name of our shared responsibility." "We are not just any country on the planet, just any nation in the world, we are France."
