In France, the socialist president-elect Francois Hollande has spent the day talking to a number of world leaders and planning the transition at home. During his presidential campaign, he called for a new emphasis within the European Union on promoting economic growth as a way to combat the high levels of debts and unemployment. The BBC's Gavin Hewitt says Mr. Hollande has many problems to tackle.

I think there are huge difficulties for him. He has promised the balance of budget within the five years. Yet at the same time, he says he will boost certain amounts of spending. How precisely will he do that? He says that he wants to renegotiate the pact to enforce greater budget discipline within the Euro zone. Yet Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor made it quite clear there would be no renegotiation. He wants to set himself as a leader of a new Europe, being opposed to austerity first but being in favor of growth. Yet how can he do that when so many countries still have large debts?

A group representing about a quarter of Roman Catholic priest in Ireland has called for radical reforms in what it seems as about unprecedented attack on the Vatican's authority. The Association of Catholic Priests meeting in Dublin says the reforms are needed to stem the Church's decline in the wake of the long-running sexual abuse scandals. It says public trust will only be restored by fundamental change, such as an end to compulsory celibacy for priests and the ordination of women.