The French government's decision to replace state-controlled Areva SA's (AREVA.FR) Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon with her deputy is based on continuity, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

"It's a choice of continuity. The credibility of the French nuclear industry doesn't just rest on Areva alone," Sarkozy told journalists during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

The two leaders met in Berlin Friday to discuss ways to devise a new aid package for debt-ravaged Greece.

The French government Thursday said it was replacing Lauvergeon, the long-standing chief executive of nuclear engineering giant Areva and one of France 's most high-profile women, with deputy CEO Luc Oursel.

Lauvergeon's contract was set to expire at the end of June.

The decision to reshuffle the management of Areva comes as the company and the broader nuclear-power industry face growing public resistance in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, following the Japanese earthquake in March.

While Sarkozy said he respected Germany 's decision to abandon nuclear power, he reiterated France 's commitment to nuclear energy, though he added that global safety standards in the industry should be raised.

French nuclear plants are among the safest in the world, Sarkozy said.

Chancelor Angela Merkel, who shocked her European counterparts a few weeks ago when she announced that Germany would relinquish nuclear power and increase its reliance on renewable energies by 2022, said Germany 's decision shouldn't come as a complete surprise.

"It's something that we have already said we would do in the past... It shouldn't be seen as a new unexpected burden for our European partners," she added.
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