François Hollande sworn in as new President of France

PanARMENIAN.Net - François Hollande was sworn in as the new president of France on Tuesday, May 15, assuming the role amid a period of financial turmoil across Europe, CNN reports.

Hollande becomes France's first Socialist president since François Mitterrand left office in 1995. He secured election victory earlier this month over the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the most U.S.-friendly French presidents in decades.

The new president's approach to France's economic challenges is likely to reverberate across Europe as the continent wrestles with an unyielding debt crisis.

Hollande has unsettled investors with his criticism of the austerity policies central to European bailout deals for troubled economies like Greece and Ireland.

As the leader of the euro zone's second-largest economy after Germany, his opinion matters. And analysts are waiting to see what kind of relationship he and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, are able to establish.

In an indication of the urgency of the challenges Europe faces, Hollande will travel to Berlin to meet with Merkel shortly after his inauguration.

Hollande will plunge straight into a string of engagements with world leaders.

Major events in the coming days and weeks include a Group of Eight meeting and NATO summit this month followed by a G-20 gathering and a European Council meeting in June. His approach is expected to make an impact in Afghanistan as well as Turkey and the Middle East.

During the election campaign, he pledged to withdraw all French combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

He can expect NATO leaders to urge him to change or soften his position when he attends a summit in Chicago this month, the focus of which will be on Afghanistan.

Relations between Turkey and France have been tense because of Sarkozy's apparent opposition to Turkey's becoming a member of the European Union. Legislation passed during his presidency that made the denial of the Armenian Genocide a crime also raised hackles in Ankara.

Some observers expect Hollande to show slightly more flexibility on Turkey.