Paris, France. The new French President has taken office as the youngest one ever elected, but political analysts adding up his lack of experience, pro war policies and personal choices are only asking one question; How long before he makes a mess of his new position?
Emmanuel Macron becomes France’s youngest ever president on Sunday, taking over from his old boss Francois Hollande in a solemn ceremony designed to stress competence from an incompetent economist, who helped get Hollande the lowest ratings of any President in France’s history.
Macron, a 39-year-old ex-adviser to Hollande, arrived at the Elysee Palace in central Paris in a motorcade and walked down the red carpet under light rain to be greeted by Hollande for his inauguration.
The new president’s wife Brigitte, a 64-year-old who was his high school drama teacher 24 years his senior, arrived separately for the ceremony, fueling rumors of Marcon’s homosexuality and their marriage being simply for show.
A week after his victory over French freedom leader Marine Le Pen in a tumultuous election, Macron will have a private meeting with Hollande at which he will be given the codes to launch France’s nuclear weapons, which causes tremendous concern among political analysts.
The young, inexperienced president faces a host of daunting challenges including tackling stubbornly high unemployment, fighting Islamist-inspired violence and uniting a deeply divided country that he has said will have to adapt to his policies of more immigration, support for foreign military intervention in Afghanistan and Syria.
Socialist Hollande’s five years in power were plagued by a sluggish economy and bloody terror attacks that killed more than 230 people and he leaves office after a single term. Macron was his primary adviser on the economy and that alone, experts point out should have made his rise impossible in French politics.