Emmanuel Macron: En Marche
Movement En Marche !
Created on the 6th of April 2016, the political movement En Marche ! is an initiative from Emmanuel Macron, the former Minister of the Economy, Industry and Numerical Technology.
The movement borrows the founder’s initials as well as his idea of distancing himself from the classic political parties. Macron has been flying solo since he resigned from the government at the end of August 2016.
His ideas clash with several traditional ideas by crossing some political red lines:
- Make the 35 hour work week more flexible : more working time for young people and less for those over 50.
- Move the mandatory retirement age towards a system personalised according to an individual’s profession and situation (Macron has not specified his criteria yet).
- Give the administration of the unemployment compensation system- currently managed by Unédic- back to the State
- Allow employees who voluntarily resign and independent workers to benefit from unemployment compensation.
- Education reforms, such as giving more autonomy to primary schools.
With these ideas, the candidate for the next election borrows from the socialists as well as the conservatives or the center.
His program
Employment: To fight unemployment, Emmanuel Macron mainly proposes to reduce the working cost. He wants to transform the CICE (Tax credit to improve competitiveness and jobs) into reductions of social security contributions and strongly reduce them for employees receiving the minimum wage. He wants to extend unemployment insurance to self-employed workers, liberal professions and entrepreneurs. With him, employees who are resigning will also benefit from the unemployment insurance, within the limits of once every five years. In return, an unemployed person receiving help “will not be able to refuse more than two decent jobs offers”.
Retirement: Emmanuel Macron wants to establish a “universal retirement system”. Each euro payed into the pensions will be equal whatever the statute, the business sector and the moment it has been transferred. His reform predicts a 10 years transition period. The former minister of the economy wants to abolish special pension schemes (civil servants, public companies employees, etc.). He assures that he will not modify the mandatory retirement age.
Europe. The En Marche candidate wants to set up a Euro zone budget voted by a Parliament composed of MEPs from the countries sharing the single currency. It will then be managed by a minister of economy and finance for the Euro zone. Emmanuel Macron would like to reserve access to European public markets to “companies which locate at least half of their production in Europe”. He also wants to create, with “volunteering countries”, a “European defence fund” to finance common military equipment such as drones.
Renewal: The movement En Marche announces that half of its candidates for the legislative elections in June will be “from civil society”. Emmanuel Macron wants to diminish “the public financing for non gender equal political training”. He wants to reduce by “approximately one third” the number of MPs and he is “ favourable for a dose of proportional representation”. He also wants to pass a “law for a moral improvement of public life” forbidding parliamentarians to practice advisory activity in parallel to their mandate, and elected members and ministers to employ close relations.
Emmanuel Macron, the French Kennedy?
A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENA) and previously responsible for the selection and initial training of senior French officials, Emmanuel Macron also holds a Masters in Philosophy.
Talented in politics but also in finance (former banker at Rothschild & C.), he was inspector of public finances in 2004 and he took part in the Commission for the Liberation of the French Economic Growth (Commission Attali) under Nicolas Sarkozy’s government in 2007.
From 2008–2012, he worked as a private banker and public advisor until François Hollande nominated him to be sub-secretary of the president in May 2012. Then, he became Minister of the Economy, Industry and Numerical Technology in 2014 with the creation of a new government.
On the 6th of April 2016 that E. Macron finally materialized his ideas by creating the political movement En Marche ! This creation was followed by his resignation from the government in August as well as his resignation from the public function of inspector of public finances in November.
The young politician (38) officially announced his candidacy for the presidential elections on the 16th of November. He wants to distinguish himself from other parties by proposing a program that borrows ideas from the socialists as well as the conservatives or the center. He is presenting himself as an alternative to the traditional parties without going to the extreme like the Front National.
Useful links
FB : https://www.facebook.com/EnMarche/?fref=ts
Twitter : https://twitter.com/enmarchefr
Website : https://en-marche.fr
