The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
French leader Macron pledges to fight terror
InauguratIon: Country’s youngest president outlines his future challenges
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 EU.
At 39, Macron is the youngest president in the country’s history and the 8th president of France’s Fifth Republic, which was created in 1958.
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, Francois Hollande, in the president’s office, taking a last few minutes to discuss the most sensitive issues facing France, including the country’s nuclear codes.
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 his determination to push ahead with reforms to free up France’s economy and pledged to press for a “more efficient, more democratic” EU.