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06.02.2015 International

Hollande vows to unite France

By GNA
Hollande vows to unite France
06.02.2015 LISTEN

President Francois Hollande
Paris, Feb. 5, (dpa/GNA) - The spirit of solidarity that followed the terrorist attacks on Paris in January should be prolonged in order to bring the country forward, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday.

"The spirit of the month of January is the unity of the republic," Hollande said at a major press conference in Paris, the fifth time he has faced a large number of reporters since taking office. "I have to prolong that spirit with the government."

He announced new laws by the summer to strengthen security following the attacks on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in which 17 people were killed.

"The state must act with the greatest firmness, but with respect for the law," he said.

He pledged to continue with reforms to the economy and announced a new "national economic development agency" for the regions.

He said that his presidency would be judged on the level of unemployment by the time he was preparing to leave office, saying he would renew his efforts to reduce it. If he failed, he said he would not stand again for the presidency.

Hollande made his speech as the European Commission urged further savings from his government on Thursday.

Finance, Taxation and Customs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici demanded France shave its current account deficit by 0.5 percentage points instead of the 0.3-per-cent reduction the French government had previously announced.

The commission was working under the assumption that the French economy had improved.

Hollande also promised to modernize France's nuclear deterrent in his speech.

Turning to international affairs, he said Greece was "a challenge."

"France's role is to find a solution [to Greece's economic problems]," he said.

Announcing that he would travel to Kiev with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to coincide with a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Hollande said he would push for a solution that is "based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Hollande and Merkel's surprise visit to Ukraine is seen as part of an effort to step up the diplomatic pressure on the Kiev government to find a resolution to the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine.

GNA

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