Monday, May 08, 2017

President on Probation


HANDELSBLATT GLOBAL: Emmanuel Macron’s election offers a new chance for France and Europe. But Berlin will also shape whether or not he succeeds, writes Handelsblatt’s France correspondent.

Emmanuel Macron has gone from being an outsider to the most powerful man in France in an unprecedented tour de force. His success tells anyone who’s willing to take a risk that determination matters more than what the establishment says.

Mr. Macron was certainly lucky – as Napoleon put it, “you always owe something to chance.” Scandal ejected conservative candidate François Fillon from the race. And scandal has much to do with the disintegration of the party system and the elites’ narcissism. While socialists and conservatives believed that they had a firm grip on the country, young Mr. Macron saw they were dancing on a volcano sooner than everyone else. » | Thomas Hanke | Monday, May 8, 2017 ,