FRENCH ELECTIONS AND POSSIBLE OUTCOME

France has chosen its new president. Emmanuel Macron, who was introduced, immediately after the victory, on the stage of the Louvre, with the words "France won" after presenting himself in front of the audience, accompanied in his triumphal march from the notes of Beethoven's hymn to joy, the official hymn of the European Union, almost wants to emphasize its European spirit.

A great scenery and a solemn expression for this man who is the youngest president in the world with his 39 years. The announced victory, which earned 65.7% of the votes, against the challenger, Marine the Pen of the Front National, which failed to break through, and which received 34.3% of the votes, potentially the point of reference of a much wider anti-establishment area than its traditional electorate.

These elections took place in a country where such an abstention rate had ever been seen since 1969, and which exceeded 25%, and where the participation of the winners in the second phase was lower than in the first round. One citizen out of three did not express.

Marine Le Pen, the great opponent

President Macron has been struggling with an opponent of all sorts of respect, that Marine Le Pen who, despite having been beaten in the second round with a large advantage, has shown that France is not immune to change. Its nearly 12 million votes have clearly demonstrated the will of the French people to look for a change, for which, however, they are not yet ready. A drastic and radical change, such as the one that affected the United States, leading the candidate Trump to victory, against any expectation, but which has not happened in France. These elections have drastically altered the national political system, with the disappearance of the old parties, in favor of a renewed patriotism, so that the leader of the Front National promotes the head of this new group of patriots. The defeat, below the threshold of 40% that the party wanted to break through, still opens the way for the candidate for the upcoming elections. The candidate, daughter of that Jean Marie Le Pen who founded the Front National in 1972, has clear ideas. At the head of the party since 2011, in constant conflict with her father, who has definitely been expelled in 2015, Le Pen's strength in a country where the unemployment rate reaches 5.8 million people is undisputed.

In her program are clear some points that lead her to be a definite anti-Europeanist, and are in sharp contrast to the European program of the winner.

Far away from the time of father Jean-Marie, who wanted to act as the "French Reagan" in the name of ultra-liberalism, the president now presents a mix of proposals that run around an interventionist and almost no global state.

While Le Pen proposes to leave the Euro, with a gradual return to the national currency, Macron is the most Europeanist competitor in recent French political history; if the leader of En Marche! does not consider immigration among the causes of French terrorism, Marine Le Pen thinks "to stop legal and illegal immigration" especially from Muslim countries, blocking the borders in order to prevent the uncontrolled influx of refugees and immigrants. France has been shaken by Islamist matrix terrorism in recent years, and for this reason the security theme is one of the most heard by the electorate. Taking up to 6,000 border agents and additional 50,000 military agents would provide a protection that at this time is not always feasible.

As far as the fight against immigration is concerned, the far-right French leader is categorical about suspending Schengen agreements to re-establish national borders. These proposals would collide with the principle of freedom of movement of European citizens enshrined in the Treaties but this should not be surprising; on the other hand, the French right is said to be ready to overthrow the Community rules.

The Front National leader proposes a hard line with the stop to naturalization of foreigners illegally entering France, as well as for the ius soli, and a quota entry of 10,000 foreigners per year (but today France receives more than 220,000 a year). She also wants to put a brake on family reunification for immigrants, and that migrants' access to public services will be limited. Moreover, she also intends to drastically cut the number of asylum seekers, take the statutory duration of the residence permit to three years, and tighten the criteria to apply for French nationality.

The five-year mandate started by President Macron will see the ultra-nationalist candidate as the only true opponent of the young winner’s liberalism.

A leader announced

Emmanuel Macron then presents himself to the Eliseo with his "En Marche!" movement, founded only one year ago, when he was nominated for the Presidency of the Republic, but no one would bet on him. A man who had not even been elected can already boast of a book called "Revolution" (2016).

The new France

Macron's victory leads France to be more European, rejecting the Eurosceptic temptation, however strong, considering the remarkable achievement, with almost twelve million preferences, from the Front National's leader.

Europe thus becomes the centerpiece of Macron's idea, and its "democratic revolution", which is capable of reforming the country, with the renewed Paris-Berlin axis, is the key to the revival of the European process. It is no coincidence that one of the first European leaders to compliment him was the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom the newly elected President will soon have his first official meeting.

The Eighth President of the V Republic of France.

France doesn’t lack a surprising leadership in its recent history, in which all, including Macron, use the term "revolution". President De Gaulle, in the France celebrating the grandeur, begins the process of decolonization. Conservative Pompidou imposes a lot of modernization in the country. With the arrival of Giscard d'Estaing, it becomes the decisive engine of the single currency. Mitterand presidency marks a decisive turning point on the left, while Chirac is facing an alternate challenge between globalization and European rules. Sarkozy breaks with gullibility, is the first to question the "French model", and to put into the agenda the need for profound reforms. Finally, with Hollande, it is back to the power of the Socialist Party but is also unable to cope with the doubts that the Front National has been able to ride and that led to the final challenge.

The strength of the family

Son of a provincial physician, he studied by Jesuits at Amiens High School, then at Nanterre University, where he graduated in philosophy. He can also boast a piano diploma at the conservatory. Precisely in the years of Catholic high school he knows and falls in love with Brigitte Trogneux, a professor twenty-four years older than the young student. For him the woman, already mother, leaves her partner and after 13 years they finally marry. He is 29 and she 54. A story that has not failed to provoke inevitable scandals. He does not fail to define his wife "my bride, the woman of my life, my best friend and my teacher ".

Banker, with a strong Catholic education, but progressive in civil rights, very attentive to the moderate public opinion in terms of security and immigration.

A talented but fundamentally inexperienced man, unknown until a few years ago, very ambitious, self-confident at the limit of narcissism, charismatic, with a solid network of relationships leading him to the top to the ambition of Elysée. Son of the establishment, after studying at Ena (Ecole nationale d'administration), where the entire French ruling class has passed. He enjoys the support of a very influential slice of the country's establishment, starting with banker David Rothschild, to Jacques Attali, until François Hollande wanted him as secretary general of the Elysée. and then to the Ministry of the Economy in 2014. In August 2016 he leaves the Valls government to create the En Marche! Movement.

For a fortunate series of circumstances, from the defeat of Manuel Valls to the socialist primaries, until François Fillon's lack of consent following the Penelope-gate blast, Macron succeeded in becoming the youngest President of the Republic in the history of France, and is the true outsider in the French political landscape.

The Reasons for a Victory

Macron arrives on the French political scene in times of unprecedented political and economic crisis.

He argues that France cannot be enough for itself, and that a united Europe is crucial both in the fight against terrorism and in dealing with migratory flows. He thinks that true sovereignty is not national but European, and that closing the borders to protect the country from the risks of globalization, as Le Pen suggests, is annihilation.

It addresses himself to everyone, talking about simplification, decentralization, protection and liberation. Favorable to lowering labor costs through tax incentives for businesses, he wants simplification of the public structure.

He won because he defended Europe without any doubt. He fought his European battle without hesitation. "I will defend France and will defend Europe" are the words he most often used during his electoral campaign, as well as his desire to "join the French, not the right or the left".

Conclusion

In the urns a new bipolarity is born. Macron is a new icon of those socialists disappointed by their leaders, but also of Gaullists exhausted by scandals; even a slice of the left that hates xenophobia. He won the honor because so many voters who did not see him as the dream president decided to reward him to avoid the nightmares of Marine Le Pen, the leading xenophobic and anti-European leader of the far-right Front National party. The leader, who congratulated the winner immediately after the victory, did not fail to point out that the French "chose continuity". The new president's settlement will arrive not later than May 14, the expiration date of Socialist President Hollande's mandate.

There is no party behind him, but the result marks the end of an era. No longer exists the V Republic, born in 1958 under the guidance of General De Gaulle, who, for almost sixty years has guaranteed the alternation between right and left. The Republican front to block the road to the far right had the best. And now, avoided the Le Pen danger, a new phase of the nascent VI Republic opens up. The Elysée is no longer in the right or in the left, but in the desire for a united France. The markets will celebrate the victory of the centrist and reformist candidate, and France, without more bipartisanship, will have to start from scratch.

article contributed by Sonia Russo