Freshly elected to the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron now faces an equally difficult Act II: securing the parliamentary majority he needs to make good on his campaign promises to lift France out of economic gloom.
With legislative elections just five weeks away, the start-up political movement the 39-year-old former investment banker launched one year ago on his ride to become France’s youngest president lost no time Monday in girding for the crucial mid-June election battle.
Without a working majority, Macron could quickly become a lame-duck president, unable to push through labor reforms and other measures he promised to the broadly disgruntled electorate.
The transfer of power to Macron will take place Sunday, outgoing President Francois Hollande announced. Macron is already looking the part. He shed his breezier campaign demeanor for a solemn, more statesman-like look in his first appearances after his victory and again Monday, at a sober ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe at the top of Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, with Hollande to commemorate Germany’s defeat in World War II.
It was the first time Hollande and Macron appeared together in public since August 2016, when Macron resigned as Hollande’s economy minister to embark on his presidential run as an independent.
Yet to move into the presidential Elysee Palace, Macron is already preparing his first days in power. Sylvie Goulard, a French deputy to the European Parliament, said Macron would make Berlin his first official visit, with perhaps a stop to see French troops stationed abroad as well.
Macron’s optimistically named “En Marche!” – “On the Move” – political movement plans to field candidates for all 577 National Assembly seats. But it will be contesting its first ever election. As part of his effort to convince voters that both he and his movement marked a break with the status quo, Macron previously promised that half of its candidates will be new to elected politics. That means many of them may be burdened by the handicap of being largely unknown to voters in constituencies they compete for.
Split 50-50 between men and women, they’ll have Macron’s example for inspiration: Contesting his first election, he handily beat Le Pen with 66 percent of Sunday’s vote and tore up France’s political map.
Macron will name his prime minister next week, but could be forced to amend his choice if the legislative elections don’t go to plan. The worst-case scenario for him would be a strong parliamentary majority for his opponents, dictating his choice of prime minister and limiting his presidency. That fate befell conservative President Jacques Chirac when the left secured a majority in legislative elections in 1997, saddling him with Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for the next five years.
Macron’s movement is banking that voters, having elected him, won’t want to see his presidency hobbled so quickly. But that is far from guaranteed. Many voters backed him reluctantly, simply to keep out Le Pen’s extremism. Macron can’t count on their loyalty.
A protest Monday in Paris against Macron’s planned reforms drew several thousand people. There were brief clashes with police and several arrests.