Emanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Economics, Industry and Digital Affairs under President François Hollande between 2014 and 2016.

Born in Amiens, he studied philosophy at Paris Nanterre University, later completing a master's degree in public affairs at Sciences Po and graduating from the École nationale d'administration in 2004. Macron worked as a senior civil servant at the Inspectorate General of Finances and later became an investment banker at Rothschild & Co.

Macron was appointed Élysée deputy secretary-general by President François Hollande shortly after his election in May 2012, making him one of Hollande's senior advisers. He was appointed to the Government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls as Minister of Economics, Industry and Digital Affairs in August 2014. In this role, Macron championed a number of business-friendly reforms. He resigned in August 2016, launching a campaign for the 2017 presidential election. Although Macron had been a member of the Socialist Party from 2006 to 2009, he ran in the election under the banner of En Marche, a centrist and pro-European political movement he founded in April 2016.

Partly thanks to the Fillon affair which sank The Republicans nominee François Fillon, Macron topped the ballot in the first round of voting, before he was elected President of France on 7 May 2017 with 66.1% of the vote in the second round, defeating Marine Le Pen of the National Front. At the age of 39, Macron became the youngest president in French history. In the 2017 legislative election in June, Macron's party, renamed La République En Marche! (LREM), secured a majority in the National Assembly. He appointed Édouard Philippe as prime minister until his resignation in 2020, when he appointed Jean Castex. Macron was elected to a second term in the 2022 presidential election, again defeating Le Pen, thus becoming the first French presidential candidate to win reelection since Jacques Chirac in 2002. However, in the 2022 legislative election, his political coalition lost its absolute majority, resulting in a hung parliament.

During his presidency, Macron has overseen several reforms to labour laws, taxation and pensions; he has pursued a renewable energy transition. Dubbed "president of the rich" by political opponents, increasing protests against his domestic reforms and demanding his resignation marked the first years of his presidency, culminating in 2018–2019 with the yellow vests protests and the pension reform strike. From 2020, he led France's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination rollout. In foreign policy, he called for reforms to the European Union (EU) and signed bilateral treaties with Italy and Germany. Macron conducted $45-billion trade and business agreements with China during the China–United States trade war and oversaw a dispute with Australia and the United States over the AUKUS security pact. He continued Opération Chammal in the war against the Islamic State and joined in the international condemnation of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Early life

Macron was born on 21 December 1977 in Amiens. He is the son of Françoise Macron (née Noguès), a physician, and Jean-Michel Macron, professor of neurology at the University of Picardy. The couple divorced in 2010. He has two siblings, Laurent, born in 1979, and Estelle, born in 1982. Françoise and Jean-Michel's first child was stillborn.

The Macron family legacy is traced back to the village of Authie, Picardy. One of his paternal great-grandfathers, George William Robertson, was English, and was born in Bristol, United Kingdom. His maternal grandparents, Jean and Germaine Noguès (née Arribet), are from the Pyrenean town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Gascony. He commonly visited Bagnères-de-Bigorre to visit his grandmother Germaine, whom he called "Manette". Macron associates his enjoyment of reading and his leftward political leanings to Germaine, who, after coming from a modest upbringing of a stationmaster father and a housekeeping mother, became a teacher then a principal, and died in 2013.

Although raised in a non-religious family, Macron was baptized a Catholic by his own request at age 12; he is agnostic today.

Macron was educated mainly at the Jesuit institute Lycée la Providence"Emmanuel Macron"
Gala France. Retrieved 3 March 2017 in Amiens before his parents sent him to finish his last year of school at the elite Lycée Henri-IV in Paris, where he completed the high school curriculum and the undergraduate program with a "Bac S, Mention Très bien". At the same, time he was nominated for the "Concours général" (most selective national level high school competition) in French literature and received his diploma for his piano studies at Amiens Conservatory.''88 notes pour piano solo'', Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2015, p.193. His parents sent him off to Paris due to their alarm at the bond he had formed with Brigitte Auzière, a married teacher with three children at Jésuites de la Providence, who later became his wife.

In Paris, Macron twice failed to gain entry to the École normale supérieure.Vincent de Féligonde
Emmanuel Macron, ancien conseiller du prince aux manettes de Bercy
''La Croix'', 26 August 2014 He instead studied philosophy at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense, obtaining a DEA degree (a master level degree), with a thesis on Machiavelli and Hegel. Around 1999 Macron worked as an editorial assistant to Paul Ricoeur, the French Protestant philosopher who was then writing his last major work, ''La Mémoire, l'Histoire, l'Oubli''. Macron worked mainly on the notes and bibliography. Macron became a member of the editorial board of the literary magazine '' Esprit''.

Macron did not perform national service because he was pursuing his graduate studies. Born in December 1977, he belonged to the last year when service was mandatory.

Macron obtained a master's degree in public affairs at Sciences Po, majoring in "Public Guidance and Economy" before training for a senior civil service career at the selective École nationale d'administration (ENA), training at the French Embassy in Nigeria and at the prefecture of Oise before graduating in 2004.

Professional career

Inspector of Finances

After graduating from ENA in 2004, Macron became an Inspector in the ''Inspection générale des finances'' (IGF), a branch of the Finance Ministry. Macron was mentored by Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the then-head of the IGF. During his time as an Inspector of Finances, Macron gave lectures during the summer at the "prep'ENA" (a special cram school for the ENA entrance examination) at IPESUP (fr), an elite private school specializing in preparation for the entrance examinations of the '' Grandes écoles'', such as HEC or Sciences Po.

In 2006, Laurence Parisot offered him the job of managing director for ''Mouvement des Entreprises de France'', the largest employer federation in France, but he declined.

In August 2007, Macron was appointed deputy rapporteur for Jacques Attali's "Commission to Unleash French Growth". In 2008, Macron paid €50,000 to buy himself out of his government contract. He then became an investment banker in a highly-paid position at Rothschild & Cie Banque. In March 2010, he was appointed to the Attali Commission as a member.

Investment banker

In September 2008, Macron left his job as an Inspector of Finances and took a position at Rothschild & Cie Banque. Macron was inspired to leave the government due to the election of Nicolas Sarkozy to the presidency. He was originally offered the job by François Henrot. His first responsibility at Rothschild & Cie Banque was assisting with the acquisition of Cofidis by Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe.

Macron formed a relationship with Alain Minc, a businessman on the supervisory board of ''Le Monde''. In 2010, Macron was promoted to partner with the bank after working on the recapitalization of ''Le Monde'' and the acquisition by Atos of Siemens IT Solutions and Services. In the same year, Macron was appointed as managing director and put in charge of Nestlé's acquisition of one of Pfizer's largest subsidiaries based around baby drinks. His share of the fees on this €9 billion deal made Macron a millionaire.

In February 2012, he advised businessman Philippe Tillous-Borde, the CEO of the Avril Group.

Macron reported that he had earned €2 million between December 2010 and May 2012. Official documents show that between 2009 and 2013, Macron had earned almost €3 million. He left Rothschild & Cie in 2012.

Political career

In his youth, Macron worked for the Citizen and Republican Movement for two years, but he never applied to be a member. Macron was an assistant for Mayor Georges Sarre of the 11th arrondissement of Paris during his time at Sciences Po. Macron had been a member of the Socialist Party since he was 24, but renewed his subscription to the party from only 2006 to 2009.

Macron met François Hollande through Jean-Pierre Jouyet in 2006 and joined his staff in 2010. In 2007, Macron attempted to run for a seat in the National Assembly in Picardy under the Socialist Party label in the 2007 legislative elections, however, his application was declined. Macron was offered the chance to be the deputy chief of staff to Prime Minister François Fillon in 2010, though he declined.

Deputy Secretary-General of the Élysée

On 15 May 2012, Macron became the deputy secretary-general of the Élysée, a senior role in President François Hollande's staff. Macron served with Nicolas Revel. He served under the secretary-general, Pierre-René Lemas.

During the summer of 2012, Macron put forward a proposal that would increase the 35-hour work week to 37 hours until 2014. He also tried to hold back the large tax increases on the highest earners that were planned by the government. Hollande refused Macron's proposals. Nicolas Revel, the other deputy secretary-general of the Élysée whom he was serving with, opposed Macron on a proposed budget responsibility pact. Revel generally worked on social policy.

Macron was one of the deciding voices on not regulating the salaries of CEOs.

On 10 June 2014, it was announced that Macron had resigned from his role and was replaced by Laurence Boone. Reasons for his departure were that he was disappointed to not be included in the first Government of Manuel Valls and also frustrated by his lack of influence in the reforms proposed by the government. This was following the appointment of Jean-Pierre Jouyet as chief of staff.

Jouyet said that Macron left to "continue personal aspirations" and create his own financial consultancy firm. It was later reported that Macron was planning to create an investment firm that would attempt to fund educational projects. Macron was shortly afterwards employed at the University of Berlin with the help of businessman Alain Minc. Macron was awarded the position of research fellow. Macron had also sought a position at Harvard University.

Macron was offered a chance to be a candidate in the municipal elections in 2014 in his hometown of Amiens. He declined the offer. Manuel Valls attempted to appoint Macron as the Budget Minister, but François Hollande rejected the idea due to Macron's never being elected before.

Minister of Economics and Industry

He was appointed as the Minister of Economics and Industry in the second Valls Cabinet on 26 August 2014, replacing Arnaud Montebourg in 1962. Macron was branded by the media as the "Anti-Montebourg" due to being pro-EU and much more moderate, while Montebourg was eurosceptic and left-wing. As Minister of Economics, Macron was at the forefront of pushing through business-friendly reforms. On 17 February 2015, prime minister Manuel Valls pushed Macron's signature law package through a reluctant parliament using the special 49.3 procedure.

Macron increased the French share in the company Renault from 15% to 20% and then enforced the ''Florange law'' which grants double voting rights on shares registered for more than two years unless two-thirds of shareholders vote to overturn it. This gave the French state a minority share in the company though Macron later stated that the government would limit its powers within Renault.

Macron was widely criticized for being unable to prevent the closing down of an Ecopla factory in Isère.

In August 2015, Macron said that he was no longer a member of the Socialist Party and was an independent.

Macron Law

The "Macron Law" was Macron's signature law package that was eventually pushed through parliament using the 49.3 procedure.

After the "Law on Growth and Purchasing Power" brought on by Arnaud Montebourg with the aim to "restore 6 billion euros of purchasing power" to the French public. Macron presented the Macron Law to a council of ministers. The law intended to rejuvenate the French economy by fixing regulations based around Sunday work, transport and driving licences, public sector jobs and the transport market. Manuel Valls, under the fear that the law would not find a majority in the National Assembly, decided to push the law through with the 49.3 procedure. The law was adopted on 10 April 2015.

The OECD estimated that the Macron Law would generate a "0.3% increase in GDP over five-years and a 0.4% increase over 10-years" Ludovic Subran, the chief economist at credit insurance company, Euler Hermes, estimated that Macron Law would give France a GDP increase of 0.5%.

Presidential campaigns

2017

Formation of En Marche and resignation from government

Macron first became known to the French public after his appearance on the French TV programme "''Des Paroles Et Des Actes''" in March 2015. Before forming his political party En Marche, Macron had hosted a series of events with him speaking in public, his first one in March 2015 in Val-de-Marne. Macron threatened to leave Manuel Valls' second government over the proposed reform on removing dual-nationality from terrorists. He also took various foreign trips, including one to Israel where he spoke on the advancement of digital technology.

Tensions around the question of Macron's loyalty to the Valls government and Hollande himself increased when Hollande and Valls turned down a proposal for a law put forward by Macron. The law, titled "Macron 2" was going to be much bigger than the original Macron law with a larger aim of making the French economy competitive. Macron was given the chance to insert his opinion into the El Khomri law and put specific parts of "Macron 2" into the law though El Khomri could overturn these with help of other ministers.

Amid tensions and deterioration of relations with the current government, Macron founded an independent political party, En Marche, in Amiens on 6 April 2016. A liberal, progressive political movement that gathered huge media coverage when it was first established, the party and Macron were both reprimanded by President Hollande and the question of Macron's loyalty to the government was raised. Several MEPs spoke out in support for the movement though the majority of the Socialist Party spoke against En Marche including Manuel Valls, Michel Sapin, Axelle Lemaire and Christian Eckert.

In June 2016, support for Macron and his movement, En Marche, began to grow in the media with L'Express, Les Echos, Le 1 and L'Opinion beginning to voice public support for Macron. Following several controversies surrounding trade unionists and their protests, major newspapers began to run stories about Macron and En Marche on their front page with mainly positive press. This was criticized hugely by the far-left in France and the far-right with the term "Macronite" being coined to describe the pro-Macron influence within the press. The term has been expanded among the left-wing to also criticize the centrist leanings of most newspapers and their influence among left-wing voter bases.

Macron was invited to attend a festival in Orléans

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