France's Hollande says his ideas winning in Europe

(Reuters) - France's Socialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande welcomed Germany's call for growth measures on Saturday as a sign Europe was accepting his warnings of the risk of austerity.

Hollande, on course to win next weekend's presidential runoff against President Nicolas Sarkozy, insisted German Chancellor Angela Merkel would eventually accept his proposal to renegotiate a German-inspired budget discipline pact.

In an interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung on Saturday, Merkel said she was ready to bolster the European Investment Bank (EIB) and use EU infrastructure funds more flexibly - two of the proposals put forward by Hollande to boost growth.