New French president pledges to fight terrorism as he is sworn in
● Emmanuel Macron also vows to reform the country’s economy
Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated as France’s new president at the Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday and immediately launched into his mission to fight terrorism and shake up French politics and the European Union.
At 39, Mr Macron is the youngest president in the country’s history A former economy minister with probusiness, pro-european views, he is the first French president who does not originate from one of the country’s two mainstream parties.
Mr Macron takes charge of a nation that, when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019, will become the EU’S only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
He met for an hour with his predecessor, François Holhis lande, in the president’s office, for a final handover discussion.
In a visibly moving moment for both, Mr Macron accompanied Mr Hollande to his car, shaking hands and applauding him along with the employees of the French presidency who gathered in the palace’s courtyard. The two men had known each other well. Mr Macron was Mr Hollande’s former adviser, then his economy minister from 2014 to 2016, when Mr Macron quit the Socialist government to launch his own independent presidential bid.
In his inauguration speech, Mr Macron said he will do everything that is necessary to fight terrorism and authoritarianism and to resolve the world’s migration crisis.
He also listed “the excesses of capitalism in the world” and climate change among his future challenges.
“We will take all our responsibilities to provide, every time it’s needed, a relevant response to big contemporary crises,” he said. Mr Macron announced determination to push ahead with reforms to free up France’s economy and pledged to press for a “more efficient, more democratic” EU.
France is a founding member of the 28-nation bloc, which Britain plans to leave in 2019, and is its third-largest economy after Germany and Britain.
About 300 guests, officials and family members gathered in the Elysee reception hall, including Mr Macron’s wife, Brigitte, wearing a lavender blue dress by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere for Louis Vuitton.
The new first lady briefly posed for photographers with her husband at the front porch of the palace after Mr Hollande left. The couple will now live at the Elysee palace.
Outside the Elysee, a few dozen supporters waved French tricolour and European blue flags at the arrival of the new president.
Following the ceremony and military honours at the Elysee palace, Mr Macron was to go to the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, at the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champselysees Avenue, a tradition followed by all heads of states in France’s modern history.
He was also due to meet with Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo later yesterday.
His first visit abroad will be to Germany today, to meet chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. In the following days Mr Macron will have to name his prime minister and form a government.
He has promised to reinvigorate French politics by bringing in new faces. His Republic on the Move movement has announced an initial list of 428 candidates for the 577 seats up for grabs in France’s lower house of parliament in June. Mr Macron is seeking a majority so he can pass his programmes.
Many of the Republic on the Move candidates are newcomers in politics. Their average age is 46, compared with 60 for the outgoing assembly members, and half of them are women.
Only 24 politicians are running for re-election, all of them Socialists.