Emmanuel Macron began serving as the 25th President of France on 14 May 2017 when he was inaugurated after winning the 2017 French presidential election. Following his reelection in 2022, Macron was re-inaugurated on 7 May 2022 and his second term officially began on 14 May 2022.
Background
Formation of En Marche
Macron first became known to the French public after his appearance on the French TV programme Des Paroles Et Des Actes in March 2015. Before forming his political party En Marche!, Macron had hosted a series of events with him speaking in public, his first one in March 2015 in Val-de-Marne. Macron threatened to leave Manuel Valls' second government over the proposed reform on removing dual-nationality from terrorists. He also took various foreign trips, including one to Israel where he spoke on the advancement of digital technology.
Tensions around the question of Macron's loyalty to the Valls government and Hollande increased when they turned down a bill he put forward dubbed "Macron 2", which had a larger scope than the original . Macron was given the chance to insert his opinion into the El Khomri law and put specific parts of "Macron 2" into the law though El Khomri was able to overturn these with the help of other ministers.
Amid tensions and deterioration of relations with the current government, Macron founded an independent political party, En Marche, in Amiens on 6 April 2016. A liberal, progressive political movement that gathered huge media coverage when it was first established, the party and Macron were both reprimanded by President Hollande and the question of Macron's loyalty to the government was raised. Several MEPs spoke out in support for the movement though the majority of the Socialist Party spoke against En Marche including Manuel Valls, Michel Sapin, Axelle Lemaire and Christian Eckert.
In June 2016, support for Macron and his movement, En Marche, began to grow in the media with Libération reporting that L'Express, Les Échos, , and L'Opinion had begun to voice public support for Macron. Following several controversies surrounding trade unionists and their protests, major newspapers began to run stories about Macron and En Marche on their front page with mainly positive press. Criticized by both the far-left and the far-right, these pro-Macron influencers in the press were dubbed "Macronites".
In May 2016, Orleans mayor Olivier Carré invited Macron to the festival commemorating the 587th anniversary of Joan of Arc's efforts during the Siege of Orléans. LCI reported that Macron was trying to take back the symbol of Joan of Arc from the far-right. Macron later went to Puy du Fou and declared he was "not a socialist" in a speech amid rumours he was going to leave the current government.
Resignation from government
On 30 August 2016, Macron resigned from the government ahead of the 2017 presidential election, to devote himself to his En Marche movement. There had been rising tensions and several reports that he wanted to leave the Valls government since early 2015. Macron initially planned to leave after the cancellation of his "Macron 2" law but after a meeting with President François Hollande, he decided to stay and an announcement was planned to declare that Macron was committed to the government (though the announcement was pushed back due to the attacks in Nice and Normandy). Michel Sapin was announced as Macron's replacement. Speaking on Macron's resignation, Hollande said he had been "betrayed". According to an IFOP poll, 84% of French agreed with Macron's decision to resign.
2017 presidential campaign
First round
Macron first showed an intention to run by forming En Marche, but his resignation from the government allowed him to dedicate himself to his movement. He first announced that he was considering running for president in April 2016, and after his resignation from the position of economy minister, media sources began to find patterns in Macron's fundraising and typical presidential campaign fundraising tactics. In October 2016, Macron criticized Hollande's goal of being a "normal" president, saying that France needed a more "Jupiterian presidency".<ref name="jupiter">{ { cite web|website=France Inter|title='Président jupitérien' : comment Macron comptait régner sur l'Olympe (avant les Gilets jaunes)|language=fr|url=https://www.franceculture.fr/politique/president-jupiterien-comment-macron-compte-regner-sur-lolympe|first=Hélène|last=Combis|date=19 June 2017|access-date=26 July 2023}}</ref>