Emmanuel Macron Inaugurated As France's New President
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PARIS (CBSNEWS/AP) - Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated Sunday as France's new president at the Elysee palace in Paris, and immediately launched into his mission to shake up French politics, world economics and the European Union.
The 39-year-old Macron is the youngest president in the country's history and the 8th president of France's Fifth Republic, which was created in 1958. A former economy minister with pro-business, pro-European views, Macron is the first French president who doesn't originate from one of the country's two mainstream parties.
Macron takes charge of a nation that, when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019, will become the EU's only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
He met for an hour with his predecessor, Francois Hollande, in the president's office, taking a last few minutes to discuss the most sensitive issues facing France, including the country's nuclear codes.
In a visibly moving moment for both, Macron accompanied Hollande to his car, shaking hands and applauding him along with the employees of the French presidency who gathered in the palace's courtyard.
