Emmanuel Macron Exploratory Essay

Introduction

Many people knew Emmanuel Macron in 2014 when he appeared in the French political scene in 2014. Before this time, Macron had been working as the deputy secretary general of the presidency and was later nominated to serve as the Minister for Economy, Industry and Digital Data. He was formerly an investment banker and it is right to state that Macron has had a successful and flourishing career. Macron surprised many because when he entered the political scene, he was young, inexperienced politically and did not have any political party rank. This paper will discuss Emmanuel Macron’s life, early professional career and political rise, education and achievements among other issues.

Early Professional Career and Political Rise

Shortly after completing his studies in 2004, Macron got a job in the French ministry of economy as a finance inspector. He was the deputy rapporteur for the commission that was tasked with improving the growth of the French economy (Gill, 2017). The commission was headed by Jacques Attali, and that was in 2007. In 2008, he was offered a highly paying job by Rothschild & Cie Banque where he was to work as an investment banker. At the time, he was working in a government job, which meant that he was bound to a contract. To take up this job, he had to buy out his contract out of the government by paying 50,000 pounds.

At the bank, he demonstrated the capacity for learning quickly. Through his hard work, he rose through ranks and finally became the managing director (Costa, Cotta & Tavares, 2017). He is known to be the one who advised nestle to acquire Pfizer in 2012. While working for Rothschild, he started working with Hollande. He campaigned for him during the nominations of the socialist party for the presidential campaign in 2012. Hollande went ahead to win the presidency. After that, Macron joined the administration of Hollande as the deputy chief of staff and as the senior economic advisor. From there onwards, he represented France in many summits becoming the face of France. 

Meanwhile, he had also ventured into politics. He had become a member of the socialist party in 2006 leaving it 2009 to become an independent politician (Delannoi & Carson, 2017). In the political circles, he was considered as Francois Hollande protégé who was a senior politician. Francois is said to be the one responsible for shaping him politically. In 2012, he was selected to a senior position in the staff of President Hollande. He was selected to a position of deputy secretary general of the Elysee.

On August 2014, he was appointed as the minister of the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, Technology and Data. He replaced Arnaud Monteborg under Prime Minister Manuel Valls (López Solé, 2017). As the minister for economy, he played a big role in the promotion of business-friendly reforms. He favored free market and reduced the public finances deficit. He was a supporter of the El Khomri law and advocated for the overhaul of the entire economy of the country. As the minister for finance, he was in support of the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA). 

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He started distancing himself from the government of President Hollande despite serving in it. He wanted to break away from the government, but the deadly attacks in November 2015 delayed him (Hussain, 2017). In April 2016, he announced his new movement called En Marche that he had created. He characterized it as a “democratic revolution.” He proposed that his movement was not favoring any side either the left or right but was at the center. He resigned from the government on 30 August 2016 and declared his candidacy the presidential seat.

Presidential Race

Macron announced that he would be vying for the presidential seat in November 2016. This is despite the fact he had not been elected to any seat before (Delannoi & Carson, 2017). His party was not inclined to any side, and his policies seemed to cut across the majority in France. He was aided by the coverage from the media. He campaigned vigorously for the seat across the entire country. He managed to stumble over the leaders who were more experienced in elections. 

The division in the socialist party gave him an advantage. Experienced politicians gave him the support he needed (Macron, 2017). He finally went up to the polls. He was the first one in the first round finishing ahead of marine le pen of the National Front. He beat all the 11 contestants getting 24% while Le Pen came second with 21%. This guaranteed them a second round where macron won with a landslide becoming the youngest president of France ever.

Manifesto, Policies, and Goals

Reviving the economy

Macron stood for and had supported for the overhaul of the entire economy of France. This is because of some reasons including low economic growth, unemployment that is at 10% and a public spending that is bloated (Macron & Brassard, 2017). The public spending of France is at 56% of the GDP as compared with 39% in the United Kingdom and 44% in Germany. He, therefore, suggested that the whole economy has to be revived and to do that, an overhaul was necessary. He is aiming at boosting the investment levels and set a model that will promote growth that is suitable for the environment and social mobility (MacDonald & McMinn, 2017).

Education

Education is among his top priorities. In the areas that are poor or in the poor suburbs, he will reduce the number of pupils of primary school to 12 pupils per teacher (Nichols, 2017). This is in a bid to improve the quality of education and raise its standards. He will also ban the use of mobile phones by children in school. A “cultural pass” for those who are 18 years will be introduced that is worth 500 pounds that will be spent on cultural endeavors like theatre, books, and cinema.

Political reform

Macron strongly opposes the habit of members of parliament working as consultants or employing members from their families. He proposed that he would reduce the size of deputies of parliamentarians and the senators in number by a third (Delannoi & Carson, 2017). This is also to reduce the government spending.

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Immigration

He proposed a creation of 5000 strong force of guards of border of the EU. For one to qualify for French nationality, a qualification is that he or she must be fluent in French (Nichols, 2017). All the religious leaders will be trained extensively on the secular values of France. In addition, the refugees that are entitled to protection will be welcomed and protected, and those seeking asylum will be settled (Plowright, 2017).Those who will seek asylum but fail will be taken back immediately to their nations.

Foreign relations

Multilateral institutions, for instance, the UN Security Council will be fully supported by Macron. He will also support and promote the language of French and Francophone institutions (Milner, 2017). This will enhance the influence of France and act as a weapon that will prevent radicalism from spreading. He criticizes the Russian policy and supports the sanctions that were placed after the crisis of Ukraine by the European Union.

On the Syrian case, he strongly believes that President Bashar al-Assad is supposed to be brought before an international tribunal and be made answerable for all the crimes he has committed. Concerning foreign aid, his government will increase the amount it spends in Africa but most importantly, he will help the countries to be strong and be able to support themselves regarding defense (Parsons, 2017). In general, he will raise the aid to overseas to the target set by Europe to 0.7% of the gross national income.

Defense and security

For the past two years, France has experienced a string of terror attacks. Following that, he will improve the security by reforming the procedures and workloads of the police (Milner, 2017). He will recruit approximately 10,000 new police officers. He will also expand the prisons such that they can contain 15,000 extra inmates.

He will promote the setting up of a permanent headquarter of Europe headquarters. He will also form a fund specifically for the defense of the European Union that will help in the promotion of joint projects concerning the military (Milner, 2017). He also promised to increase the defense spending to NATO benchmark. The benchmark is 2% of the GDP by 2025. He will also review all the military bases that are in Africa to ensure that they carry out their functions properly (Lorimer, 2017).

Energy and the environment

Half of the food that is provided in schools and canteens at work should be organic or produced locally. This is a suggestion of Macron (Parsons, 2017). He will also promote France to be the leader in the development of green technologies. He will also renovate homes that are poorly insulated to a tune of one million. He will also support the agreements that were agreed on during the world summit on climate.

Europe

Macron is in full support of the European Union. He proposed that reforms are supposed to be effected in Brussels and Paris for the problems that are in France to be addressed (Nichols, 2017). This stand would put France and Germany in different paths about Europe. This is because Germany is in favor of a union that is broad and expanded. According to macron, France needs a union that is deeper and more integrated. Macron promised to accord a separate budget to the Euro zone. He believes that the high surplus from trade of Germany must be rebalanced. All these plans would be costly to Germany.

On the negotiations of Brexit, he would ensure that the United Kingdom does not get any advantages from the European Union because they are not part of it. He will demand and ensure that the rules of a single market are implemented to all trade partners (Parsons, 2017). He also supports free trade deals such as CETA. These deals of free trade will ease the rate of doing business, which is essential for France. He also promises to convince the French expats who are in the United Kingdom to come back to their country to participate in its building.

Reform the labor market

France is famed for the 35-hour work. He promised that he would not scrap the 35-hour work. He would introduce legal framework of the rights and rules of labor (Milner, 2017). He, however, would give the firms authority to negotiate for anymore working hours with their workers including payment. The extra hours that the workers will be working for will not be deducted to social security.

He also vowed to help businesses through the reduction off corporation tax to 25% from 33%. The businesses that are failing would not be helped, but training will be directed to those that are not growing (Cole, 2017). The unemployment rate will be at 7% by 2022, a promise by Mr. Macron. The benefits of unemployment will be extended to the groups that are not getting them such as the entrepreneurs who have employed themselves and the farmers. The purchasing power of the people will be boosted. This is by cutting the contributions of social security. For instance, a person earning 2,200 pounds will be required to pay 500 pounds only.

Spend and save

In the five years that he will be in office, he will ensure the budget savings are €60bn. This will ensure that France sticks to the deficit of the European Union government limit of 3% of the total output (Milner, 2017). The servants of the public would be downsized by 120,000 in number. This is to reduce resistance from the unions of France that are powerful. He would then reinvest the €50bn. He would then set aside €10bn for renewing industry. The age of retirement will still be 62 years, but changes will be made so that those in the private sector also benefit from pension schemes.

Conclusion

Emmanuel is one of the most prominent and exciting politicians, the world has had. He is among the youngest people to ascent to presidency at a young age. Before becoming president of France, Macron was a successful senior civil servant and investment banker. Macron has influenced the French economy positively and is one of the most respected presidents and politicians of the current age.