France's new left-wing government started work with pledges to combat excessive austerity but to manage public finances better, marking the debut with a 30% cut in pay for President Francois Hollande and all ministers.

The wage reduction was endorsed at a first meeting of the 34-minister team, a day after Germany's government awarded rises to its ministers and Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose pay will overtake Hollande's.

Pierre Moscovici, France's newly-appointed finance minister, set the tone, reiterating Hollande's demand Berlin and other eurozone capitals rework a fiscal pact agreed in March, to add pro-growth measures alongside commitments to deficit reduction.

In a highly symbolic debut, Hollande chaired a first cabinet meeting where the 17 men and 17 women ministers agreed to a pay reduction that will trim salaries by 30%, knocking the wage Hollande will earn to just under €15,000 a month.

Only five of the 34 ministers have held national government posts before, but several key jobs have gone to long-timers, including Laurent Fabius, who served as France's youngest prime minister, in 1984 at age 34, under Francois Mitterrand.