France24.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and president-elect François Hollande appeared side by side in Paris on Tuesday for the first time since the pre-election debate on May 2 to commemorate the end of the Second World War.
After a bitter election that culminated with the victory of the Socialist Hollande over the conservative Sarkozy, many in France looked to the event as a first opportunity to mend a divided nation.
Hollande, who will be sworn in as France’s new president on May 15, and Sarkozy laid a wreath together at the flame of the unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysées avenue in central Paris.