Macron inaugurated to Presidency ~ his ex-teacher wife Brigitte in news !!!

At an elaborate ceremony at the Élysée Palace in Paris, he said his presidency would "give the French back the confidence to believe in themselves". He vowed to see the EU "reformed and relaunched" during his time in office. He takes over from François Hollande, whose five-year term was plagued by high unemployment figures. Mr Macron was proclaimed France's new president a week after his resounding victory over the National Front's Marine le Pen, with 66% of the vote in the run-off poll. The former investment banker, who had never contested an election before and only formed his centrist movement a year ago, has vowed to shake up the country's political order and reinvigorate its economy.

Yet, something else too is garnering attention – the  daughter of France’s new First Lady Brigitte Macron (née Trogneux) says “jealousy” is behind the “abhorrent” attacks on her mother’s relationship with Emmanuel Macron, who was proclaimed the President of France Sunday morning. “I find it abhorrent in France in the 21st century such attacks, which would not be carried out against a male politician or a male companion of a female politician,” she continued – wonder what it is all about ?

Earlier, the newly elect President  Macron who has talked up a hard Brexit faced his first test  when a hard-left demonstration in the French capital descended into a riot. Communists and revolutionary groups clashed with heavily armed riot police in the centre of Paris. Thousands of demonstrators gathered at the Place de la Republique calling for 'resistance' to President Macron's 'capitalist' agenda of employment and benefits reforms. There were ugly scenes, as riot police pushed protestors back using batons and tear gas.

The march paused on the traditional 2km route to Place de la Bastille - the scene if the first throws of the 1789 French Revolution - where bottles and missiles were thrown at riot police. Squadrons of heavily armed officers responded by firing tear gas and baton charges.  France's new President-elect has vowed to be a tough negotiator. He has described Britain’s decision to leave the EU as ‘a crime’, and is in favour of a so-called hard Brexit that will see the UK kept out of the single market.  He also pledged to unite France following his resounding 66 per cent election landslide that ended any hopes of victory for the nationalist firebrand Marine Le Pen, 48, and her National Front (FN) party.

The 39-year-old appeared at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris, where he remembered the fallen from the most devastating conflict in human history. Soon after the moving ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, anarchists and other rioters hijacked a trade union demonstration against Mr Macron around the Place de la Bastille.  Mr Macron was particularly keen to assist in the laying of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, underneath the Arc de Triomphe. He is particularly opposed to the FN, which has always been associated with nostalgia for the Third Reich, racism, anti-Semitism, and hatred of Islam.

Beyond dealing with such domestic strife, Mr Macron’s main challenge will now be to build a majority in the Paris National Assembly, during parliamentary elections in June.  Emmanuel Macron's ex-teacher wife Brigitte is anticipated to play a key role in the centrist's new government.  While Macron is hailed as the young saviour at the age of 39 – his wife is 64 and  the 24 year age gap has come under much scrutiny, since the French President launched his leadership bid in November 2016, months after founding the En Marche! political movement. Mr Macron shared a classroom at a Catholic school with one of Mrs Trogneux's two daughters Laurence – who is also 39.  Her daughter was to say that - “I find it abhorrent in France in the 21st century such attacks, which would not be carried out against a male politician or a male companion of a female politician.”  Mirroring a Michelle Obama approach to her first lady role, Brigitte Trogneux, 64, who is more than 24 years older than her husband, is reportedly keen to become involved in issues such as education. With two decades more life experience than her husband and as the ex-teacher who has shaped his character since the age of 15, the grandmother of eight is expected to play an active role in the new government.

'Brigitte's main interest is education reform and she will concentrate on work for autistic and disadvantaged kids, out of the political firing line,' Candice Nedelec, co-author of a biography of the couple, told The Sunday Times. When Mr Macron, 39, worked as finance minister under Francois Hollande, Mrs Trogneux was the person who oversaw her husband's diary and this role continued once he created En Marche!. She is also said to correct his speeches and act as an intermediary. But once the Macrons move into the Elysee Palace, Mrs Trogneux who once said she would have preferred that her husband had gone on to become an author rather than work in politics, will reportedly have more on her plate including tasks, staff and a budget – but no salary. By not paying his wife, Mr Macron could be trying to distance himself from the 'Penelopegate' scandal which heavily contributed to republican candidate Francois Fillon being wiped out of the election race.

Mr Fillon sensationally fell from grace when a French newspaper reported that he had paid his British wife Penelope hundreds of thousands for a job she never carried out.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

14^th May 2017.