PARIS — France gets a new president as Francois Hollande is sworn in as the country's first Socialist leader in nearly two decades at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in central Paris.
Hollande is to be sworn in Tuesday, May 15 at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT; 4 a.m. EDT) following a handover of power from Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative incumbent voters ousted after only one term in office at an election earlier this month. Hours later, he meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a critical meeting on austerity and growth in Europe.
The French president is elected to a five-year term.
