EMMANUEL Macron was inaugurated as France’s new president at the Élysée Palace yesterday and immediately declared his mission to fight terrorism and shake up French and European politics.
Macron takes charge of a nation that, when the UK leaves the European Union (EU), will become the only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
At 39, he is the youngest president in the country’s history and the eighth president of France’s Fifth Republic, created in 1958, and currently the third largest economy of the EU.
A former economy minister with pro-business, pro-European views, he is the first French president who does not originate from one of the country’s two mainstream parties.
He met for an hour with his predecessor, Francois Hollande, in the president’s office, taking the last few minutes to discuss the most sensitive issues facing France, including the country’s nuclear codes.
In a visibly moving moment for both, Macron accompanied Hollande to his car, shaking hands and applauding him, along with the employees of the French presidency who gathered in the courtyard of the Parisian palace.
The two men had known each other well; Macron was Hollande’s former adviser, then his economy minister from 2014 to 2016, when Macron quit the Socialist government to launch his own independent presidential bid.
In his inauguration speech, 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.
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.
France is a founding member of the 28-strong bloc, which the UK plans to leave in 2019.
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