• World
  • Apr 25

France’s Emmanuel Macron wins second term

macron

• French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election on April 24, defeating his rival Marine Le Pen.

• The result offered France and the European Union the reassurance of leadership stability in the bloc’s only nuclear-armed power as the continent grapples with the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• During her campaign, Le Pen pledged to dilute French ties with the 27-nation EU, the NATO military alliance and Germany, moves that would have shaken Europe’s security architecture as the continent deals with its worst conflict since World War II. Le Pen also spoke out against sanctions on Russian energy supplies and faced scrutiny during the campaign over her previous friendliness with the Kremlin.

• Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.

• Five years ago, Macron won a sweeping victory over Le Pen to become France’s youngest president at 39.

• The 44-year-old President faces a litany of challenges in his second term, starting with Parliamentary elections in June.

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated on his re-election, and said he looked forward to continue working together with him to deepen the India-France Strategic Partnership.

India-France relations

• India and France entered into Strategic Partnership in 1998. 

• The relationship is marked by a close and growing bilateral relationship, frequent high-level exchanges and increasing convergence of views on a range of international issues. 

• The areas of defence and security cooperation, space cooperation and civil nuclear cooperation constitute the principal pillars of the Strategic Partnership.

• Apart from traditional fields of cooperation, India and France are increasingly engaged in new areas of cooperation like security in the Indian Ocean Region, fight against terrorism, the International Solar Alliance, sustainable growth and development among others.

• India and France share a wide degree of convergence on a range of regional and global issues. France has continued to support India’s claim for permanent membership of the Security Council and the reforms of the United Nations. France’s support was vital in India’s accession to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group (AG) while Paris continues to support New Delhi’s bid for accession to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). 

• India and France have a rich history of cooperation in the field of space for over 50 years with ISRO and the French Space Agency (CNES) carrying on various joint research programmes and launch of satellites.

• Both countries have important bilateral investments and trade and commercial cooperation, particularly in sectors involving IT corridors,smart-cities, railways, capital and trade exchanges,skill development etc. France has emerged as a major source of FDI for India with more than 1,000 French establishments already present in India. 

• Almost 1,000 French companies are present in India with a total turnover of $20 billion and employing around 300,000 persons. 

• Cooperation in defence is the cornerstone of the India France strategic partnership. The two countries have a Ministerial level Defence dialogue, which has been held annually since 2018. The three services also have regular defence exercises — Exercise Shakti (Army), Exercise Varuna (Navy), Exercise Garuda (Air Force).

• In March 2018, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Electricite de France (EDF) of France signed an Industrial Way Forward Agreement for implementation of six nuclear power reactor units at Jaitapur in Maharashtra with a total capacity of about 10 GW.

• There exist vibrant bilateral cultural and educational linkages as also growing people-to-people contacts. Indian diaspora also has a sizeable presence in metropolitan France and its overseas departments/territories.

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Notes
Missile Technology Control Regime The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal political understanding among states that seek to limit the proliferation of missiles and missile technology. The regime was formed in 1987 by the G-7 industrialised countries. There are currently 35 countries that are members (partners) of the MTCR.
Wassenaar Arrangement The Wassenaar Arrangement has been established in order to contribute to regional and international security and stability, by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilising accumulations. Participating States seek, through their national policies, to ensure that transfers of these items do not contribute to the development or enhancement of military capabilities which undermine these goals, and are not diverted to support such capabilities. The aim is also to prevent the acquisition of these items by terrorists. The Wassenaar Arrangement is presently composed of 42 countries.
Australia Group The Australia Group (AG) is an informal forum of countries which, through the harmonisation of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons. Coordination of national export control measures assists Australia Group participants to fulfil their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to the fullest extent possible. It was established in 1985. The Group has met regularly since then, and annual meetings are now held in Paris. The number of countries participating in the Australia Group has grown from 15 in 1985 to 42 plus the European Union.
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