Political positions of Emmanuel Macron

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Emmanuel Macron, the 25th president of France, positions himself as a centrist.^[1] Some observers describe him as a social liberal,^[2][3][4] while others call him a social democrat.^[5] During his time in the French Socialist Party, he supported the party's centrist wing,^[6] 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.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Macron is accused by some members of the yellow vests of being an "ultra-liberal president for the rich".^[11] Macron was dubbed the "president of the very rich" by former Socialist French president François Hollande.^[12] In the past, Macron has called himself a "socialist",^[13] but he has labelled himself as a "centrist liberal" since August 2015, refusing observations by critics that he is an "ultra-liberal" economically.^[14] During a visit to Vendée in August 2016, he said that he was not a socialist and merely served in a "left-wing government".^[15] He has called himself both a "man of the left" and "liberal" in his book Révolution.^[16] Macron has since been labelled an economic neoliberal with a socio-cultural liberal viewpoint.^[17]

Macron created the centrist political party En Marche in an attempt to create a party that could cross partisan lines.^[18] Speaking on why he formed En Marche, he said there is a real divide in France between "conservatives and progressives".^[19] His political platform during the 2017 French presidential election contained stances from both the left and right,^[20] which led to him being positioned as a radical centrist by Le Figaro.^[21] Macron has rejected centrist as a label,^[22] although political scientist Luc Rouban has 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.^[23]

Macron has been compared to former president Valéry 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.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29]} In 2016, d'Estaing said himself that he was "a little like Macron".^[30] 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.^[31]