Interviewed by the Guardian and five other European newspapers from France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland, Hollande also called for monthly meetings of the national leaders of the 17 eurozone countries to end the cycle of "so-called 'last-chance' summits", which he said in the past had led only to "fleeting successes".
He said domestic electoral considerations should not get in the way of solving the euro-crisis. Merkel "is very sensitive to questions of internal politics and to the demands of her parliament. I understand that, and can respect that. But we all have our own public opinion. Our common responsibility is to put Europe's interests first."
France's first socialist president for 17 years also rejected the idea that Germany was the only nation putting its hand in its pocket for everyone else.
"We're all taking part in this solidarity. The French, the Germans, just like all the Europeans in the ESM [the eurozone's new rescue fund]. Let's stop thinking that there's only one country who's going to pay for the others. That's false. However, I know the sensitivity of our German friends to the problem of supervision. Whoever pays should control, whoever pays should sanction. I agree. But budgetary union should be completed by a partial mutualisation of debts through eurobonds."
Hollande's assertion of the need for the eurozone to pool some of its debt through eurobonds challenged one of Merkel's red lines. She has repeatedly refused to countenance the proposal and there is scant chance of her shifting that position as she moves into an election year.
"We are near, very near, to an end to the eurozone crisis," said Hollande. But decisions taken at the last EU summit in June had to be implemented "as fast as possible".
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Greece has reached an agreement on "most of the core measures" to secure the release of the next €31bn tranche of its bailout as Europe's leaders prepared for a crucial two-day summit.
A statement from the troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund said it had left Athens after "comprehensive and productive discussion" agreeing the broad outlines of the austerity measures Greece will be forced to impose in exchange for the latest payout.
Speaking in Bucharest at a meeting of right-of-centre leaders from across Europe, Greece's prime minister Antonis Samaras said: "I'm confident we're doing everything we have to do in order to get [a deal] and get it soon, so that we can move towards a recovery."
The details are expected to be finalised next week and any new commitments Samaras makes will be scrutinised by the electorate, which voted him into power earlier this year on the promise of exacting more lenient conditions from the troika.
Greece has seen violent protests against the stringent spending cuts and structural reforms imposed as part of previous bailout deals.
Europe's financial markets had rallied on Wednesday even before the upbeat signals from Greece, after Spain dodged a widely expected downgrade to junk status from ratings agency Moody's.
Despite Wednesday's more optimistic mood, some analysts cautioned that even if a Spanish bailout does trigger the OMT, it will not bring the long-running crisis to a close.
"The OMT is a liquidity measure, it does not address solvency," said economists at City consultancy Fathom. "As such, it can only buy time; it cannot solve the structural flaws behind the European debt crisis. A more comprehensive resolution must involve some debt restructuring, both public and private, in peripheral economies to restore sustainability and lay the foundation for growth."
Even the stronger economies at the eurozone's core have seen growth hit hard by the crisis and the German government was forced to concede on Wednesday that it now expects to eke out GDP growth of only 1% in 2013, not the 1.6% it had forecast.
Economy minister Philipp Rösler said: "Germany is navigating stormy waters because of the European sovereign debt crisis and an economic weakening in emerging nations in Asia and Latin America." But he insisted: "We are still talking about 1% growth, so there's no talk about a crisis for Germany.
Merkel 1 Barrosa are now pushing for the full creation of a European Superstate. There is of course one flaw in their now clear ambition, the people of Europe don't want it. So now what, World War 3 ?
Thousands of supporters of the militant communist-aligned trade union, PAME, have converged on Omonia square, their angry anti-austerity denouncements wafting over Athens.
The demonstrators will march on parliament ahead of another mass gathering of protestors from the public and private sector who are currently amassing at the Pedio tou Ario park.
Unions representing striking civil servants and private sector employees say perhaps more than any other protest to date, today’s is “fundamentally crucial” for the message it will send to EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
Tania Karayiannis at the union of civil servants ADEDY has just told me.
Decisions or moves that will lead to decisions will be taken today and it is fundamentally crucial that we send a message that policies that affect not only us but the whole of southern Europe, are just not going to pass,
This pig-headed insistence on applying austerity measures that worsen recession, that kill hope or any chance of the economy rebounding, are obviously totally wrong.
She said that 300,000 families were now without a single person in gainful employment as a result of the policies.
It’s a huge number. In Greece I can say that desperation is growing. I think, now, we have to be more coordinated on a European level to stop these measures.
Angela Merkel is refusing to bow to pressure from François Hollande over banking reform.
Continuing her speech to the Bundestag (see 8.31am for more), chancellor Merkel said that Europe needs "quality before speed" when it comes to European banking supervision.
That may infuriate fellow eurozone members who are desperate for Europe to implement banking union rapidly (as they believe was agreed at the June summit), so that weaker banks can be recapitalised.
As Hollande argued out in this major interview, it is vital that Banking Union is agreed by the end of the year.
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