After several months of a long and difficult campaign, France has finally elected its new president.
Emmanuel Macron is now the youngest president elect of the French 5th Republic and has won the polls by more than 66%.On the second round of the Presidential election he was up against Front National’s Marine Le Pen. But it was not a classic left-wing / right-wing confrontation.
The main confrontation was between a pro- EU, pro- liberalism, open France against an anti-EU, nationalist one.The former has now been chosen. But the task of the new French president is huge. The country is divided, its economy is recovering very slowly from the crisis and its place in a globalized world has never been so challenged.
Nevertheless, this election can bring a bit of hope to the French population.First of all, we have a young president who wants to renew the political landscape and renew the way policies are carried out.Secondly, we now have a president who – unusually for a politician – has not given empty promises that he cannot possibly fulfill.Thirdly, we have now a president who is looking in the future and will try to help France to push forward especially in the greentech and new tech fields.
The message on May 7th was clear: France remains in the EU and is ready to come back stronger.
The first actions of Macron will be to transform the economy of the country. There is a huge program regarding the labour law.There are also several changes proposed for businesses: decreasing the taxes and social charges to improve employment and salaries, decreasing corporate tax to 25% (instead of the fairly high 33.33% it is now) and decreasing public spending. He is also planning a huge investment program (worth 50 billion Euros) targeting education, research, greentech and new tech, while increasing the partnerships between public and private investments.
Related article: How to Start a Cleantech Business in France
All in all, the second economy of the EU could benefit from this change of leadership. With the UK struggling with Brexit, it seems that Germany and France – which have always been the motors behind the EU – now have a good hand to play. The opportunities will be huge and France might well be the next big powerhouse of mainland Europe…but only if the new president succeeds.
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