Sarkozy sworn in as France president
(AP)Updated: 2007-05-16

PARIS - Nicolas Sarkozy took office as France's president on Wednesday, waving farewell to outgoing leader Jacques Chirac and promising to move quickly and boldly to equip the nation for a new era.

Chirac, ending 12 years in power, transferred the nuclear codes to President Sarkozy in a private meeting that was a high point of the transfer of power.

A 21-gun salute signaled the change in leadership after the 74-year-old Chirac took leave with a handshake at the entrance of the ornate Elysee Palace and walked alone to a waiting car. Sarkozy, with a clenched jaw, returned the wave before turning to enter his new home for the next five years.

The blunt-talking, pro-market Sarkozy, 52 - the sixth president of the Fifth Republic, founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1958 - won election May 6 on pledges of market reforms and a break with the past. the rest