An anti-austerity backlash by voters in France, Greece and Italy shook the eurozone on Monday.

France's president-elect Francois Hollande wants to change Europe's policy focus from austerity to restoring growth, and renegotiate the continent's fiscal treaty.

In Greece, two mainstream parties lost their absolute majority in parliament and the country's extreme left and right parties, mostly austerity opponents, collected about 60 percent of the votes.

Meanwhile in Italy, pro-austerity parties also suffered a setback in local elections.

FRANCE, GERMANY ON AUSTERITY

France's president-elect Francois Hollande plans to make Germany his first foreign trip, but he may not find himself a "bon ami" in Berlin.

Hollande has vowed to renegotiate the newly-inked fiscal pact to make it more growth-friendly and introduce eurobonds, which are frowned upon by Berlin.

Hollande says his victory finally gives Europe a notion that austerity can no longer be the only option.

However, Hollande might find it difficult to win over German Chancellor Angela Merkel to his pro-growth ideas, as she remains a fan of fiscal discipline.

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out renegotiating Europe's new fiscal pact on budget control and austerity, saying the "correct" path of combating eurozone debt crisis would not be toppled simply due to the changing of countries' leaders.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Merkel said reopening talks on the fiscal compact agreed during the European summit in March "simply won't happen," despite repeated calls from Hollande to do so.

Merkel stresses that the hard-earned pact, endorsed by 25 of the European Union's (EU) 27 member states is "correct" as a major way to tackle the eurozone's debt crisis and enhance its fiscal management.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, said he had told Hollande on Monday that the European Union's fiscal pact could not be renegotiated.

Juncker said after Hollande had telephoned him that "It will not be possible to change the substance of the fiscal pact, there will not be a formal new negotiation in that respect."

He adds that "It is possible to add growth elements, not necessarily in the form of a treaty."

However, the election in France gives a clear indication that popular opinion there has swung against strict austerity measures as the main tool to resolve the EU's sovereign debt crisis.

Nicholas Economides, a New York University Stern School of business professor, thinks that austerity doesn't stimulate economic growth or address high unemployment rates.

SOUNDBITE(ENGLISH) NICHOLAS ECONOMIDES, NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS:
"I think the extreme austerity plan pushed by the German government really is not working. I mean, it's clear that it's not just Greece that has problems. There are problems across the whole of Europe. And there is a lot of resentment to this program but also, there is economic thinking that this is not the best solution."

Economides warns that the debt crisis is not over, and that current measures are not enough to fully tackle the problems.

SOUNDBITE(ENGLISH) NICHOLAS ECONOMIDES, NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS:
"The debt problem has not been resolved. To a large extent it was passed from sovereign debt to bank debt but it's still there. And I'm afraid that the leaders of the European Union, especially in the euro area France and Germany, especially Germany, did not fully comprehend or do not want to admit the full extent of the crisis. So because of that, they took only half measures. They created a rescue fund which is way too small than what is needed."

Economides expects both Hollande and Merkel to step forward in a move to build a workable relationship, as the German-French relations will chart the course of the eurozone's journey out of its paralyzing debt crisis and the eurozone's future.

France's presidential election was echoed by the Greek general election result.

Greece is the country where Europe's sovereign debt crisis began in 2009.

And the country has now  been thrown into turmoil after the leader of the victorious conservative New Democracy party failed to form a government.

GREEK COALITION DEADLOCK

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras on Monday held a round of separate talks with the leaders of the parties that entered the new parliament, but ended up without consensus.

Samaras supports salary and pension cuts to gain international bailouts, but several parties which opposed to the country's austerity measures won about 50 percent of the seats.

Samaras has received a three-day exploratory mandate by Greek President Karolos Papoulias to form a coalition government.

Next in line to try to form a government will be leftist SYRIZA coalition leader Alexis Tsipras, whose party came second on a platform of rejecting the austerity conditions of Greece's latest bailout programme.
  
If he fails, the mandate will be given to the head of the third-placed PASOK socialist party.

If all efforts fail, the president will summon all party leaders in a final attempt to form a government, before calling a second round of elections, most likely in mid-June.

Outgoing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, the technocrat who headed the ND-PASOK interim coalition administration since November, will hand the Greek president his resignation.

But according to Greek national broadcaster NET, Papademos is expected to be asked to carry on with his duties as a transitional premier until the new administration is formed.

A key factor in the election's fractured result was a record high abstention rate of 35 percent.

This has been attributed to the disillusionment of many Greeks with parties over their handling of the debt crisis that since late 2009.

With the exception of traditionally strong parties that support harsh austerity measures, most new parties that made it into the new chamber denounce the belt-tightening.
  
Voters frustrated with record high unemployment, serious recession and salary cuts have voted into parliament a strong anti-austerity bloc of parties.

Greece faces continuing pressure from international creditors to meet commitments under the bailout deal in the next few weeks and months.

However, markets are fearing that the new government will change course, which might lead to a possible Greek disorderly default and exit from the eurozone.

Economides worries that if Greece leaves the eurozone, there will be a ripple effect that spreads throughout the bloc, causing financial meltdown.

SOUNDBITE(ENGLISH) NICHOLAS ECONOMIDES, NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS:
"The fact that the crisis has not been solved and the worst case is in Greece, creates the possibility that some member states will leave the euro. There is a significant probability right now that something will go wrong in Greece and Greece will -- voluntarily or involuntarily or who knows how -- leave the euro. If Greece does do that, I think it's likely that other European states are going to leave the euro as well such as Portugal, Ireland, maybe Spain and Italy. So that would be a total disaster."

Italy, the eurozone's third largest economy, also held a two-day local election across the country that closed on Monday.

Several candidates in local elections who opposed austerity had a strong showing.

ITALIAN LOCAL ELECTION

Exit polls have showed that center-right parties have suffered setbacks.
  
And center-left forces appeared to be the biggest winners in the first election since Prime Minister Mario Monti's emergency government of technocrats took office last November.

As a sign of voters' disgruntlement at widespread corruption in the political world, the Five-star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo that opposes mainstream political leaders captured a significant share of the votes.

Another key factor in the elections was the low turnout of 66.9 percent, with voter numbers dropping by nearly 7 percent compared with the last local elections.

STANDUP (ENGLISH) SONG JIAN, CNC CORRESPONDENT:
"Over nine million citizens, around 20 percent of the total Italian electorate, were eligible to vote in nearly 1,000 municipalities across the country. According to local analysts, the elections will provide a first test to Prime Minister Mario Monti's increasingly unpopular rigor reforms. And the vote may also help provide a scenario of Italians' mood ahead of the general vote next year."