Emmanuel Macron: France's President, his wife, his scandals
Created: 04/24/2022, 09:48 am
Emmanuel Macron is known for his reforms and he always polarizes.
© picture alliance/Olivier Hoslet/EPA Pool/AP/dpa
Emmanuel Macron between his own party, scandals and family - the life and career of the President of France, who has to compete against Marine Le Pen in the runoff on April 24th.
Emmanuel Macron
became
President of France on
May 7, 2017
after founding his
own party, En Marche
.
His
liberal reform policy
brings him a lot of
support
from different political camps, but also a lot of
criticism
.
Privately, Macron is
happy with his
former teacher, who is 25 years his senior and whom he
married in
2007
.
French politician Emmanuel Macron was born on December 21, 1977 with the full name Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron in Amiens, France.
He has been President of France since 2017 and his politics primarily stand for new beginnings.
He left the traditional socialist party Parti Socialiste (PS), founded his own party En Marche in 2016 and ran in his country's presidential election in 2017, which he won with 66% of the votes in the runoff.
In the presidential election in France in 2022, Macron will have to go into the runoff again - as in 2017, it will be against Marine Le Pen.
Macron is known for his reforms and he always polarizes.
Although he received a lot of support from many political camps before the election with his liberal policies, his opponents and long-time companions have also had juicy criticism for the politician and his reform policy is not liked by everyone, such as by the money vests seen.
Runoff election in France 2022: Emmanuel Macron - childhood and education
Emmanuel Macron grew up in Amiens in northern France in a family of doctors.
His father, Jean-Michel Macron, is a professor of neurology and his mother, Françoise Macron-Noguès, is a pediatrician who also works as a consultant doctor for the statutory social security system.
In addition to the politician, the couple have two other children, son Laurent and daughter Estelle.
Emmanuel Macron is the eldest of the three siblings, his two younger siblings followed in their parents' footsteps in choosing a career and became doctors.
In addition, the three still have the half-brother Gabriel, whom the father got with his second wife after he divorced the politician's mother in 2010.
Today's President took his Abitur, which is called the Baccalauréat in France, at the elite high school Lycée Henri IV in Paris.
He then applied twice to the elite École Normale Supérieure, but failed the entrance exam both times, which is why he first studied philosophy at the University of Paris-Nanterre and political science at Sciences Po, the institute for political studies in Paris.
There he obtained his Masters and Diploma while also working as an assistant to the philosopher Paul Ricœur in Nanterre from 1999 to 2001.
Emmanuel Macron then attended the elite management school École Nationale d'Administration in Strasbourg and, despite being initially rejected, graduated as one of the best in his class at the second attempt.
After graduating, in 2005 he was offered the post of Public Finance Director at the Inspection des Finances and went on to work for the Ministry of Finance, where he met Jacques Attali, economic adviser to then-President François Mitterand, who later appointed him to subsequent President François Hollande consultant recommended.
In 2008, Macron moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Paris investment bank Rothschild & Cie, where he also joined as a partner just two years later.
Runoff election in France: The political career of Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron got into politics relatively late.
In May 2012, François Hollande won the election as President, after which Macron left his job at Rothschild to work as an adviser to Hollande on economic and financial policy.
He also took on the additional position of deputy general secretary at the Élysée Palace.
One of his tasks in his new role was to provide a business-friendly counterweight to Arnaud Montebourg, who was Minister for
Economic Affairs
and a self-confessed critic of
globalization
.
The fight between him and Montebourg shaped Macron's entire political career, and Montebourg often portrayed his counterpart as
the president's loyal dog
with no power or opinion of his own.
In 2014, Macron finally considered giving up his job as a consultant for roughly this reason, since he saw no possibility of becoming a minister in his situation at the time.
To prevent a withdrawal, François Hollande then appointed the politician Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs, with Macron taking over Montebourg's post.
The always cheeky Montebourg had insulted the president once too often with a few jokes, which is why he finally had to vacate his post.
This again led to a
media presentation
of this one-on-one
fight
.
In the media, for example, Macron was labeled
“anti-Montebourg”
.
At first, Emmanuel Macron was seen as a reformer who broke with the social democratic line and was Hollande's most important economic adviser.
He was instrumental in a reform package intended, for example, to ease taxes on companies and boost the economy.
Many of Macron's other reform proposals, such as his Loi Macron bill of 2015, have also been heavily criticized by the people and opponents.
After several arguments with the then Prime Minister Manuel Valls and many tense relationships, Macron resigned from his position as Minister in 2016 and founded his own party.
Emmanuel Macron has to go to the runoff: the election campaign and the constant criticism
In April 2016, Emmanuel Macron launched his own political party, which he called La République en Marche, or En Marche for short.
His old party, the Parti Socialiste (PS), saw this and his resignation as a betrayal of the government, and Manuel Valls accused him of a lack of loyalty.
In November 2016, Macron announced that he would run for the presidency, even if his previous colleague and friend Hollande ran again.
As early as January, his newly founded party had 136,000 members and in the first round of voting, Macron actually achieved the best result of all eleven candidates with 24% of the votes.
In the runoff on May 7, 2017, against Front National's Marine Le Pen, the politician finally won with 66%.
Macron was well received by
the
people who have
directly
elected the president
in
France
since
1962 .
His colleagues and former political companions describe his En Marche movement as right-wing populist, and Hollande felt betrayed by his former adviser.
Runoff election in France 2022: Political positions and scandals by Emmanuel Macron
In July 2017, Emmanuel Macron passed legislation to "moralize politics" by barring MPs from hiring relatives or loved ones as staff.
In April 2019, he also introduced the "universal national service", which, from
2021
, will oblige all French people between the ages of 16 and 25 to do at least one month of civilian or military service, during which they should learn French values and social commitment.
When it comes to
commercial law
, Macron is focusing on the dismantling of company regulations and labor law restrictions.
In terms of energy and environmental policy, Macron would like to reduce France's dependence on nuclear energy, but he does not want to abandon nuclear power entirely.
The asylum policy should go faster at Macron.
The politician calls for faster processing of the asylum procedure, better integration and faster deportation of people without the right to asylum.
In addition, Macron stands for a united, strong Europe towards non-European countries with common information systems for better exchange in the fight against organized crime and terrorism.
But the President also had to deal with a few scandals during his tenure.
On July 18, 2018, the daily Le Monde published a video showing a bodyguard of Macron's using
violence against a protester at a
demonstration .
At first, Macron tried to downplay the
incident
, but later claimed
responsibility
for it.
The incident did not do his image particularly well.
The mass protests of the "gilets jaunes" also put the President in a precarious position.
He angered many citizens with his reform policies.
His approval ratings dropped significantly and on November 17, 2018, the yellow vests took to the streets for a demo for the first time.
More demonstrations across the country followed, some with outbreaks of violence, arson, looting and demolitions at the Arc de Triomphe.
The demonstrators called for the betterment of socially disadvantaged citizens and the resignation of Macron, who was described as the "president of the rich".
First, Macron's government reacted by suspending the petrol and diesel tax hike, later he reacted more clearly, took responsibility and promised a France where everyone could live with dignity.
Short-term measures such as state subsidies for the minimum wage of up to EUR 100 per month, tax and duty exemption from overtime pay, relief for pensioners with a monthly income of less than EUR 2,000 and a tax-free, voluntary bonus from employers for employees at the end of the year should ensure this in the near future.
Runoff election in France: Emmanuel Macron - family and private life
Emmanuel Macron married his former French teacher Brigitte Trogneux in 2007.
The couple met when the politician attended the Lycée La Providence in Amiens, where the teacher, 25 years his senior, taught him from the age of 15.
At 17 he fell in love with the woman, but moved to Paris for the love of his parents and to avoid a scandal.
There he passed his baccalaureate at the Lycée Henri IV, which roughly corresponds to the German Abitur.
During all this time, the couple never fell apart and at 29, the politician was finally able to say yes to the love of his life.
The two have no children together, but Macron became stepfather to her two daughters Tiphaine Auzière, Laurence Auzière-Jourdan and their son Sébastien Auzière through his marriage to Trogneux.
The children are from a previous marriage to banker André Louis Auzière.
The couple also adopted a dog from the shelter in 2017, which the politician named Nemo.
The France election 2022 at Merkur.de
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