Post date: May 31, 2013 10:51:25 AM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel mistakes French President Francois Hollande's for former French President Francois Mitterrand.
PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 30, 2013) (REUTERS) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel referred to French President Francois Hollande as "Francois Mitterrand" before correcting herself during a joint news conference in Paris on Thursday (May 30).
The two leaders gave a news conference after a meeting to prepare an upcomingBrussels summit which follows months of what many consider strained relations between the drivers of the Franco-German duo at the heart of the EU.During a lengthy meeting, the two leaders agreed to propose that the 17-nation euro zone appoint a full-time president and hold more frequent summits to coordinate economic policy. They also promised to speed up the disbursement of 6 billion euros in EU funds to fight youth unemployment.
"Employment, growth, youth unemployment obviously has a great importance in our project and Francois Mitt... Francois Hollande, not Francois Mitterrand, Francois Hollande, already talked about these matters," Merkel said.
Hollande said France would stick to its objective of balancing its budget in structural terms by 2017 and meet new interim targets set by Brussels, but he bristled at detailed suggestions from the Commission at what to do or avoid.
Merkel did not comment directly on the controversy but said France had been given two extra years to meet its deficit reduction target in return for implementing reforms.
Francois Mitterrand was President of the French Republic from 1981 to 1995, the last Socialist president in power before Hollande. He died in 1996.