Emmanuel Macron elected new French President

Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European centrist, won May 7 presidential election. He defeated in a tight race Marine Le Pen, the right-wing nationalist movement leader, who actively supported France’s withdrawal from the EU.

Macron gained 66% of votes, though the number of Marine Le Pen’s supporters was also high – 34%.

Emmanuel Macron, ex-Minister of Economy, who set up En Marche! (translated as ‘On the move!’) popular movement in April 2016, left President François Hollande’s cabinet 4 months ahead of election. He managed to gain a support of considerable number of activists, who not only distributed fliers, but also conducted 25,000 in-depth interviews throughout the country.

Macron pledged the electorate to cut down taxes, to attract investments for environmental measures and digital innovations, as well as to improve the labor market, to strengthen EU borders and add 10,000 police officers. In his campaign program Macron particularly focused on formation of an independent euro-zone budget, finance ministry and parliament, as well as on starting talks on Brexit issue and facilitation of free trade area.