Merkel-Hollande first talks not decision-making: spokesman

Xinhua, May 12, 2012

Germany is expecting French president-elect Francois Hollande's visit to Berlin on Tuesday, and the two leaders will exchange views on austerity and growth without making immediate decisions, a spokesman said Friday.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that Hollande will be welcomed in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon, hours after his inauguration.

"The chancellor is looking forward to close and friendly cooperation with the new French president," Seibert said, adding that Hollande's choosing Berlin as his first foreign stop is sending a "very strong signal" on bilateral ties.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is to hear in detail Hollande's views on fiscal discipline and growth and job stimulation policies, and to elaborate on Germany's belief that what Europe has accomplished since the growth issue took center stage in Europe at the end of last year, Seibert told reporters.

He stressed that Tuesday's meeting is for two leaders, who have not met with each other before, to get acquainted and no concrete decision would be made during the talks.

However, Merkel's downplaying tone will not weaken the global attention on the two leaders' meeting, not only because Germany-France relations are the anchor of European integration, but also due to the gulf between their positions on the solution to the prolonged eurozone debt crisis.

During his presidential campaign, Hollande challenged Merkel's prescription to the eurozone crisis more than once, maintaining that it was solid growth, rather than harsh austerity as Merkel advocated, that can save Europe out of the mire.

The Socialist also called for a growth pact, intensifying European-level investments and stimulus packages for debt-laden countries, while Merkel held that the growth on new debt is unsustainable and structural reform, especially labor markets and pensions, is painful but unavoidable.

Hollande had said that once he was elected, he would seek to re-draft the Germany-dominated fiscal pact, an agreement on fiscal discipline and deficit control signed by 25 of the 27 EU nations in March.

Chancellor Merkel, who viewed the pact as the central stabilizer of the eurozone markets, simply answered that "it won't happen."

Some observers said that although faced with apparent splits, conservative Merkel and socialist Holland would finally find a way of compromising, since the Berlin-Paris relations are of utmost importance to a stable European continent and no one hopes to and dares to ruin the ties.

The chancellor "is sure that the traditionally close coordination with France will continue to be the basis for securing prosperity, peace and democracy in the long run," Seibert said.