They don’t like him, but they chose him again

They don’t like him, but they chose him again

When he appeared in the 2017 elections, he destroyed the French party system. Still, he will run for a second term as a rather unpopular president.

Some say that the decisive match was the televised duel, after which Macron rode off for another victory. The victory is more convincing than expected, the president took 58.5 percent of the votes in the second round, compared to 41.5 challenger's Marine Le Pen. For Macron, that means another five years in Le Palais de l'Élysée.

However, the atmosphere is different than in May 2017, when Macron and his entourage triumphantly entered the courtyard of the Louvre to celebrate the victory. That evening scene could have been historic: a young man who would reform France, and he came from almost nowhere.

Macron acted almost like a providence after the confused predecessor of François Hollande. Elegant and eloquent, he was proclaimed the hope of the whole of Europe. The climb, however, was typically French. A descendant of a prominent medical family from the north, he studied at the Sorbonne and the elite National College of Administration (ENA), which punches the political and economic elite.

He worked in the country's financial administration, only to get rich in 2008, when he became an investment banker. He returned to the civil service, where he became the Minister of Economy in Hollande's government in 2014. Only a year later, he left the Socialists and founded his own movement.

On the ruins of traditional parties

At the root of the success is a political assassination - Macron practically buried his mentor Hollande. But also one lucky case for Macron - before the elections, an affair emerged that destroyed the conservative candidate François Fillon. Macron took that advantage.

Some believe that Macron enjoys an aura of being different because he is married to 25-year-older Brigitte, his former teacher. She is considered her husband's quiet advisor. After coming to power, Macron stood on the ruins of traditional French parties. It occupied the center of the political spectrum, almost without any ideology. Depending on the situation, he turned a little to the left, a little to the right, but most of all, he left the impression that he did not know where he was going.

However, it is not that there is no vision. In a famous speech at the Sorbonne, he said that Europe must be autonomous, economically, politically and militarily. That message was silenced in Berlin. Today, Brussels is considered mainstream, especially since the Russian attack on Ukraine.

At home, however, Macron quickly came across a hard terrain. In the winter of 2018, the protests of the Yellow Vests stopped his plan to additionally tax diesel, but fierce protests called into question the power of the president. He wanted to, so he gave up on liberal cuts: to please the economy, to reform the pension system… Because of his way, he was called the "president of the rich".

They call him Jupiter

The social peace was barely regained, when coronavirus struck. At first, not everything went well in France, but then Macron continued on his own - the vaccination rate is high, hospitals were not overloaded, state aid programs prevented economic collapse. Overall, France fared better than its neighbors.

The war in Ukraine brought new uncertainties and rising prices. Most voters are now appalled by the possibility that the cost of living will go to hell. For a moment, topics such as Islam and immigration fell into the background, which sparked sparks on the political scene in recent years.

If the former presidents Hollande and Sarközy were accompanied by ridicule, Macron is the first to clash with so much open hatred.

They nicknamed him Jupiter because they saw him as an arrogant technocrat. Historian Pierre Rosanvallon thinks it has less to do with politics and more to do with character: "He is someone who provokes deep rejection". He says that Macron sometimes seems not to be grounded, and he grew up separated from the everyday life of most French people.

This made his path to a second term more difficult, but again the majority of French people did not want the right-wing Le Pen at the time of the great world crisis. However, its strong result shows that the rather unpopular Macron will rule the divided country for another five years. According to the French Constitution, a maximum of two presidential terms in a row are allowed.