Macron snags re-election, but what’s next?

PARIS

Emmanuel Macron was re-elected president of France on Sunday, taking the lead with 58.2% of the vote over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who garnered 41.8%. He is the first president to be re-elected in two decades.

In a dramatic victory celebration, the head of state was driven to the Champ de Mars in a cavalcade of official vehicles and motorcycles. Upon arrival, he and first lady Brigitte Macron walked to the podium among a group of young people to address a large crowd gathered in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Macron’s acceptance speech was full of gratitude -- to those who worked tirelessly on the campaign, to volunteers, to his supporters, and especially those who changed their mind to vote for him instead of Le Pen. But it also contained a promise of better things to come.

“Today, you have chosen a humanist project, ambitious for the independence of our country, for Europe, ambitious in its values, social and ecological, a project based on work and creation.

This project, I want to carry it with force for the years to come,” said the president.

Macron has many tasks ahead of him, and he knows it. As he campaigned across the country, the war in Ukraine, a continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the role of current rotating president of the European Union did not hold him up. But the incumbent faced his biggest hurdle of all: being the better-than-the-others choice, as opposed to the best choice.

“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right. It will be my responsibility and that of those around me,” Macron announced Sunday evening.

He has promised “a new era” on the heels of a campaign whose slogan was “Nous tous” - All of us. Macron is aware of the division that had many cast their ballot for him as a protest vote, or one that had voters abstain.

Hurdles

Despite the issues, the first major hurdle to Macron’s success will be gaining a majority in the legislative elections on June 19. Strong opposition will be made by the France Unbowed and the National Rally parties who seek to gain their respective foothold.

The last five years have served up challenges that might flatten many leaders: The Yellow Vest protests struck in late 2018 over skyrocketing fuel prices. They continued each Saturday for months into 2019, only to be followed at the end of that year by massive strikes over pension reform, an issue the president will still have to tackle. Raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65 has not set well with most French people.

The climate crisis is a major part of Macron’s agenda mentioned in almost every speech, as is tackling ecological and agricultural issues. Agriculture makes up 1.7% of France’s GDP, according to 2019 Statista figures.

Brexit -- the separation of the UK from the European Union -- was no friend to France, as well as numerous issues, including those of fishing rights in the English Channel, followed in its wake. Recognizing those rights is a top agenda item as France has the second-largest maritime space in the world. Better support and training for the French Navy is planned, as is preservation of coastlines and the continued eradication of plastic.

In 2017 as a 39-year-old who had been in business prior to running for office, Macron had the verve, but many have seen him as a president of the rich as well as ineffective during his first term -- all talk and no action.

Macron’s win was seen as a sigh of relief, however, by the leaders of European nations and the European Union. The French president is currently serving a year-long term rotating presidency of the European Union.

The war in Ukraine has already tested the French leader and will continue to as it enters its second month. Macron has made numerous phone calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin to demand an end to his invasion and the ceaseless bombing that has already cost thousands of lives.

In mid-February, Macron faced another major challenge in Africa: the ruling Junta in Mali demanded an immediate withdrawal of French forces there. France has had some 5,000 troops installed in the northern Sahel region fighting extremists for the past nine years.

An immediate task also of the president will be to name a new prime minister, as Prime Minister Jean Castex announced last week that he is stepping down along with the rest of his government. The move is more of a tradition in French politics, done to usher in new momentum to the new term.