Emmanuel Macron, the 25th president of France, positions himself as a liberal and a centrist. The political practice based on the positions and rhetoric of Macron has been colloquially referred to as Macronism (). When he launched his party En Marche in April 2016, he said that it was "neither right nor left". By March 2017, Macron stated that he and his party were now "both right and left". Prior to the establishment of En Marche, some observers described him as a social liberal, while others called him a social democrat, having been a member of the Socialist Party. During his time in the Socialist Party, he supported the party's centrist wing, whose political stance has been associated with Third Way policies advanced by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Gerhard Schröder, and whose leading spokesman has been former prime minister Manuel Valls.
Macron is accused by some members of the yellow vest movement of being an "ultra-liberal president for the rich". Macron was dubbed the "president of the very rich" by former Socialist French president François Hollande. In the past, Macron called himself a "socialist"; since August 2015, he labelled himself as a "centrist liberal", refusing observations by critics that he is an "ultra-liberal" economically. During a visit to Vendée in August 2016, he said that he was not a socialist and merely served in a "left-leaning government". He has called himself both a "man of the left" and "liberal" in his book Révolution. Macron has since been labelled an economic neoliberal with a socio-cultural liberal viewpoint.
Macron created the centrist political party En Marche in an attempt to create a party that could cross partisan lines. Speaking on why he formed En Marche, he said there is a real divide in France between "conservatives and progressives". His political platform during the 2017 French presidential election contained stances from both the left and right, which led to him being positioned as a radical centrist by . Macron rejected centrist as a label, although political scientist Luc Rouban compared his platform to former centrist president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who is the only other French president to have been elected on a centrist platform.
Macron has been compared to Giscard d'Estaing due to their ability to win a presidential election on a centrist platform and for their similar governing styles. Both were inspectors of finance, were given responsibilities based around tax and revenue, both were very ambitious about running for the position of president, showing their keenness early in their careers, and both were seen as figures of renewal in French political life. In 2016, d'Estaing said himself that he was "a little like Macron". Observers have noted that while they are alike ideologically, d'Estaing had ministerial experience and time in Parliament to show for his political life while Macron had never been elected before.
Economy Macron has advocated in favour of the free market and reducing the public-finances deficit. He first publicly used the word liberal to describe himself in a 2015 interview with Le Monde. He added that he is "neither right nor left" and that he advocates a "collective solidarity". During a visit to the Puy du Fou in Vendée with Philippe de Villiers in August 2016, he stated: "Honesty compels me to say that I am not a socialist." Macron explained that he was part of the "left government" because he wanted to "serve the public interest" as any minister would. In his book Révolution, published in November 2016, Macron presents himself as both a "leftist" and a "liberal ... if by liberalism one means trust in man".
With his party En Marche, Macron's stated aim is to transcend the left–right divide in a manner similar to that of François Bayrou or Jacques Chaban-Delmas, asserting that "the real divide in our country ... is between progressives and conservatives". With the launch of his independent candidacy and his use of anti-establishment rhetoric, Macron has been labelled a populist by some observers, notably Valls, but Macron has rejected this term.
Macron is a supporter of the El Khomri law. He became the most vocal proponent of the economic overhaul of the country.Walt, Vivienne, "Emmanuel Macron Has Big Plans for France. Is It Ready for Them?", Time, 5 July 2016. Macron has stated that he wants to go further than the El Khomri law in reforming the labour code.
Macron is in favour of tax cuts. During the 2017 presidential election, Macron proposed cutting the corporate tax rate from 33.3% to 25%. Macron also wanted to remove investment income from the wealth tax so that it is solely a tax on high-value property. Macron also wanted to exempt 18 million households from local residence tax, branding the tax as "unfair" during his 2017 presidential campaign.
Macron is against raising taxes on the highest earners. When asked about François Hollande's proposal to raise income tax on the upper class to 75%, Macron compared the policy to the Cuban taxation system. Macron supports stopping tax avoidance.
On 8 June 2021, Macron was slapped in the face during a visit to the town of Tain-l'Hermitage. The attacker was identified as Damien Tarel, who stated that he was associated with the yellow vest movement and the far-right, though he was also described as an "ideological mush". Tarel was sentenced to four months of imprisonment plus a suspended sentence of fourteen months.
Macron has advocated for the end of the 35-hour work week; however, his view has changed over time and he now seeks reforms that aim to preserve the 35-hour work week while increasing France's competitiveness. He has said that he wants to return flexibility to companies without ending the 35-hour work week. This would include companies renegotiating work hours and overtime payments with employees.
Macron has supported cutting the number of civil servants by 120,000. Macron also supports spending cuts, saying he would cut 60 billion euros in public spending over a span of five years.
He has supported the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union and criticized the Walloon government for trying to block it. He believes that CETA should not require the endorsement of national parliaments because "it undermines the EU". Macron supports the idea of the Eurozone having a common budget.
Regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Macron stated in June 2016 that "the conditions [to sign the treaty] are not met", adding that "we mustn't close the door entirely" and "need a strong link with the US".
In April 2017, Macron called for a "rebalancing" of Germany's trade surplus, saying that "Germany benefits from the imbalances within the Eurozone and achieves very high trade surpluses"."France's Macron Says German Trade Surplus Harmful to EU Economy", Bloomberg, 16 April 2017.
In March 2018, Macron announced that the government would spend 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) on artificial intelligence to boost innovation. The money would be used to sponsor research projects and scientific laboratories, as well as to finance startup companies whose focus is AI within the country.
Foreign policy
Algeria In 2017, Macron described France's colonization of Algeria as a "crime against humanity". He also said: "It's truly barbarous and it's part of a past that we need to confront by apologizing to those against whom we committed these acts." Polls following his remarks reflected a decrease in his support. In January 2021, Macron stated there would be "no repentance nor apologies" for the French colonization of Algeria, colonial abuses or French involvement during the Algerian independence war. Instead efforts would be devoted toward reconciliation. Libya Macron described the 2011 military intervention in Libya as a "historic error". Middle East In January 2017, he said France needed a more "balanced" policy toward Syria, including talks with Bashar al-Assad. In April 2017, following the chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun, Macron proposed a possible military intervention against the Assad regime, preferably under United Nations auspices. He has warned if the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons during his presidency he will act unilaterally to punish it.
He supported the continuation of President Hollande's policies on Israel, opposed the BDS movement, and refused to state a position on recognition of the State of Palestine during his first term. In May 2018, Macron condemned "the violence of Israeli armed forces" against Palestinians in Gaza border protests."France's Macron condemns Gaza violence, to call Israeli PM Tuesday". Reuters. 14 May 2018. However, in October 2023, he announced proposals "to prevent an escalation, free hostages, guarantee Israel's security and work towards a two-state solution". In July 2025 he announced that by September 2025 he would include France in the number of countries which recognise a Palestinian state.
In response to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin, Macron said that Turkey must respect Syria's sovereignty, despite his condemnation of Bashar al-Assad.
Macron has voiced support for the Saudi Arabian-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels. He also defended France's arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition. Some rights groups have argued that France is violating national and international law by selling weapons to members of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. North Korea Macron has called for a peaceful solution during the 2017 North Korea crisis, though he agreed to work with US President Trump against North Korea. Macron and Trump apparently conducted a phone call on 12 August 2017 where they discussed confronting North Korea, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and enforcing new sanctions. Myanmar Macron condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He described the situation as "genocide" and "ethnic purification", and alluded to the prospect of UN-led intervention. China In response to the death of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died of organ failure while in government custody, Macron praised Liu as "a freedom fighter". Macron also described as "extremely fruitful and positive" his first contacts with General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping.
Armenia In 2019, Macron announced that France would designate April 24 as a national day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide. After the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Macron pledged to supply defense equipment to Armenia, as well as humanitarian aid of 29 million euros to displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. He is also in support of the International Court of Justice's decision on November 17, 2023, of which calls on the rights of ethnic Armenian residents to return safely to their homeland.
Turkey Macron expressed concerns over Turkey's "rash and dangerous" statements regarding the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia, further stating that he was "extremely concerned by the warlike messages". He also said: "A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable. I urge all NATO partners to face up to the behaviour of a NATO member." European Union
An article in the New York Times described Emmanuel Macron as "ardently pro-Europe" and stated that he "has proudly embraced an unpopular European Union."
Macron has been described by some as Europhile and federalist but he describes himself as "neither pro-European, eurosceptic nor a federalist in the classical sense", and his party as "the only pro-European political force in France".