美国国家公共电台 NPR Emmanuel Macron's Unconventional Candidacy Stems From An Unconventional Life

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

French voters are going to pick their next president on Sunday. They are choosing between far-right candidate Marine 1 Le Pen and a centrist newcomer, Emmanuel Macron. He's a former economy minister. He's seen as pro-business. He says he wants to make France more innovative 2 and open to the world. I want to bring in NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, who's been covering this race. Hi, Eleanor.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE 3: Hi, David.

GREENE: All right, so tell me about Macron. He seems pretty confident. He's 39 years old. He started his own party. Where did he come from?

BEARDSLEY: Well, David, as you said, he's only 39 years old. He's never run for anything at all. And on Sunday, he could be the next president of France, the youngest one ever.

GREENE: Youngest in French history, that's no small thing. Well, how did it go from being this unknown to the cusp of leading a country?

BEARDSLEY: Well, you know, sort of a combination of brilliance 4, ambition and sheer luck. He calls himself an outsider, but he went to all the best French schools. He worked as an investment banker. As you said, he eventually became economy minister. But he left early to launch his own party and candidacy for the president less than a year ago.

He's very unusual. The French describe him as Romanesque, which means adventurous 5, sentimental 6, almost a character out of a novel. I've talked to people who know Macron and have written about him. And here's what some of them had to say.

ANNE FULDA: Emmanuel Macron, he's got a special story. It's a Romanesque story.

BEARDSLEY: Political reporter Anne Fulda has just published a biography on Macron. She says he was never a kid like the others. He liked to socialize with adults. And his most formative relationship growing up was with his grandmother, who Macron says helped him believe in his political destiny.

At 15, Macron fell in love with his high school drama teacher. She was married with three children and 24 years his senior. That teacher, Brigitte Auziere, is now married to Macron and set to become the first lady of France. In a recent television documentary, Brigitte Macron says she never felt the age difference between them. She says their bond formed when they rewrote a play together.

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BRIGITTE MACRON: (Through interpreter) Little by little, I was completely overcome by the intelligence of this young man. Even though we've been together for so long, I still haven't seen the limit of his culture or his mind's potential. It's incredible. Emmanuel's natural abilities are way beyond normal.

BEARDSLEY: Macron's parents were shocked when they found out about the relationship. They asked Auziere not to see their son again until he was 18. Biographer Fulda says the relationship caused a complete scandal in the provincial 7 town.

FULDA: Everybody knows what everybody does, everybody speaks. So it was difficult to live this story in a small city like Amiens. It's a sort of a, yes, a melodramatic story.

BEARDSLEY: Macron's parents sent him away to finish high school in Paris, but that didn't end things. Emmanuel and Brigitte spoke 8 on the phone for hours every day, and their bond became stronger. Fulda says he told Brigitte he would come back one day to marry her.

FULDA: It tells us about his determination and his desire to choose his life and to be free.

BEARDSLEY: Fulda says Macron has always gone against convention.

FULDA: To decide to run for president when nobody knows you, it's quite incredible. It's a sort of way to act against the system.

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EMMANUEL MACRON: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: In a video from the couple's 2007 wedding, the handsome groom 9 thanks the guests for their support over the last 13 years. We're not exactly a normal couple, he says, but you've accepted us, and we exist thanks to you. Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron have a close personal and political relationship. She campaigns by his side. Fulda says he has an affectionate bond with her three children and seven grandchildren.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

E. MACRON: (Over loudspeaker, speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: Macron's explosion onto the French political scene is as unusual as his personal life. In packed rallies across the country, his message is in sharp contrast to that of his opponent. Marine Le Pen wants to close borders and protect the French. During their televised debate this week, Macron told Le Pen he rejects her defeatist vision.

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E. MACRON: (Through interpreter) I embrace France's dominance because France has always succeeded. She's always succeeded in the world because she is out there as part of the world. Her language is spoken on every continent. France's history, her civilization is our strength and what we project. And it's why we're the fifth most important global economy. It's why we're strong globally.

BEARDSLEY: Business consultant 10 Alain Minc has known Macron for 15 years. Minc says he advised him to prepare for a presidential bid in 2022, not this year.

ALAIN MINC: I told him you want to go too quickly. And his answer was fascinating. He told me you are describing the world of yesterday. Now, it doesn't work like that. You are wrong. And he was right.

BEARDSLEY: Minc says Macron must have a contract with God because he's never met anyone so lucky. In this race, every mainstream 11 and establishment politician has been swept away. But Minc says Macron knows how to seize his chance.

MINC: When fate was coming, he was bold enough to profit by it and to grasp any opportunity. He was talentuous (ph) and lucky. That was exactly what Napoleon Bonaparte was requesting from his generals - talent and luck.

GREENE: All right, Eleanor Beardsley's still with us. Eleanor, what do the French make of his story?

BEARDSLEY: Well, they're kind of stunned 12 by it, David. And I think women kind of like the fact that he married someone so much older. It seems like a real love story. And by the way, it's the same age difference as between President Trump 13 and his wife Melania.

GREENE: Interesting. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Thanks.

BEARDSLEY: Thank you.