Recently there was a presidential election in France where Marie Le Pen was defeated by Emmanuel Macron, the now youngest president in the history of France. Many individuals find that anything outside of the U.S.A. does not affect their lives but that could not be more wrong. Having the knowledge of world events gives people a more in-depth view of society. The more educated you are in this area, the more change will come from it. If you don’t know anything about this election or politics in Europe, don’t worry. Here is a quick rundown to update you on France and the European Union.

Currently France is has 10% unemployment, and nearly one in four among under-25s. Public spending is bloated with 56% of GDP compared with 44% in Germany and 39% in the UK. Lastly, there is an economic standstill seen by low economic growth.

President Macron, in an attempt to solve these problems, has created a new model for the economy with a focus on a boost in investment. Macron wants to reach a budget savings of €60bn ($65bn USD) to maintain the French GDP within the EU’s government deficit limit of 3% of GDP. Some observers say Macron is closely following the Nordic Union economic principles in modeling the French economy.

Meanwhile…

The EU is hurting after Brexit. As one the of the major members, the United Kingdom leaving caused a large shift in future policy and economic status, with uncertainty at the forefront. France and Germany are the two biggest remaining members and will hope to continue in holding Europe together. While Macron wishes to lure home expats from the former EU member, the United Kingdom, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it’s up to the U.K. on relations between the former EU member and Germany after Brexit

President Macron of France is a major supporter of the European Union and wants it to become more tight knit. He wants more shared responsibility from countries within the eurozone and believes that the German trade surplus must be re-balanced. The latter, however, would cost Germany tremendously. Germany already bolsters a majority of the EU’s funds with its own economy but this causes problems internally as it weakens them.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to push her agenda of liberal ideals by providing asylum for refugees. Roughly 1.5 million refugees have already settled in Germany as of May 2017.

As quoted by the BBC: “Germany favours a broad, expansionist union, France prefers a deeper, more integrated bloc.”

President Donald Trump recently met with both leaders mentioned above while on a trip to Europe. President Macron and President Trump had a working lunch during the President Trump’s visit to Belgium and while visiting Italy, Trump held a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Hopefully the US can continue to work with the EU and perhaps help guide it through the rough waters ahead.