What new challenge did Napoleon Bonaparte face?

(Baonghean) - Mr. Emmanuel Macron has become the youngest President in the history of France after a tense race. This victory has made France and Europe breathe a sigh of relief; however, a series of challenges are also awaiting President-elect Macron.

Candidate Emmanuel Macron has become the youngest President in French history. (Source: Reuters)

Victory was foretold

With a large margin of votes, Mr. Emmanuel Macron won against the far-right candidate, Ms. Marine Le Pen, becoming the 8th president in the history of the Fifth Republic of France.

This result is not surprising, because pre-election opinion polls all showed that Mr. Macron had a much higher support rate than Ms. Le Pen.

Explaining the voters’ choice, analysts said that French voters were forced to decide to “choose a flagpole from a bundle of chopsticks”. Because the French people were fed up with the major parties, and longed for a fundamental change.

It is evident that the candidates of the two left-wing and right-wing parties in France were eliminated in the first round due to recent political scandals and infighting. As for candidate Emmanuel Macron himself, he also has certain strengths such as youth and determination “for France”.

However, according to French public opinion, the policies he proposed are still general, not groundbreaking and of course cannot satisfy voters.

Therefore, forced to choose between Mr. Macron and the far-right candidate with many extreme views, Ms. Le Pen, French voters were forced to make a safer decision.

The challenges

In his victory speech to his supporters, President-elect Macron vowed to defend France and Europe as promised; at the same time, he promised to open a new page for the country. Mr. Macron's speech was considered excellent and impressive compared to most of his predecessors.

But everyone understands that this speech is just the beginning of a journey full of difficulties and challenges awaiting Mr. Macron.

According to the latest figures, the French economy has been stagnant for many years with dismal growth, high budget deficit and unemployment rate at 10%.

Meanwhile, government debt has jumped to nearly 90%, posing a major risk to public finances. With nearly 2 years of experience as Economy Minister, Mr. Macron is considered to be able to provide a more effective direction to help the French economy recover.

But that is for later, and in the immediate future, the parliamentary elections in June will be Mr. Macron's first challenge.

As the leader of the En Marche movement - a newly formed party without any support base in French politics, Mr. Macron will certainly have difficulty gaining a majority in Parliament.

Immediately after the preliminary results, the leaders of parties such as the Socialist Party and the Republicans announced that they would not support Mr. Macron's policies. If he cannot attract the support of these parties to form a coalition, Mr. Macron's decisions when governing the country will become extremely difficult.

Next, Mr. Macron's important task will be to unite and build trust with the French people, who are skeptical of their leaders. A notable figure is the percentage of voters who did not vote for anyone, reaching more than 24% - the highest rate since the French presidential election in 1969.

In addition, in terms of foreign policy, Mr. Macron will also have to face the challenge of reaffirming France's position in the EU, which is currently "inferior" to Germany. Policies towards the immigration crisis or international hot issues that France is involved in such as Syria, Yemen, etc. are also issues that Mr. Macron will have to worry about.

President-elect Emmanuel Macron faces a mountain of challenges in satisfying French voters. (Source: Reuters)

A warning to populists

On the European Union side, while sharing the difficulties of President-elect Emmanuel Macron, European leaders could not hide their joy when the candidate from the pro-European unity school won the election.

A series of leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker have sent congratulatory messages to the youngest President in French history.

Because after the “Brexit” event, Europe will clearly have little reason to exist if candidate Marin Le Pen wins and France leaves the European Union. Therefore, for the EU, Mr. Macron’s victory is considered a warning against the wave of extreme populism and anti-globalization that is growing strongly in many European countries today.

Even the Japanese Prime Minister from Asia affirmed that Mr. Macron's victory is a "symbol" to confront protectionism, demonstrating the confidence of the French people in particular and the European people in general.

Thus, there are many advantages and challenges. The task of President-elect Emmanuel Macron is to shoulder the responsibility of effectively steering France to affirm that the choice of French voters is correct!

Phuong Hoa