PARIS (Realist English). The second round of presidential elections has been held in France. The French were choosing between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Back in 2017, Macron had never been elected to any public office before he beat far-right finalist Marine Le Pen, 66.1 percent to her 33.9, to win the French presidency. Still in his 30s, the rookie leader was a fresh face in every sense.
In a report, France 24 TV channel spoke about the main milestones in the biography of the leader of the Fifth Republic. Macron was born in Amiens, northern France, on December 21, 1977, the eldest of three, his parents both doctors. His early life was one of privilege, punctuated by piano lessons, sport, school, ski holidays and trips abroad. A gifted student, Macron won a national prize for his French-language skills at 16.
After studies at La Providence, a private Catholic school in Amiens, Macron’s parents sent him to Paris to put some distance between their teenaged son and his forbidden love interest, his theatre teacher Brigitte Trogneux, 24 years his senior (Years later, the pair would marry anyway).
In the French capital, Macron pursued his studies at Henri IV, a prestigious high school, before moving on to Sciences Po Paris, a political philosophy degree at Nanterre University, and the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), France’s top training ground for public service.
After graduating from the ENA, Macron joined the prestigious ranks of France’s corps of finance inspectors. In 2007, aged 30, he was selected to help lead the Attali Commission, tasked by French President Nicolas Sarkozy with advancing proposals on how to “free-up French growth”. The following year, Macron took a leave from public service to join the Rothschild Group as an investment banker, earning a fortune negotiating big deals. But the brilliant young up-and-comer still had his champions in the echelons of political power and in May 2012, François Hollande, freshly elected president, invited Macron to join his staff at the Élysée Palace.
On the campaign trail, the Socialist Party candidate had pinpointed the world of finance his “enemy”. But the confident young investment banker in Hollande’s midst was too good to take a pass on. Hollande named Macron his deputy chief of staff before promoting him to economy minister in 2014, France’s youngest ever at 37.
In April 2016, with a presidential election a year away, Macron launched his own political movement. But few then could imagine Macron becoming president – not least his boss, the incumbent. on August 30, 2016, Hollande’s ambitious young economy minister handed in his resignation. Macron had a loftier job in mind. Few people could have imagined then that Macron would become president, but he succeeded.
On April 24 of this year, Emmanuel Macron became the first re-elected president of France in 20 years. He defeated the right-wing populist candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, April 24. This follows from the preliminary election results published after the polls closed, Le Pen has already admitted her defeat.
