Macron and French National Interests

A large number of French voters did not come to the presidential election, 12% spoiled the ballots. There is no national consensus about where France should go. Many voted rather against Marin Le Pen and not for Emmanuel Macron, so the primary task for the new president will be the stabilization of his own domestic political positions, Valdai Club expert Tatyana Romanova said.

"I do not think that today we can draw conclusions about what politician Macron is. We know for sure that he is young, fervent and wants a lot. We know that the political elite supports him, but at the same time we understand that he has practically no experience of political life and he does not have the proper team, " Tatyana Romanova, leading researcher at the Faculty of World Economy and Economics at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, said to www.valdaiclub.com.

According to her, without the help of the parliament Macron will not be able to realize all the election promises he has made in recent weeks. "Therefore, the first task of Macron [as president] will be parliamentary elections in France, to ensure for himself the situation when the parliament will cooperate with him. This task is rather complicated, considering that his movement is young", Romanova said.

It is also no coincidence that Macron's first step was to appeal to all those who voted for Marin Le Pen in an attempt to integrate them into his political life, into what he would do. "Le Pen will continue to fight. It's too early to write her off. There will be a very serious transformation of her party, and she will try to make an opposition to Macron. She expresses anti-globalization positions, and, since there are many people affected by globalization, she has a fairly serious electorate. [...] She stated that she will reform the party and will continue to influence the fate of France in the framework of her political life”, Romanova said.

However, the personal qualities of Macron - the ability to learn and the desire to achieve success - can play on his hand at the beginning of his new career, Romanova stressed. According to her, "during the election campaign his style has changed significantly. I believe that his ability to learn and the desire for success cost a lot and favor Macron's strength, rather than demonstrate his weakness”.

Ivan Blot, personal advisor to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, former member of the European Parliament and National Assembly of France, professor of economics at the Nice-Sofia Antipolis University, believes that, despite the fact that the new president of France is "an expert in economics, but not yet in other spheres ", he has a chance to promote some reforms.

"As to the forthcoming parliamentary elections, there is a tradition in France, that voters usually support the party which stands for the president they elected. So Macron can get the majority of votes in the National Assembly. Mr. Macron is a "socialist", but he will have less opposition in the parliament than Hollande and has chances to promote some reforms", Ivan Blot said in an interview with www.valdaiclub.com.

Talking about whether the relations between Russia and France change after the elections, Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) noted that Macron will follow the national interests of France. "We can be sure that Macron was not the Moscow choice, Putin sympathized to Marine Le Pen. This could create some kind of problems in the France-Russia relations", Boniface said to www.valdaiclub.com.

However, the new president of France "in the future will follow the French national interests and in this connection he has to keep good working relations with Putin. We saw this already with Sarkozy and Hollande. Becoming presidents, they had to work quite well with Vladimir Putin" Boniface concluded.

Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.