Emmanuel Macron has shown himself to be a political leader detached from the traditional forces, as a detractor of the left and the right, as a defender of Europe and as a young and risky leader. Despite this, his trajectory has not been unrelated to French political and economic power and his proposals have veered towards one or the other side of the ideological spectrum depending on the context. The current president will seek to be re-elected in the elections on April 10.
Anti-system, liberal, pro-European, chameleonic, innovative, seductive, and even opportunist, are some of the adjectives that have been attributed to Emmanuel Macron. Difficult to fit into the traditional categories of French politics, the current president has made explicit his search for getting out of the labels.
An objective that captivated many of the voters in 2017 and that shook the way of doing politics of his opponents. The flags of change made Macron quickly gain a foothold in the political arena even despite not having stood for any popular election.
So, Macron spoke to the French tired of traditional parties and promised to end pachydermic practices, both on the right and on the left. He assured them a resurgence of France and ended up defeating, in the second round, the far-right candidate Marine le Pen with more than 66% of the vote.
Now, Macron is running for a second term. After giving a long wait to announce his candidacy, the current president will have to face a different France after the social unrest led by the “yellow vests”, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Three milestones that marked his mandate.
The president of the ‘unpublished’
When Emmanuel Macron arrived at the Elysee Palace in 2017, he became the youngest president of the French Republic. A historic achievement, made even more particular by having won the elections as the leader of a political movement that he himself created and that had no elected representatives.
Just one year before consecrating himself as the winner, the current president announced his movement ‘En Marcha!’ (En Marche!) In Amiens, the city of his birth.
Macron was born in 1977 into a family of doctors, his father was a professor of neurology and his mother a pediatrician and medical adviser. He has two brothers who followed the path of his parents. Only he devoted himself to politics.
There, too, Macron took the first steps of his education. He studied at the Providence Jesuit College in Amiens and learned to play piano at the Conservatory of that city. He left the place to finish his baccalaureate at the private Henri IV high school in Paris.
Many years later, that city, in the north of France, would mark the launch of his political career, which very quickly found loyal followers and led him to the presidency.
Now he and his political movement ‘En Marcha!’ They face new elections. If Macron were to be elected, he would mark another milestone: he would become the first president of France with two consecutive terms. For now, the president is leading in the polls.
The ‘anti-system’ within the system
An ‘outsider’, that’s how Emmanuel Macron defines himself. An anti-system detached from traditional politics. However, his trajectory to the Elysee is far from breaking with the classic models and with the country’s elite.
After studying philosophy at the University of Nanterre, Macron entered the Institute of Political Sciences (‘Sciences Po’). An academic journey that ended at the National School of Administration (ENA), one of the most prestigious in the country, chosen by many of those who end up occupying elite French public positions.
A short time later, Macron went from being a financial inspector to occupying the most important positions of Rothschild et Compagnie, one of the most prestigious investment banks in France.
There he was in charge of overseeing Nestlé’s acquisition of a Pfizer subsidiary. A contract that exceeded 10,000 million dollars and that left millions of profits for the current president.
However, Macron left the private sector to reforge a political career in the public sector. One that began in 2012 when he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency of François Hollande. And in 2014 he became Minister of Economy, Productive Recovery and Digital Affairs.
His passage through said portfolio was not unrelated to controversies. The president proposed a law, which bears his name, for “the growth of activity and equal economic opportunities.”
On paper, the norm intended to carry out a large number of reforms such as the extension of the opening of Sundays for merchants, the acceleration of procedures before the labor court or the modification of the collective dismissal regulations.
However, the law aroused the anger of a good part of the French population and even the rejection of Parliament. His detractors claimed that it went against French “socialist” ideals.
The Government even had to invoke article 49, rarely used in France, to be able to dispense with the vote of the deputies and to see it approved in 2015.
Shortly after, Macron left the Government and presented his candidacy independently, but having had a solid closeness to both political and economic power.
Neither from the right nor from the left?
“To be moved by François Mitterrand’s speech on Europe, a few weeks before his death, was it necessary to be on the left? To feel pride during Jacques Chirac’s speech at the Vel d’Hiv, was it necessary to be on the right? No , had to be French,” Macron said in one of his speeches in Lyon.
Macron justifies his continuous ideological leaps with the need to break down the divisions between the left and the right to “refound from below”.
In his autobiography, ‘Revolución’, he calls himself a leftist, but at the same time he advocates “centrism”.
And despite the fact that his lack of definition is one of the aspects that has earned him the support of both sides of the political spectrum, it is also one of his characteristics most criticized by his opponents: his inability to take sides.
Thus, as the portal shows ‘Insider‘, Macron has been “progressive” on social issues, he has sold himself as a “liberal” on economic aspects, defending deregulation, reducing taxes on capital and increasing the minimum wage.
However, the medium ‘The World Order’, He assures that Macron has had a significant turn to the right during his mandate. Explained, in part, as a strategy to win votes from the conservative electorate in the next elections.
Proof of this was the appointment in 2020 of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, a conservative who sympathized with some extreme right-wing movements. At the same time as the Global Security Law and the law against “religious separatism” that would be winning new votes from the right.
The ‘master’ of the image
It is enough to look closely at Emmanuel Macron’s first speech as president-elect of France to corroborate that the leader of ‘On the Move!’ he is a master of the image. The scenery in front of the emblematic Louvre Museum, its slow words and its lighting go hand in hand with the president’s promise to make France resurface, make it shine again.
According Moussa Bourekba scoresa researcher at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs, from that day on Macron marked a break with his predecessor, François Hollande, and wanted to show “the traditional status of the President of the Republic as conceived by the father of the Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle : that of a providential man, ‘cornerstone’ of the institutions and ‘arbiter’ above political contingencies”.
During his political campaign and also in the Presidency, Macron has made constant use of symbolism. He has also created a relaxed but elegant image, seeking to appear young and confident at the same time. Macron pays attention to detail, even in his choice of ties.
In addition, his handling of language has been one of the aspects that come to light in each of his speeches. Perhaps it was one of the great teachings of one of his great passions: theater.
It was also on stage where the president met his wife Brigitte Trogneux. A love story that began when Macron was 17 years old. She outnumbered him by 24, had children, and was married.
Despite the refusal of the Macron family, they would marry in 2007. A relationship that has also influenced their image, which according to the media ‘Le Soleil’ is cared for by the specialist, Michèle Marchand.
Pro-Europeanism, another of Macron’s flags
From the start of his campaign, Macron has defended his pro-European stance. The president set out to strengthen the EU during his mandate and be one of its leaders towards that path. Just arrived at the Elysée, the president visited multiple countries of the bloc that are not usual destinations for French presidents.
Now, Macron has the duty to hold the reins of the rotating presidency of the European Union. A six-month period that coincides with his own campaign for re-election.
Shortly before the war in Ukraine broke out, at the bloc’s gates, Macron had promised a more “safe”, “humane” and “powerful” Europe. The president has sought to show himself as leader and mediator of the conflict, one of the pending challenges with a view to the April elections.
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