A Brief History of Emmanuel Macron: He once helped a Philosopher, did he?

Currently, Emmanuel Macron is being heavily scrutinised by the international media due to several cases happening in France or even anything related to France e.g., the yellow vest movement, Brexit, covid-19 health crisis, forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, some people also considered Macron as a leader for the rich only, etc.

Despite these circumstances, he put his name down for a second time as president of France on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Watch the video here, in Indonesian.

Here are 5 facts about Emmanuel Macron.

1. Born and Raised in a Bourgeois Family
   Macron, whose full name is Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron, is a French citizen born in the Somme region of Amiens (formerly the capital of Picardy) on December 21, 1977. He lives in a bourgeois family — born to parents with a medical background. His father was Jean-Michel Macron, a professor of neurology at Amiens-Picardie University Hospital and in charge of the Faculty of Medicine. His mother, Françoise Noguès, is a health advisor at the Sécurité National.
2. The Youngest President in the history of the Cinquième République Française
   The youngest president of France in the era of the 5th French Republic. Before becoming the 8th president, he was also the founder of the “En Marche !” party in 2016. During his political trip, this party led Macron to register himself as a presidential candidate in 2017. Interestingly, he won the election on May 7, 2017, at the age of 39, surprising everyone. In that election, he received 66.10% of the vote.
3. A Turning Point in Philosophy to Politic
   Formerly, Macron studied philosophy at the Henri-IV school. Some testimonials say that Macron was an exceptional student. He was very interested in literature and read a lot of classics. He graduated from there with a “Bac S” with a very good ‘Trés bien’.
   Later, he continued his studies at the Université de Nanterre. Here, he learnt about political philosophy which led him to pursue his study at Science Po, Paris in 2001. Probably because of this background, one media explained that Macron is “un président philosophe : aucun de ses mots n’est le fruit du hazard” ‘Macron, a philosopher president: His words are no accident’. He also holds a DEA “diplôme d’études approfondies” on the subject of philosophy (defunct since 2005).
   After this academic path, his life led him to study economics. Graduating from the École National d’Administrations (ENA) took him to work at the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF), a financial examiner at the French Ministry of Economy during the Manuel Valls regime as Prime Minister, in the François Hollande cabinet. He also worked as a banker at Rothschild & Co.
   When he is just a kid, he learnt a lot about socialism from his grandmother. This continued into his professional career in politics. After leaving his government position, in 2016 he founded LREM or La République En Marche — a party that does not focus on the right or the left.
4. Once Helped Paul Ricoeur
   Paul Ricoeur is a very famous philosopher. Many people know him because his major contribution to hermeneutic methodology. Well, this is not our topic today hehehe but what is the relationship between Ricoeur and Macron? When Macron was studying at the Université de Nanterre, he helped Ricoeur to complete a work entitled “La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli.” Macron’s was working in editorial. Their relationship was quite close and Ricoeur was also one of the figures who introduced philosophy and classical literature.
5. Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen meet for the second time
   Macron and Le Pen had contested for the French presidency in 2017. At that time, Macron won and gained 66.10% of the vote. In this second encounter in 2022, Le Pen faced her second defeat from Macron with 41.5% of the vote. Meanwhile, Macron got 58.5%.
   Due to this, he also became the second-term elected president after Jacques Chirac’s presidency in 2002 (1995–2007).

So, what kind of facts do you want to share about Macron? Share it here.

Thanks for reading this.