Macron’s France

At 39, Emmanuel Macron is the new face of France – a refreshing change from old-style politics and bureaucratised political parties. As the grandees of French politics rue their misfortunes, Macron savours his victory in Sunday’s decisive second round of presidential polls. Macron was quick to recognise the National Front as the main opposing force by offering them an olive branch.

He said: “I salute my adversary Le Pen, I know why people chose to vote for an extreme party. I know the doubt, the fear they expressed”. Macron promised to take on those concerns and guarantee the unity of the country. He identified his three primary goals to modernise politics, recognise pluralism and revitalise democracy.

Many European leaders were delighted at Macron’s victory. Trump took to Twitter in his usual manner, congratulating Macron on his big win. “I look very much forward to working with him,” he wrote.

The spontaneous welcome shown toward Macron’s victory suggests that the outcome in the second round of the French presidential polls appears to have been known beforehand. This is made possible by a clear expression of the nation’s mood in the run-up to the polls. And there is no extraordinary contraption like the US electoral college that declared a victory for Donald Trump even though he lost to Hillary Clinton in terms of the popular vote.

Yet, it is worrying that the National Front, which primarily conducts election campaigns on anti-immigrant and anti-EU rhetoric, succeeded in garnering one-third of the vote. The most common refrain in the election coverage has been that of a France “divided” between the supporters of a narrow vision of a great country’s future and those who believe that France can remain in the group of leading nations through a continued adherence to cultural diversity, economic openness and European integration as embodied by the EU.

Macron’s rise as a national leader at the expense of the mainstream Republican and Socialist candidates proves that the voters are tired of conventional politicians and are ready to give a chance to a third option that was not characterised by the negative values embodied in the National Front’s agenda. Macron – though very much a product of the ruling elite’s grooming – appears willing to shake the inertia that has marked France with economic stagnation under Francois Hollande, the most unpopular president that France has had to endure.

Macron’s election manifesto is remarkably fresh. In contrast to Le Pen’s Brexit-like warnings, Macron’s programme emphasises that the EU remains the best guarantee of peace on the continent. He has been supportive of Nato and the defence cooperation among the EU member states. As opposed to Le Pen, Macron does not envisage a France that shuts out immigrants and asylum seekers. He is a proponent of greater religious tolerance. While he is committed to secular values, Macron opposes the controversial ban on the Muslim veil on university campuses. His manifesto promises the relaxation of visa procedures to attract skilled professionals from abroad.

The outcome of the vote on May 7 is an endorsement of Macron’s five-year economic programme that will see 50 billion euros invested in areas such as job training, farming, transport, infrastructure and healthcare. The plan lays greater emphasis on renewable energy sources to move away from coal-based plants. The corporate tax will be brought down from 33 percent to the European average of 25 percent.

Macron has vowed to launch programmes to overhaul the social sector. These include a plan to merge 37 different retirement schemes into one so as to benefit both the public and private sectors. Such radical reforms, coupled with his ideas on reducing public spending or reviewing weekly working hours while bringing down the 10 percent unemployment rate, might be problematic and time-consuming to implement.

Both Macron and Le Pen announced increases in defence spending and called for a larger police force to combat terrorism. However, Le Pen’s 144-point manifesto was soaked in nationalist rhetoric, ranging from immigration curbs to making it harder for businesses to hire foreigners. Her plans included the large-scale expulsion of illegal immigrants and restrictions on granting nationalities to the French-born children of immigrants.

The National Front misread the depth of French commitment to the EU as pioneers of the European integration along with the Germans. Le Pen’s strident calls to renegotiate France’s membership conditions and, in case of failure, call a national referendum to decide whether to quit the union, scared away many voters. Other troubling ideas involved leaving the Schengen visa regime and the common currency, the Euro.

In the end, the emphasis on ultra-nationalist, anti-immigration and anti-EU policies had relegated Le Pen’s economic plans to a secondary position. It was a take-it-or-leave-it option and the voters showed a clear preference for Macron’s more positive and comprehensive plan to pull out France from economic stagnation and social polarisation.

After celebrations over his victory subside, Emmanuel Macron has to plug some fundamental loopholes in his political strategy for the parliamentary elections scheduled for June. It is still unknown how the new president plans to negotiate with the Socialist party’s oligarchs. He has already resigned from the leadership of En Marche – the movement he founded to contest the election.

The field is also wide open for the nomination of the next prime minister who, in turn, will spearhead the vast programme of legislation needed to implement Macron’s election agenda. At this juncture, suffice it to say that Macron enjoys wide powers, including that of appointing the prime minister. This makes him a powerful executive president, much to the envy of many leaders across the world.

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