MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On April 6, 2016, then-French Minister of Economics Macron founded En Marche! political movement in the northern French city of Amiens. The movement held itself out as an independent movement, which was not subsidized by the French government.
Macron stepped down as an economy minister in August 2016 and announced his decision to run for the French president in November.
Honesty, equality, renewal, political pluralism and consistency were proclaimed by Macron in January as the key principles of En Marche! movement at the parliamentary election.
On March 2, Macron unveiled his political program. The 32-page document included 96 clauses with the proposals in six main areas — culture and education, the labor community, economic modernization, security, democracy renewal and international policy. The program suggested raising the unemployment benefits, improving the life-long learning programs and strengthening the agreements between companies and trade unions.
Macron named war against terrorism inside and outside France a priority in the country’s policies and called for an international anti-terrorist "road map."
On May 7, Macron won the second round of the French presidential election with 66.1 percent of the votes.
On May 8, the president-elect announced the renaming of En Marche! movement for La Republique En Marche. Apart from this, he resigned as a party leader and Catherine Barbaroux took over the leadership as the movement’s interim head. Richard Ferrand is the secretary general of the REM party.
On May 11, Ferrand said 214 men and 214 women were selected for the first list of the party’s parliamentary candidates 52 percent of whom had never been previously elected to a political office.
