French President re-elected and challenging new term

With 47.7 million voters (63% of the population) voting in the second round of the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron of the Progressive Party won 58.2% of the vote, while Marine Le Pen of the National Rally Party. increased 41.8%. Although he won, Mr. Macron admitted that many people voted for him because they wanted to prevent far-right ideology and did not want Le Pen to take power.

The fact that the 44-year-old president is centrist, pro-European, will face a challenging term ahead.

Need majority in parliament

One of the first and foremost challenges is that Mr Macron will need a new majority government when parliamentary elections are held in June. In 2017, Mr. Macron won a resounding victory over a dismayed opposition, especially between the traditional left and right.

In 2022, however, he faces a stiff challenge, especially from the hardline far-left movement “Indomitable France” by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the presidential candidate who finished third in the first round. .

Mr. Mélenchon was braced for the legislative battle ahead, challenging the president to appoint him prime minister. The upcoming parliamentary elections will decide who controls the majority of seats in parliament – crucial for the French President to carry out his agenda.

France is divided

Mr. Macron won the election partly thanks to the “loan” votes to prevent the far-right Le Pen from taking power. Mr. Macron himself has acknowledged this.

Many leftists, whether reluctant to vote for Mr. Macron or not, may be even more disgruntled with the Elysee Palace owner as he enters a second term.

The first round of the presidential election confirmed three new blocs in France’s new political landscape: Mr Macron’s pro-European centrists, Ms Le’s nationalist rebel movement Pen and Mr. Mélenchon’s hardline leftist.

The “leftists” and “nationalists” have little in common other than antagonism to the president. The opposition of two-thirds of the voters will not make the new government easy to operate.

“France will remain a deeply divided country. Mr. Macron can count on or have the support of less than 30% of the electorate,” Douglas Webber, professor emeritus at the INSEAD business school, told Euronews.

President Macron has said he intends to start pension reform from the fall, aiming to raise the legal retirement age to 65 – although during the campaign he pledged flexibility.

Ambitious EU reform

Deeper European integration has been one of President Macron’s main priorities since his election in 2017. The president-elect’s ambitions for EU reform include strategic and energy autonomy, reform the Schengen free movement area with better protection of the EU’s external borders and a common asylum policy.

Mr. Macron also wants European countries to develop stronger defense capabilities and is a concrete driver to promote the European technology industry.

To restart the economy, Mr. Macron proposed measures with an economic and social dimension: EU-wide fuel taxes, EU standards enforced in trade agreements as well as directives on minimum wages and gender equality.

The balance of the Russian-Ukrainian hostilities

Mr. Macron has backed EU sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, his government said, will consider a ban on Russian oil imports. However, Mr. Macron has always staunchly supported dialogue with Moscow. Macron is also the European leader who has had the most conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine.

On April 22, he said he “does not rule out” talking with Putin again to find a solution to the war in Ukraine.