Strong Majority in Parliament Allows Macron to Push Through Reforms

With his party “La République En Marche!”, French President Emmanuel Macron secured the parliament’s backing, emerging as a clear winner in the French parliamentary elections. Professor Achim Wambach, President of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, comments:

“Thanks to the overwhelming success in the French parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron and his party ‘La République En Marche!’ now have a decisive majority in the legislative French National Assembly. This majority is crucial for Macron’s economic policy plans, and he will now be able to use this strong backing to push through his political agenda. Economic recovery must be the priority of the French government.

In recent years, France’s economic development has been lagging behind that of the European Economic Area. With Macron’s double victory, first in the presidential and now in the parliamentary election, the forecasts of the financial market expertssurveyed regularly by ZEW have improved considerably with regard to the economic situation in France.  In particular, Macron needs to address the issue of youth unemployment, which has been high as a result of the rigid labour market conditions. The plans he announced during his presidential campaign to make French labour markets more flexible and implement structural reforms are important steps in the right direction.

Macron’s presidency is also likely to provide new impetus for the further development of the EU. Stronger cooperation between the EU Member States is clearly needed in terms of defence, foreign affairs and migration policy. With regard to these policy areas, Macron can count on the support of French as well as German members of parliament, which is reflected in the results of a ZEW survey.”