Macron names PM, travels to meet Merkel
French president has busy first day in office
BERLIN: French President Emmanuel Macron hit the ground running on Monday on his first full day in office by naming a prime minister from the centre-right and then flying to Germany, where he and Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to work together to undertake European reforms.
At home, Mr Macron started to shape his government by appointing relatively little-known lawmaker Edouard Philippe, 46, as his prime minister. That made good on a promise to repopulate French politics with new faces and reinforced the generational shift under Mr Macron, who at 39 is France’s youngest president.
Then, a large crowd outside the chancellery welcomed Mr Macron to Berlin, with some waving European Union flags. Mr Macron and Ms Merkel were all smiles inside, and the German leader declared that “Europe will only do well if there is a strong France, and I am committed to that”.
Germany and France have traditionally been the motor of European integration, but the relationship has become increasingly lopsided in recent years as France struggled economically.
German leaders were hugely relieved by the independent centrist’s rout of far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the May 7 presidential runoff, and now they hope that Mr Macron can deliver the economic upturn that his predecessors couldn’t.
Ms Merkel called for “new dynamism” in the countries’ relationship. She said she was “aware of the responsibility, at a very critical moment for the European Union, to take the right decisions together”.
The 28-nation EU faces complex divorce proceedings with the United Kingdom, its current No 2 economy. When the UK leaves the bloc in 2019, France will be the EU’s only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Mr Macron made clear his determination to tackle his country’s problems.
“The French agenda will be an agenda of reform in the coming months, in economic, social and educational terms,” he said. “Not because Europe requests it, but because France needs it.”
France, he said, “is today the only big country in the EU that, for more than 30 years, has not succeeded in beating the problem of mass unemployment”.
Mr Macron also declared there needs to be “a Europe that protects our citizens better”.
The president faces his first big test next month in legislative elections that will determine how far he is able to advance his reform agenda. He is the first president of modern France to come neither from the mainstream left nor the right parties.
Mr Philippe, the mayor of the Normandy port of Le Havre, is a trained lawyer and an author of political thrillers. He is a member of the Republicans, a mainstream-right party whose candidate Mr Macron beat in the first round of the election.
Mr Philippe could possibly attract other Republicans to Mr Macron’s cause. Alain Juppe, a former prime minister, called Mr Philippe “a man of great talent” with “all the qualities to handle the difficult job”.
Mr Macron also is siphoning off support from lawmakers on the left. At least 24 Socialists are now campaigning for reelection under the banner of Mr Macron’s Republic on the Move party.
Ms Merkel, quoting German writer Hermann Hesse, said “a magic dwells in each beginning”.
“Of course, this magic only remains if there are results,” she added. “We both know that.”