BERLIN (Reuters) – New French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences on Tuesday over how to boost growth in recession-plagued Europe, but pledged to forge a joint approach in time for an EU summit next month.

The Socialist Hollande jetted to Berlin only hours after being sworn in to meet Merkel, a conservative, for the first time, arriving over an hour late after his plane was hit by lightning and he was forced to return briefly to Paris.

PARIS/BERLIN, May 15 (Reuters) – New French President
Francois Hollande called for a European pact for growth to
balance out German-driven austerity measures in his inaugural
address on Tuesday, hours before taking his challenge to
Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Sworn in with all the pomp of the French Republic, Hollande
won support from Germany’s opposition Social Democrats (SPD),
who vowed to use their parliamentary blocking power to delay
ratifying a European budget discipline treaty until Merkel
accepts accompanying measures to boost growth and jobs.

BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Five years ago, Nicolas Sarkozy flew straight to Berlin after his inauguration and shocked his hosts with some blunt talk on planemaker Airbus, one of the most sensitive of Franco-German issues.

That first visit set the tone for the months that followed. German officials looked on in horror as the new French president reneged on budget pledges, announced plans for nuclear cooperation with Libya and claimed credit for influencing decisions by the European Central Bank.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s conservatives face defeat in a regional election on Sunday that could give the long-suffering German left vital momentum before next year’s federal vote and add fuel to a fiery debate on the chancellor’s European austerity drive.

North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), a big industrial state in western Germany with an economy and population roughly the size of the Netherlands, has a history of influencing national politics.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Social Democrats, emboldened by a victory for the left in France, attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel’s austerity drive in Europe on Wednesday, accusing her of boosting the far-right in Greece and raising the risk of it exiting the euro zone.

The opposition SPD has so far been reluctant to openly challenge Merkel’s insistence on fiscal discipline, which German voters broadly support, but events in France and Greece have opened up a flank they are keen to attack, especially ahead of an election this weekend in Germany’s most populous state.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Leading German politicians warned Greece on Tuesday that the country would not receive a cent more aid unless it fulfills all the conditions of its international bailout.

An election on Sunday in Greece failed to deliver a parliamentary majority for the two big pro-bailout parties, plunging the country into political limbo and increasing the risk that another vote may be required to resolve the impasse.

BERLIN, May 7 (Reuters) – Germany is ruling out any
substantive shift in its approach to Europe’s debt crisis
despite a rising chorus of opposition to Berlin’s austerity
policies that reached a crescendo in Sunday’s elections in
Greece and France.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking in Berlin on Monday,
rejected the notion that Europe was on the brink of a major
policy shift after Socialist Francois Hollande defeated her
fellow conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek voters punished
ruling parties who slashed spending to secure a foreign bailout.