Macron sworn in for second term
EMMANUEL Macron was sworn in for a second term as France’s president on Saturday in a ceremony at the Élysée Palace, followed by the firing of cannons at the Invalides gardens.
In a country where presidents rarely get re-elected, Macron won 58.5% of the votes in the second round against the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, despite strong opposition to his pro-business policies and a proposal to raise the retirement age.
In a short speech, he spoke of the need to innovate at a time of unprecedented challenges for the world and for France, and said his second term would be “new” and not merely a continuation of the first.
“We need to invent a new method together, far from tired traditions and routines, with which we can build a new, productive social and ecological contract,” he said, promising to act with “respect” and “consideration”.
He also highlighted the threat posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and various global environmental concerns.
Among the 500 guests present were former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, former prime ministers Edouard Philippe, Manuel Valls, Alain Juppe and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, as well as religious leaders and other state figures.
Hollande, who threw his support behind Macron in the April 24 secondround vote, told reporters after the ceremony that Macron could not afford to reproduce the “methods of yesterday”.
“What we noticed in this election was that there are more citizens (that voted) out of rejection, rather than out of hope,” Hollande said.
Macron’s inauguration marks the end of one electoral campaign and the opening of another – for legislative elections next month.
Macron will visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg for “Europe Day” today. There are also plans for him to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
Macron, 44, is the first president who does not belong to a coalition government to be re-elected since the formation of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
Macron’s second term begins formally on the evening of May 13 and his prime minister, Jean Castex, is still in office.
Parties on both the left and right wings of France’s political spectrum are eyeing alliances to try to beat Macron’s party – which has been renamed Renaissance – in the June 12 and June 19 votes for the lower house of France’s parliament.
The right-wing Les Republicains held a national council meeting on Saturday.
A newly united political left – a coalition formed between Hollande’s Socialist Party, the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party, the Greens and the Communist Party – is hoping to deprive Macron of a majority in the June 12-19 parliamentary vote.
The once-dominant parties of Hollande and Sarkozy – the Socialists on the left and Les Republicains on the right – have been severely weakened in recent years, in part due to the rise of Macron’s political movement.
On Friday, the Socialist Party sealed a coalition deal with the La France Insoumise (LFI) party to run together in June’s parliamentary elections.
“From now on, we are going to campaign together,” said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure.
The coalition pact between the French Greens and Communists will be the first time the broader left wing of French politics has united in 20 years – but with the eurosceptic LFI in the driving seat this time around.
The left-wing bloc’s alliance has taken shape under the leadership of LFI’s firebrand chief Jean-Luc Melenchon, who narrowly missed out on making it to the final round of the French presidential election run-off vote last month. Melenchon came third with around 22% of votes in the first round of the election, just behind Le Pen. The Socialists’ presidential candidate, Anne Hidalgo, claimed only around 1.7% of votes.
Macron will need a majority in parliament if he is to push through policies including raising the retirement age to 65 from 62 currently, which is opposed by both the left and right. |