Emmanuel Macron (44) was officially sworn in for his second term as president of France today. In the second round of the French presidential election, almost two weeks ago, he defeated his right-wing challenger Marine Le Pen, although the support he received from voters was much less than five years ago.
The ceremony is now over. At a little after 11 am, the president of the French Constitutional Court, former minister Laurent Fabius, read the official election results in the Elysée. After that, Macron signed the investiture statement, which is considered the official swearing-in ceremony of the president.
At 12 noon, Macron still watches the troops in the gardens of the Élysée Palace, where a cannon is fired and the national anthem is played by the orchestra of the Republican Guard.
Renaissance
Macron this week changed his party’s name from ‘La République en marche’ to ‘Renaissance’, to appeal to a wider group of society. After the results of the two rounds of elections were announced, protests broke out in several French cities. The demonstrators felt that a choice had to be made between two evils.
Parliamentary elections will follow in June, during which ‘Renaissance’ forms a single list with the center party ‘Mouvement démocrate’ and the new party ‘Horizons’. That move appears to be a response to the announcement by left-wing and green parties to jointly participate in the parliamentary elections and form a bloc against Macron.
On Monday, Macron will make his first state visit as head of state re-elected. He travels to Germany to hold talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on defense and energy policy.
Debating and governing with Vlaams Belang remains out of the question, the extreme left receives different treatment in new French-language ‘cordon sanitaire’ (+)
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