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 Minutes earlier, the German chancellor had agreed to echo Hollande
in telling reporters that the "door remains open" to a deal between
Greece and its international creditors.
Spoken 24 hours after Greek voters rejected the cuts and tax hikes
sought by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in
return for more financial aid, Merkel's words suggested Greece's
forced exit from the euro zone could still be averted.
"That could turn out to be one of the sentences that saved Greece,"
said one diplomat, reflecting the French view that expelling the
country from the single currency zone would have catastrophic
consequences for Greece and weaken the euro itself.
While the final accord struck between Athens and euro zone leaders
in Brussels on Monday imposes tough new conditions on Greece
demanded by Merkel and her allies, the fact that Europe got there at
all after six months of brinkmanship and frustration is in no small
part due to France.
While few doubt Germany remains the senior partner in the region,
the saga has shown that France still plays a counterweight role in
defining the European Union.
 It also bucks a period in which France's standing and influence have
suffered because of a weak economy and repeated failures to bring
its own public deficit under EU limits.
"If 'Grexit' is avoided, it will show that Hollande has been a
bridge-builder and helped avoid a geo-political catastrophe," said
Rem Korteweg, senior researcher at the London-based Centre for
European Reform (CER) think tank.
On coming to power in May 2012, Hollande mulled leading a rebellion
of southern EU states against the bloc's Berlin-driven fiscal
austerity. But he concluded it was not in the best interest of
France's borrowing costs for it to be ranked alongside fragile "Club
Med" economies.
While that choice dismayed many fellow Socialists, Hollande was
quick to see this year that the stand-off on Greece - whose 1981
entry into the EU France had lobbied for in the first place -
offered the chance of a new leadership role.
When Alexis Tsipras won power in January elections, Paris had within
hours offered to be a "bridge" between his leftist government and
the rest of Europe.
"HELP ME TO HELP YOU"
What followed was dogged, consensus-building diplomacy typical of
Hollande, an alumnus of France's elite ENA civil service college.
"I told Tsipras, 'it's not easy for Mrs Merkel'," Hollande recounted
privately in late June of the need for any accord to be politically
acceptable in Berlin.
As the patience of other EU leaders wore thin with Tsipras' refusal
to meet their demands and with his incendiary rhetoric, Hollande
remained convinced that the former Communist youth leader was at
heart a pragmatist who just needed help on the learning-curve of
Brussels deal-making.
"Help me to help you," he finally told Tsipras by telephone on the
evening of Sunday, July 5 as results in Greece's referendum showed a
decisive rejection of EU and IMF austerity. Hollande urged Tsipras
to mend fences quickly with EU leaders.
The removal the following morning of combative Finance Minister
Yanis Varoufakis and a new conciliatory tone in Athens helped set
the stage for a fresh effort to reach a compromise.
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While Merkel could only react guardedly, due to growing pressure
from fellow German conservatives to cut Greece loose, Hollande knew
his firm anti-Grexit line could only win him kudos with the French
left.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared in parliament on Wednesday that
France would prevent any move to eject Greece, and France discreetly
activated some of its best negotiators to help Greek officials
fine-tune new concessions to creditors.
"We don't have teams of technicians drafting the package for the
Greeks," one senior French diplomat said, denying the French were
writing the Greek proposal. "It's more about giving them a hand on
the politics - encouraging them to put in what is possible now, to
do the necessary."
That set the stage for this weekend's show-down in Brussels - but
once there, Berlin took over. Aside from helping discredit an option
of "temporary Grexit" put about by German officials, the French were
mainly bystanders as Merkel, backed by northern, eastern and Iberian
countries, imposed conditions.
"Greece remains in the euro zone - that was our goal," a
weary-sounding Hollande told reporters after the summit, calling
Franco-German compromise a precondition for every EU deal.
While the past few months have shown that France still counts in
Europe, it would be premature to say EU power dynamics have swung
back in Paris' favor or that Hollande will see a bounce to his
still-dismal domestic ratings.
CER's Korteweg noted that for Merkel, the center Hollande was a
valuable "go-to partner" for brokering political consensus across
Europe who also provided cover for diplomatic forays into the
Ukraine crisis. The Germans are anxious not to be seen to be
wielding their increased power alone.
In France, Monday's agreement means Hollande has at least avoided
the ignominy of watching his efforts going to waste and then having
to suffer the ridicule of his predecessor and likely 2017 election
rival Nicolas Sarkozy.
But recent polls show the French still believe it is Merkel not
Hollande who calls the shots in Europe, and that around half of them
would have been happy to see Greece leave the euro zone.
"Don't fall into the trap of thinking the French are massively
behind the Greeks," said Jerome Fourquet, head of opinion at
pollster Ifop.
"Many will rapidly come to the conclusion that all we've done is
stick another patch on Greece's punctured tire."
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; editing by Paul Taylor
and Janet McBride)
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