France

President Macron’s electoral victory creates a unique window of opportunity to transform France’s economy. Running on a pro-reform and pro-EU platform, Emmanuel Macron defeated his far-right challenger by a large margin to become France’s first independent candidate to win the presidency since the beginning of the Fifth Republic in 1958. His newly created party, La République En Marche, subsequently won a large majority in parliament, giving the new government headed by Prime Minister Philippe a clear mandate for change in a country that has long struggled to overcome entrenched economic problems. The authorities are now moving swiftly to implement an ambitious set of structural reforms, while curtailing government spending and reducing taxes, in order to make France’s economy more dynamic and its public finances more sustainable.