French Ruling Party Raps 'Austerity Chancellor' Merkel

The Socialist Party of French President Francois Hollande pilloried German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her "selfish" insistence on austerity as the solution to Europe's debt crisis.

In a document on Europe released Friday and due to be presented at a party congress in June, the Socialist party accused Merkel of being obsessed with "Berlin's trade balance and her electoral future".

Since his election a year ago, Hollande has vowed to tip the main focus of Europe's economic recovery efforts towards growth rather than austerity.

The European project "is being damaged by an alliance between the Thatcherist tendencies of the current British prime minister... and the selfish intransigence of Chancellor Merkel."

"Democratically challenging the European right involves politically confronting the German right," the document said. Party stalwarts have recently urged Hollande to take up the issue with Merkel more aggressively.