By Sarah Marsh, Benoit Van Overstraeten and Andreas Rinke BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a reset in French-German relations to help Europe overcome the "enormous" security and economic challenges it faced during his first trip abroad since taking office to top ally France on Wednesday.

Friedrich Merz made his world-affairs debut Wednesday as Germany’s new chancellor, with plans to immediately team up with allies France and Poland to present a united European front on support for Ukraine and against U.

Article 63 of Germany's constitution, the Basic Law, says that, to become chancellor, a candidate in the first round needs to win an absolute majority in the Bundestag or lower house. Merz won 310 votes, short of the 316 that constitute an absolute majority in the chamber of 630 members.