The French presidential elections have concluded, and Emmanuel Macron, an investment banker, has now officially secured the title to become the youngest French President since the democratic system began in France.

At 39 years old, Macron is the youngest president in French history. He had a sweeping and unexpected victory in the election, as he had never held any government position before. Macron speaks for a new face of France, representing a fresh, young, and rejuvenating presidency to come.

Macron is coming into office during a time when the nation of France is facing a plague of problems. France has had a high and steady unemployment rate, and there has been much debate on whether or not to stay with the European Union. Macron now must find solutions for both of these problems. He said he would like to remain a member of the EU, but he also hopes to help restructure its system to be more efficient.

For being one of the United States’ oldest allies, Macron and his ideals are of extreme importance to the French-American relations. There are definite differences between Macron and President Trump, with one of the biggest being their approaches on climate change. While President Trump has been an outright opposer to the idea of climate change, Macron has climate change and environment high on his agenda for funding and development. In a recent video released by Macron, he invited American researchers, scientists, and engineers to France to help further research into renewable energies.

In American politics, Macron would be a left-wing Democrat, opposite of Trump. Despite this, Trump has expressed his optimism and excitement in working with Macron in the future. The optimism from both countries expresses that even though they are opposites on some arguments, the relationship between France and the United States will remain strong.

One of Pleasant Valley’s own, Jean Romain Pourin, better known as JR, is excited about the new president. As a French foreign student, JR is one of the few at Pleasant Valley who will be immediately affected by the election. He said, “Because of his past at Rothschild Bank he knows a lot about finance and can help our economy, but he is pretty new in the world of politics. We’ll see what he can do.” The French presidential term is 5 years, and Macron is set to change the way France is looked at worldwide.