FRANCE: Emmanuel Macron intends to return to domestic and foreign policy work when he is re-elected to a fifth term in the French presidency. Still, he will soon face critical parliamentary elections in which he may struggle to maintain his majority. The Constitutional Council will publish the official results of the presidential election on Wednesday.
Macron will hold a Cabinet meeting on the same day. Macron must then set a date for his inauguration ceremony, which must take place at the Elysee Palace by May 13. He will be honored by the National Guard and will deliver a speech.
Typically, 21 cannon shots are fired to mark the inauguration, but Presidents Francois Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac skipped that tradition for their reelections in 1988 and 2002. Macron is the only modern French leader re-elected for a second term.
He may also travel to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a trip he has said he would only make if it would be beneficial. Macron called Zelenskyy and Scholz shortly after his victory. Macron is scheduled to deliver a speech on Europe in Strasbourg, the home of the EU parliament, on May 9.
At home, he stated that one of his top priorities would be to pass a special law by the summer to support purchasing power amid the rise in food and energy prices caused by the Ukraine conflict.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is expected to resign his government in the coming days. Macron will then form a new caretaker government, with ministers serving for only a few weeks. National parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 12 and 19, will determine who controls a majority of the 577 seats in the National Assembly. If Macron’s party wins, he will be able to form a new government and pass legislation.
If another party gains a majority of seats, he will be forced to name a prime minister from that new majority. In such a case, known as cohabitation in France, the government would enact policies contradict Macron’s vision. However, the French president would influence the country’s foreign policy.
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