Emmanuel Macron (born 21 December 1977) was President of France from 14 May 2017, succeeding Francois Hollande. Macron, formerly a member of the Socialist Party of France and Minister of the Economy, led the centrist En Marche! movement to victory in both the 2017 presidential election and the 2017 National Assembly elections, marking the rapid decline of the center-left Socialist Party of France and its conservative The Republicans opposition and the rise of the parties of the far-right, radical center, and far-left.
Biography[]
Early career[]
Macron during a 3 May 2017 debate
Emmanuel Macron was born in Amiens, France on 21 December 1977, and he gained a master's degree in public affairs at Sciences Po before graduating from the École nationale d'administration in 2004 to become a civil servant. From 2004 to 2008, he served as Inspector of Finances in the Ministry of Economy, serving in that position as a member of the Socialist Party of France. In 2008, he left to work as an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque, and he became an independent in 2009. In 2014, Prime Minister Manuel Valls appointed Macron as Minister of the Economy, Industry, and Digital Affairs, and he resigned from the government on 30 August 2016 to prepare for the presidential election that upcoming year. Macron founded the centrist En Marche! party, which advocated progressivism and centrism in a fashion similar to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 United States presidential election. Macron was liked by many people for his moderate views, as he had belonged to the right-wing faction of the Socialist Party, and had worked as a banker; however, his opponents pointed out that he had never run for public office before, and that he was married to his former drama teacher, who was 24 years his senior. On 23 April 2017, Macron won 24.01% of the popular vote in the first round of the French presidential election, qualifying him to run against National Front candidate Marine Le Pen in the final round in May. On 7 May 2017, he won the presidency with 65% of the popular vote, decisively defeating Le Pen.
Presidency[]
Macron appointed the moderate conservative Le Havre mayor Edouard Philippe as his Prime Minister, and his En Marche! party won a substantial majority of National Assembly seats in the 2017 legislative election, winning 49.11% of the vote in the second round of elections. Macron passed anti-trade union laws that gave companies more flexibility on working hours and pay, banned elective representatives from hiring family members, and urged international cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State. The reduction in housing benefit, the nationalization of the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, and his confrontations with the Defense Ministry caused his popularity to drop from 64% in June 2017 to 40% in August 2017. Starting in November 2018, the populist Yellow vests movement began violent protests in Paris and across France, protesting a proposed fuel tax, traffic enforcement cameras, austerity measures, globalism, and neoliberalism; activists and protestors from both the far-right and far-left created chaos due to their shared opposition to Macron's centrist government.