Emmanuel Macron,(born December 21, 1977, Amiens, France), French banker and politician who was elected president of France in 2017. Macron was the first person in the history of the Fifth Republic to win the presidency without the backing of either the Socialists or the Gaullists, and he was France’s youngest head of state since Napoleon.
Early life and start in politics
Macron was the eldest of three siblings born to a family of doctors who held politically liberal views. He attended a private lycée (secondary school) in Amiens, where he proved to be an exceptionally gifted student. While there, he began a long-term relationship with his drama teacher, Brigitte Trogneux, and the two were later married (2007). Macron completed his baccalauréat at the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV in Paris before studying international policy and public service at the grande école Sciences Po. During this time, he also served as an editorial assistant for philosopher and historian Paul Ricoeur. In 2001 Macron received a master’s degree in public policy from Sciences Po, as well as a master’s degree in philosophy from Paris Nanterre University. In 2004 he graduated near the top of his class from the prestigious École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), a school that had attained a reputation as a fast track to political power. French presidents Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Jacques Chirac, and François Hollande were all ENA alumni.
Macron began his public service career in 2004 as a finance inspector for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. Four years later, he bought out his government contract for €50,000 (approximately $70,000) to enter the private sector, a move that friends warned would jeopardize any future political ambitions. In September 2008 he joined Rothschild & Cie Banque, the French division of the international Rothschild financial group, as an investment banker. Macron advanced quickly at the company, and in 2012 he brokered Nestlé’s blockbuster $12 billion acquisition of Pfizer’s baby food division. Macron reportedly earned €2.9 million (about $3.8 million) for his role in the deal. While still at Rothschild, Macron began working with Hollande as the latter campaigned for the Socialist Party’s nomination for president ahead of the 2012 election.
After Hollande won the presidency, Macron joined his administration as a deputy chief of staff and economic advisor. Macron became the face of France at international summits, and in 2014 he was elevated to finance minister. He promoted a package of reforms known as the loi Macron (“Macron law”) in an effort to spark the moribund French economy, but the legislation triggered a revolt from the left wing of the Socialist Party. In February 2015 Prime Minister Manuel Valls was forced to invoke Article 49 of the French constitution, a rarely used measure that allows a bill to pass without the consent of parliament on the condition that the government is then subjected to a vote of confidence. Valls easily survived that vote, and the loi Macron was enacted. As a result, restrictions on conducting business on Sundays were loosened and some professions were deregulated, but the labour market was largely untouched, and France’s 35-hour workweek remained intact. The loi Macron amounted to a relatively modest reform package for a country grappling with persistently high unemployment and slow growth, but it nevertheless sparked a fierce backlash from both the left and the right.
