French unions pressed President Francois Hollande to prove his job-saving mettle by handing his Socialist cabinet a list of looming company shutdowns that are threatening tens of thousands of jobs at the start of labor talks.
President Nicolas Sarkozy hammered home pledges to get tough on immigration and security as he sought to win over record numbers of far-right voters and whittle down Socialist Francois Hollande's narrow first-round election lead.
France's presidential rivals scrambled to seduce nearly a fifth of the electorate that voted for far right anti-immigration crusader Marine Le Pen, voicing sympathy for voters' distress in the economic crisis.
Socialist Francois Hollande swept to victory in France's presidential election on Sunday in a swing to the left at the heart of Europe that could start a pushback against German-led austerity.