never even contested an election before this year. it really has been an astonishing year in french politics. emmanuel macron, the young, fresh phrased, road business, ardent european. about to be inaugurated —— pro business. he trounced his rivals in the elections, a resounding vote in support of a man who only set up his en marche party about a year ago. we are already hearing, by the way, just you know, —— just to let you know, that we will expect him to appoint his prime minister to morrow. we have heard that in the last few minutes. the prime minister will be appointed tomorrow and the government will be formed on tuesday. that is what sources close to emmanuel macron are telling us. that is the scene there in central paris, as we await the formalities of the inauguration and, of course, the french do these things with wonderful and grandeur and let's go to my colleague who was there watching it all unfold. a rather drizzly morning there in paris, we can tell from your umbrella 7 drizzly morning there in paris, we can tell from your umbrella? yes, the pomp and grandeur is currently being rained on rather heavily. it is the start of the last few minutes. it has been security lockdown here. there are hundreds of police, journalists, all along this avenue. the satellite trucks from all over the world, and you can see just behind me, just behind of the main gate —— in front of the main gate of the palace, a crowd is gathering. we have seen his wife's arising out of the car. the red carpet is rolled out in the courtyard. the journalist and dignitaries are there and they wait for the ceremony now. first, emmanuel macron will have a private meeting with the outgoing president, francois hollande. that meeting has no cameras, it is the transfer of power. the formal handover during which emmanuel macron will be given the nuclear code. that is all part of the transition of power. then they will emerge, the former, outgoing president, francois hollande, will leave the building. he will leave the elysee palace for the last time. after that, there will be the formal inauguration of emmanuel macron. he will become president of france. it is extremely formal, a familiar sight for the french over the generations, what hasn't been conventional of course, is the arrival to this position of emmanuel macron, after just 13 months in charge of his en marche political movement. last april was when he quit hisjob and decided to stand down as an unelected economy minister in the government of francois hollande, the outgoing president, to form this en marche centrist movement taking policies from left and right and it was very $0011 from left and right and it was very soon after that but he declared his ambition —— soon after that he declared his ambition to run. many say it wasn't skill but also like that got him. it was really the most opportune to political moment with the downfall, financial mismanagement scandal, and the socialist party, the dominant force, choosing a candidate for president election which was from the far left and did not attract mainstream support. let's talk about this some more with a commentator and journalist here in paris. how france come to terms with how sudden this arrival to power is?|j think sudden this arrival to power is?” think it took an awful lot of people by surprise. somebody who came from absolute obscurity and managed to rise to power and ethically secure one of the most powerful executive positions on earth and emmanuel macron one in the most convincing circumstances possible as well.” macron one in the most convincing circumstances possible as well. i am wondering if this may indeed be the arrival of emmanuel macron himself. given the amount of police motorcyclists. there we are. this is the moment emmanuel macron arrives at the elysee palace. a big cheer from the crowd there. his wife is already inside, she has made the journey along the red carpet but macron supporters waving the french flag as he arrives for this enormous day. before he has even reached the age of a0. yes, indeed. you have talked us through... it is actually, francois hollande is waiting. the two will have the meeting. you have doctors through the handover of power, then will follow the official inauguration that will happen at the ballroom of the elysee palace, but on the previous republic, it has happened at versailles effectively and emmanuel macron will be accompanied by senior officials, including the prime minister, and the presidents of both chambers of parliament, the lower house and indeed the senate. and interestingly a solemn march will be played, emmanuel macron is a proper music but then he will put some thought into a choice of his musical piece. the ceremony, the actual ceremony will take place then. emmanuel macron has got out of the carand is making his emmanuel macron has got out of the car and is making his way along the red carpet into the elysee palace. for the handover of power. walking towards the outgoing president, francois hollande. seen as the protege of a manual macron, giving him his break in politics, putting him first as an adviser and then as a economy minister, unelected economy minister in the socialist government. so very symbolic day, this relationship between the two men, complicated one, resulting in this literal handover of power from one one, resulting in this literal handover of powerfrom one man to the other. well, there you see the grandeur inside the elysee palace as the two men walk up the stairs, the outgoing president francois hollande and the incoming president emmanuel macron. and we will would just hearing their the formal handover of power, which includes mr macron being given the french nuclear codes there. we were seeing francois hollande, who, in some ways has been seen by many political commentators in france as a political failure, seen by many political commentators in france as a politicalfailure, he did not run in this election but macron was his economy minister between the years 201a and 2016, in some ways mr hull's protege and now francois hollande is handing power literally inside the elysee palace. —— mr hollande's protege. as the band and the music begins. and our correspondent hugh schofield joins us from paris. it really is an extraordinary political moment, this, isn't it, for france? this young man, he was not emerged from nowhere, he had been economy minister, setting up his own party only a year ago and 110w his own party only a year ago and now president. yes, and what it makes me reflect on how brilliantly the french education system can be when it sort of six to pick out brilliant individuals and promote them through the ranks because he is, ina them through the ranks because he is, in a way, the classic product of an egalitarian education system. the problem is it only works in some cases, it does work absolutely superbly. he came from a middle—class background in the providence but his audience was spotted by people at school, in fa ct, spotted by people at school, in fact, at a religious school, private school. he then got selected and pushed through the regular elite educational, other educational system tojoin the educational, other educational system to join the ranks of the administrative elite of the country and from there, as we know, with his eye on power and his eye on his own destiny, because i think he's a man who really does believe in his own destiny, he did what he has done. and it is a remarkable achievement which one has two hand to him. i think the other interesting thing today about today which you have all alluded to is this relationship with francois hollande and we have seen in the last week, a slight tension between the two men because on the one hand, francois hollande is quite clearly very eager to sort of up the signal that his presidency was not a disaster because look, someone from my presidency is continuing and is carrying on, has taken on the mantle. what i set out to do goes on, kind of thing. but of course emmanuel macron find that legacy slightly irksome. much though i think he likes francois hollande and certainly owes a lot, he does want to keep his distance from francois hollande, in particular in the light of the upcoming parliamentary elections, he does not want to be seen elections, he does not want to be seen to be the anointed successor. particularly we saw it last week about ceremony at arc de triomphe after the election, francois hollande bearing on the clock on the back, my spiritual son as it were, emmanuel macron saying thank you, yes, i would rather be my own man now. but, of course, from today it is the power skimpily, manual macron is the power skimpily, manual macron is the power skimpily, manual macron is the president. francois hollande will be the man who is forgotten. it in us marconi ‘s name as a result of what has been regarded as a failed presidency. the sermon today which is lavishly beautiful to watch,, the ha rd is lavishly beautiful to watch,, the hard work begins straight afterwards. he has to form a government very quickly, appointed prinosil, which might be as soon as tomorrow, we are hearing, he has go tomorrow, we are hearing, he has go to be meeting angela merkel very seen to be meeting angela merkel very seen to talk about europe. we have this error may now, —— ceremony. a meeting behind closed doors, security operations will be discussed, things that we do not know about, that the president needs to handle to the other, the codes for the nuclear. and then will be the speech, the ceremony of anointing him as grand master of the order of the legion of honour, that goes with all presidents, deep recession on champs—elysee and then we will get down to business. the name of the prime minister either today or tomorrow. will this be a character of the political right? that is what is the big question because in drawing up of his list of candidates for the parliamentary elections, quite clearly there is a bias in that list towards the left and as macron was, bias in that list towards the left and 3s macron was, someone bias in that list towards the left and as macron was, someone who is above that old divide, it is quite important to him to redress that and i think his inclination is to appoint someone who is from the centre—right. maybe do some from the opposition, someone who is on the centuries wing of that party, republicans, he might be macron compatible. that would be his ideal, various names circulating. the former mayor of strasberg, these are the kind of people, a centrist mep, these are the names that are circulating at the moment. it will be very important because it was then that the signal as to how he conceives of his party and how, what hopes the house for turning that into a majority in parliament. then of course this is this visit tomorrow to germany. he had said before that his first trip abroad would be to visit serving military men and women abroad, but it seems that has been put off and the trip to germany will come first which will be tomorrow. that is vital, of course. hollande went to see merkel on the day of his inauguration and on the day of his inauguration and on that plane, by the way, was a young emmanuel macron he was his adviser. the plane got hit by lightning coincidently. another sign of the start of the hollande presidency. it is macron who will go tomorrow. the relationship with merkel is good to be fascinating to watch because we have arriving now somebody who is incredibly pro—european, who really wants to get back the franco germany relationship, the golden years, to try and rebuild that element of trust. his deal, his budding rugby i will bring france down the road of reform, economic reform, if you, germany, bring germany down the road of, for example, making the desert of, for example, making the desert of all european countries neutralise and so on, that way of building europe from the top down. that is the bargain he is going to want to bring to angela merkel tomorrow. it isa bring to angela merkel tomorrow. it is a very important meeting. whew, just the with us because we are seeing these magnificent pictures from central paris from the elysee palace. the two men, as you are saying, outgoing president hollande and incoming president emmanuel macron, exchanging the nuclear missile launch codes, amongst other security procedures that i have been going through at the moment. then we gather president hollande will leave the palace and the result of the election is read out inside the elysee, a moment that marks the actual assumption of power and emmanuel macron is then presented with what is effectively his chain of office, that heavy golden necklace, mounted on a red cushion. we have been seen pictures of it actually. that makes him the grand master of the national order of the legion, apparently he will not put it on. he is presented with it. i wonder if i can ask you this, is france, the election of a manual macron, this very young dynamic politician, is it feeling good about itself because i suppose there has been a sense in some ways of france stagnating economically with a lot of problems and divisions, now he has been elected with this huge chunk of the boat, and it feeling better about itself. —— huge chunk of the vote. goodness knows there have been moments of false hope in the past. i think part of the rise of populism issued to the sense that with every election everyone gets whipped up into a sense of a new dawn and things being resolved and they never are. and thatjust create cynicism about the establishment politics and once again we do have something of that feeling of optimism hitting the country. this time body by someone who is more genuinely new and young and has been transgressive in a way by taking an the sacred cows of the old parties by saying he's going to do stuff and a p pa re ntly by saying he's going to do stuff and apparently not minding if it is unpopular. i think we've all been struck by how open he is unwilling to insist on the challenges that emissaries. —— he is willing to insist on the changes that are necessary. he says life is going to be tough, there are tough decisions ahead. i think that plain speaking is quite refreshing and gives people a feeling that maybe this time we've got someone who is prepared to undertake the necessary reforms. i don't think anyone is foolish enough to think that this is somehow going to think that this is somehow going to change things radically. we know there are tough times ahead. we know there are tough times ahead. we know there are tough times ahead. we know there are other of elections coming up, the third round of the presidential elections, because he has got to win a majority that. the fourth round, potentially, on the street. everyone is expecting a fee does go ahead with his reform plans for pedigree changing the labour laws, he said he would do by degree, not by a vote on parliament in the law, by decree, that will certainly create some sort of backlash in the austin. there is an optimism which is quite significant now, the french have been so long tarnished, politically and what they call the anglo—saxon media has been the kind of dead ducks of the western world. now they have this sense, hang on a sec, things are moving, trump in america. trump has been lambasted by the while's media, seems to have a good thing to say about somehow be light and darkness changing of modern politics. we are in the light and they are in the dark. we are the ones with the new hopeful leader who is got ideas and dynamism and youth and education and culture and openness in foreign languages and all the rest of it and that looks good. we feel good. he is using our language, he is talking of human rights, as the mission of france, of its role in the baulk and suddenly the french feel actually, we can hold our hands high against the now. there is this moment where they are asking, i think, there is this moment where they are asking, ithink, in there is this moment where they are asking, i think, in the blue of favourable baulk attention which is something they are not particular use to. —— world attention. something they are not particular use to. -- world attention. we think the car that reversed up to the engines of the red carpet. i am guessing that is the carpet takes away president hollande. a rather modest vehicle actually for the outgoing president. i'm straw he is not used to being driven in a small vehicle. how will france remember him, asa vehicle. how will france remember him, as a failure or somebody who did his best? just on that car business, we all remember this moment five years ago where sarkozy handed over to francois hollande, sarkozy came down the steps to the carand sarkozy came down the steps to the car and very poignantly and significantly and rudely maybe thought francois hollande did not accompany him down the steps to the car. this was seen as a real robust and a sign of how hollande had no time at all four sarkozy. hollande said he regretted that. if that is not the field to the day, they could not the field to the day, they could not have the politeness to accompany the upcoming president to the car. how will it be seen? i think inevitably as a failure. that is justified because i remember over and again towards the beginning of this hollande presidency, francois hollande going on television and saying with a solemn eye, staying at the pose —— staring at the people of france, i will bring down unemployment, i will bejudged on my ability to bring down unemployment. unemployment has gone up. it is the biggest curse on this country's social and political life. it has not been addressed. i think that must therefore go down as the big black mark on his presidency. there are people like macron calling the new ways of tackling unemployment, there are other countries in europe that have done it by freeing up the labour market. there are people on the left, the far left who are saying there are other ways to do it as well. he said he had the solution, he said he would bejudged on whether or not he brought unemployment down. he has not. it has gone up. i think you must be judged on the very like he shone on himself at the very start. —— the very light. we are waiting as the two men continue their discussions and the transfer of those nuclear codes and that is the scene there in the splendour of the elysee palace and we will see them walk down those stairs. we are not quite sure how long it is going to kate, to be honest. 0ne long it is going to kate, to be honest. one more question about emmanuel macron. he said, an brexit, he's going to be pretty tough. he is very much a pro—european, he is absolutely behind the european project and how tough do think he is going to be on the united kingdom when it comes to the brexit negotiations because france and germany are the crucial nations in the eu? he is quite remarkably pro—european and he speaks in a language, one that is almost forgotten, because of the kind of problems at the last four years and the apologetic tone that has crept into politicians way of speaking about the european union, even pro—european politicians here in france and germany somehow do not feel that they can laud the enterprise any more because it has gone so badly wrong. that is not macron's feeling at all. this is a remarkable thing and it has a feature, we just need to grasp the changes that are needed to bring it forward. —— it has a future. the enterprise of europe is at a turning point, which we've kind of analyse already. either it goes forward big—time or it goes back time. he is someone big—time or it goes back time. he is someone that feels it has to go forward with major reforms now. to integrate properly, to have a central bank, to have controlled the european budget and so on. that is what he wants. he was to rebut this relationship with germany and that is what is going to make life difficult for theresa may and the british because he's going to want to speak on bar is a europe that is unified, strong and very, very confident. there is another way of looking about which is perhaps more favourable to britain wishes to a united europe which is a europe which is able to negotiate more openly with less of a complex, less ofa openly with less of a complex, less of a fear of setting an example to other countries, other populist moment around the continent. his view an brexit is that it is a disaster for britain and there is absolutely no reason to give britain any favours at all four taken mysteries. for the moment, thank you very much. for taking this choice. the guards outside the elysee either with their bayonets and emmanuel macron, the 39 euros, new president of france, inside talking to outgoing president, francois hollande. —— 39 years old. after the formal inauguration, the new president emmanuel macron will inspect the troops behind the palace, there will be a 21 gun salute and the new president will leave the elysee and visit arc de triomphe. and the tomb beneath it is the unknown soldier. let's go back to corresponded to as close to the elysee. a rather wonderful day to do that, apart from the rain. absolutely a moment of history. the rain has eased now. we are close the police will let us get. of course the security is enormous. france still under a state of emergency following the attacks of 2015. really the number of journalists following the attacks of 2015. really the number ofjournalists is huge as well here. please in general is in the street only. just a few minutes ago we saw a flotilla of police motorcycles and cars as emmanuel macron got out of the car and went in to meet francois hollande. those two men in a private meeting right now, that is a meeting of about half an hour, you are talking about it, that is the handover of power, they are having a fairly formal conversation with the handover also of france's nuclear codes. we also saw them together at the beginning of the week. it was a victory europe day commemorations on mediate. the two men went to the arc de triomphe then. it was a public holiday, we watched it happen. it was emmanuel macron's first outing as president—elect and he stood side—by—side with the outgoing presidents, francois hollande on that day on monday. but today when the next see him, he will be in the process of becoming france's actual president and francois hollande will walk along the red—carpet, get into the car, the comes out of that meeting, and leave the elysee palace for the last time as president and now we will have the inauguration ceremony in the ballroom. the genocide there, they are waiting for that meeting to come to an end. —— the journalists are there. my guess still with me. what sense did we get when we saw francois hollande on monday next year emmanuel macron? , as the relationship, over the past relationship between them and how it is now, many have seen it as a betrayal of the owl going president, a manual, saying he is forming his own party, taking the reins of power from his formal master? it has to be said that on the face of it, the relationship between a emmanuel macron and former president hollande ina few macron and former president hollande in a few moments time, it was quite good. president hollande who brought in emmanuel macron festival as his economic adviser and then as is a economy minister. but it has to be said that the economy ministerjob was more down to the prime minister than hollande himself. he effectively was brought in, macron was brought in as a money man into holland's government. it was in the final year of hollande's presidency and a lot of people thought that it was far too late to do anything about a failing presidency in terms of economic matters. but macron introduced liberalising policies which upset the socialist camp and led to its division and indeed pave the way and a sense for her centrist path to power. what relationship do we expect him to have with the main political parties? his own formal party, the socialists and the central right party? technically the en marche is very recent indeed, more than a year ago he started up his movement. he resigned from hollande's cabinet, it took a lot of guts, he started off with no base at all and he managed to create one of his own. since his victory speech, he has rebranded his party and he will have the immense task now is recruiting people. he made it abundantly clear throughout his campaign, he was neither of the left or the right and he would be seeking 577 candidates from the right and be left tojoin his new 577 candidates from the right and be left to join his new voting 577 candidates from the right and be left tojoin his new voting bloc 577 candidates from the right and be left to join his new voting bloc to represent him in the national assembly. that is the focus. looking for the papers, they seem ready to be looking ahead to that challenge, that that husband larry little respite, very little time to celebrate and enjoy the moment, he is eagerly having to focus on getting some mps, getting a majority in parliament so he can carry out the things that he has pledged to do. very much so. today the magnificent spectacle of the inauguration will be effectively the la st inauguration will be effectively the last day of celebration and the festivities will effectively end by monday morning when emmanuel macron will have to get stuck into the nitty—gritty of governance and indeed realise, apply, start applying his ambitious political programme and then indeed realise the weight of office that is out of them. thank you. as we wait for an emmanuel macron and francois hollande to emerge from that meeting. let us just go back to ben in london. there is the car that will take the outgoing president francois hollande away for the last time from the elysee palace. he will walk along that red—carpet and step into that rather small car by his standards. if you are used to the vehicles of the french presidency, thatis vehicles of the french presidency, that is quite a modest one. that is the vehicle that will take him away from the elysee after he has transferred power to emmanuel macron, a process which is under way at the moment. and emmanuel macron, amongst other things, is being given the french nuclear codes and then the french nuclear codes and then the election result will be read out inside the elysee palace. that is the formal moment when emmanuel macron becomes the french president. really an extraordinary achievement that this 39—year—old newcomer, he was ina that this 39—year—old newcomer, he was in a commonly minister in francois hollande's government, a man who is created his own political movement, en marche, unknown to the world a year or two ago but has now let to providence and is now going to be —— take to the helm of the world's fifth—largest economy. a country that is a founding member of the european union and emmanuel macron is a fervent pro—european. so his stance during the brexit negotiations is going to be particularly interesting to see. emanuel mcconnell, a former investment banker, who is promised to bring in a wide—ranging reforms to bring in a wide—ranging reforms to the french economy. —— emmanuel macron. many have seen a stagnating in recent times. we can bring in a correspondence for french media who can talk to us i think. how significant do you think this is, this moment when we see a manual mcconnell take the presidency?m splendour, it's very symbolic moment when the power, there is no discover new witty of power, it is one president going directly to the next and this one is going to be very different from the one that was five yea rs different from the one that was five years ago between francois hollande and so cosy. at the time, it was not donein and so cosy. at the time, it was not done ina and so cosy. at the time, it was not done in a very good spirit, in a way. sarkozy done in a very good spirit, in a way. sa rkozy lost, done in a very good spirit, in a way. sarkozy lost, he wanted to be re—elected, he lost his adversary on the left. this time he says it will be almost joyous occasion, he didn't have the credentials to try be elected again and decided not to run. emmanuel macron was elected and he used to be his minister, it's like passing the power, he said to a friend. some of the same political family, power, he said to a friend. some of the same politicalfamily, almost. so it will be a friendly occasion, of course a very ceremonial and official ceremony but we saw already that francois hollande wants to have a paternalistic approach to it. we saw that when the two men were together on the 8th of may, and after that last week, so basically the ceremony has things that has to happen but there is some average for the two man. they can make the ceremony what they want —— there is some leveraged for the two man. emmanuel macron is a new man who is not a politician by trade. how will he want to put his print on this very significant ceremony? we are seeing this wonderful pictures from the elysee, with guards who will do a21 the elysee, with guards who will do a 21 gun salute. to what extent do you think that france is still a country divided ? we you think that france is still a country divided? we have shown —— as was shown by the election, although emmanuel macron won a sizeable majority of 65%, there are deep divisions that he has to work hard to overcome? indeed. he was elected largely. but the person behind him was marine le pen. you have these people that want to save the republic, they were there but between the first and second round, but it was not as big in 2002 with jean—marie le pen versus jacques chirac. there was not this is a relation of people as people coming together, whoever they wanted to come together around to save the republic. during the first and second round, there was criticism of emmanuel macron marathon 2002 criticism of jacques chirac was not exactly allowed. there was the southern splendour as one critic said. he has been elected largely. —— sudden splendour. they didn't wa nt to —— sudden splendour. they didn't want to have the front national in the palace so they didn't vote for him by choice, and some people, a lot of people decided not to vote at all. in terms of the voting rating, emmanuel macron arrived first, then spoiled ballots, and then marine le pen. the day afterwards was elected. there were people protesting against emmanuel macron as president. there was something important about that. it happened in 2007, when sarkozy was elected. there were people in the street pops protest against nicolas sarkozy. there is something, some would argue, that is being lost in the respect that you have to give to the function of president. if, even before being installed as president, he can be challenged, you can say of him, i don't want him, i wa nt can say of him, i don't want him, i want him out. get rid of him. he was just elected freshly. so some people are very wary of him. in the first round, john luke melenchon was in the far left and did a —— round, john luke melenchon was in the far leftand did a —— his new—found supporters really don't agree with the programme of emmanuel macron and in particular, his labour law reform, the liberal law reform. this far left movement really gathered momentum for the first round. so he has a very divided country indeed, to take care. it is not just the far right but also far left who have waken up for this election. as the press said just after the first round, there is a difference that is doing well, voting for emmanuel macron, and the france that is doing badly, that's the france that voted for marine le pen. it's a bit more complicated than that. it is notjust that people want a nationalistic approach of the country's problem and want to vote for the far right, that would be easy enough to understand, but it is much more fragmented. it will be quite complicated, because emmanuel macron doesn't want to be francois hollande number two. he doesn't want to realise that he doesn't —— he doesn't want the presidency to pass by and realised he didn't do anything. he is already displeasing anything. he is already displeasing a lot of people, so it is going to be hard for him. but even now he is not a politician by trade, i think is quite prepared to do what he has to do and even being quite unpopular for what he has to do. because he knows in the end that five years from now, what is going to count for most people, people who didn't agree with him before he started before will never agree with him. he knows that even in five years, the people he won't need to convince other people who are waiting for results and that is the way he wants to start his presidency. he wants to do things very quickly, he said himself that he wants to change without even going through parliament at the summer. he wants to do things that are radical, maybe that's a bad word, but important, he wants to change the face of france in a way. that is bound to be unpopular but at the same time french people say they wa nt the same time french people say they want change. so we will see how they accept the change that the new president is presenting. thank you. just tell us, we are seeing the wonderful preparation for the ceremony at the elysee palace. it will all get away after mr macron has finished his meeting with the outgoing president, francois hollande. he will be presented with a ceremony and the official documents, he will be officially president. we always think, in britain, we do ceremonial rather well but in france they do it very well but in france they do it very well too. how important is it to the french people and the french republic that there is this great ceremonial surrounding the inauguration of the new president? it is quite important. even though we don't have kings any more, we do like the ceremonial of power still. it is something that is still very intriguing. the palace is a grand seem intriguing. the palace is a grand seem to do that in. you can see the length of this break —— red carpet, and the palace, and the ballroom is very beautiful as well. after he has spoken at the elysee palace and after the position of power is down, he will go at the champs—elysees, which is dubbed the most beautiful avenue of the world. that is quite important that the french president is able to go down in the most beautiful avenue in the world. that is not an significant for the french people. it is possible —— that is significant for the french people. the night he was elected, it was possible that he might walk alone to the end of the champs—elysees, which is what he did, if you remember, on sunday evening. he walked, isolated, towards the people with the european anthem behind him. and it was very touching and special. it's something he will be remembered for in years to come, this man, a loan, walking towards the people of france. apparently, that is what he wants to do again. symbolism is very important. as i said, there is some kind of possibility for the two men to make what they want. emmanuel macron is any man, he wants make it special and so, it is notjust another politician that you have in this grand and splendid palace, who by the way, most presidents don't like because it's not nice to live in. even though i'm going to the same palace, i will be different. that is apparently what he wants to do and how he wants to do it, by working alone. thank you so much for the moment, very good to talk to you. that spring back in hugh schofield, our paris correspondent. you've watched lots of these power tra nsfers you've watched lots of these power transfers down big year in france. marie were saying we don't have kings any more, but you wouldn't guess that from the splendour around the elysee palace today. talking —— talk as the what happens and how important it is the france. but they say the french have a monopoly course freak in them. —— monarchical streak in them and they haven't lost the taste for monarchy, it's deep in the genes of the country. they seem to take the big idea of a president —— seemed to ta ke to big idea of a president —— seemed to take to the idea of a president who is above politics. by contrast with britain, for example, this is all new. the french republic is only about 70 years old. all these rituals that have been —— invented in recent times, it looks ancient and pompous and full of ceremony, but actually a lot of it was invented by charles de gaulle and his successor. i have not been that many presidential handover of power in the fifth republic. that said, there is at the elysee, the trappings of ceremony. it pleases, i think, the french, to see it all rolled out again. certainly as a nation, the french now have —— know how to do it in the same way the british know—how to do it. both our nations with history, tradition and, uniforms and grandfather. —— fa nfa re. it one of his first priorities as president is to try and get a decent showing of mps in the parliament? how is he going to do that? he has en marche but it's a tall order isn't it? it is pretty much been born from nothing. but there are hopeful signs. it is not ludicrous to predict that he'll get a majority in the house —— the lower chamber. it is by no means a given, and he will fight hard to get it with his new party, the en marche, but there is something here which he has rightly identified as a logic of the institutions. there is a national feeling that, if you i elected president, the least you can do afterwards is to give him a majority in parliament so he can do what he set out to do. the constitution is very flexible in france, it's set in stone by charles de gaulle in 1958. it makes the president an important figure but it is based on his ruling the majority of parliament. if he doesn't have that majority, then power does shift. it shifts to the prime minister. this is what emmanuel macron wants to avoid, he wa nts a emmanuel macron wants to avoid, he wants a parameter and the government loyal to him. but to have that, he needs a majority. the next few weeks will be important because the landscape has shifted after the selection completely. we are in unknown territory, the pollsters don't know how to predict this election because sting constituency bya election because sting constituency by a constituency. we have the en marche movement with the wind in its sales, younger candidates from civil society which come fresh faced with optimism, but you have the other parties too. on the right, le republica, which has not fallen apart. it feels that the legislative or the chance to come back and make a great showing, to signify the emmanuel macron that the centre—right is where the balance of power lies. so to win the majority, and impose on him a promised and government which will have to work. if that happens, we will have to have the cohabitation with macron as president and really having to take a step back from the polity making —— policy—making, which will reside mostly with the government on prime minister with the backing of parliament. that is what emmanuel macron wants to avoid. so it will be very important and is interesting. all you can say in emmanuel macron's favour is that there is a logic to his election, and many people will not have voted for him in the presidential election. i will be saying, we need to give him a chance. he seems to be an honest person with ideas. if we hamstring him from the start, his whole presidency will be a failure of course. let us give him the powers he needs to do what he has to do. and he will do what he has to do as an outsider, is the way he's been portrayed. this has been cold by some as a political revolution in france. in another way, some as a political revolution in france. in anotherway, he some as a political revolution in france. in another way, he is an archetypal insider. you are tiny in terms of his education, he is part of the french elite. —— you told me in terms of his education, he is pa rt in terms of his education, he is part of the elite. but he is portraying himself as an outsider. this is what is held against him by both be right and the far left. the handover of power, they say, is a sham. because francois hollande, according to this theory, has done something of political genius. the critics say that his presidency was a failure when it comes to policy and its effect on the country but politically, boxer—macro remains a mastermind. what he has done is cleverly —— francois hollande remains a mastermind. he has bought someone remains a mastermind. he has bought someone into power who has carried on his legacy. this is someone who has been with francois hollande from the start. macron was with francois hollande on the day have in direct —— on the day of his inauguration. he was his protege. this is held against him and francois hollande in particular by both the far left and the far right. it is his weak point, carrying on the legacy that broadly what he is going to do is carry out more effectively what francois hollande tried to carry out. that is a soft liberalisation of economic policy and a soft warming up with germany. the idea is that francois hollande was hamstrung with that because he made promises to the left and was not a man who had clear ideas. but that was the drift of his policy. macron now, who says we need to open up and liberalise and reform europe, to staff, that is simply a —— we need to do stuff, that is simply doing it without the embarrassment of boxer—macro's policy. continuity i think is part of this, but france does not need anything radical, it needs change in the direction that it has set out already. a more open labour market, close the relationships with germany, the reforms which emmanuel macron has espoused. it is continuity, but the alternative was something radical indeed. that was a move towards the politics of emotion, and populism. that is what the country has rejected. rejected it for now. to what extent do you think populism and the far right and marine le pen will be back next time? undoubtedly, they will not go away unless the country can lift itself up by its bootstraps and in five years' time, feel better place. if it does feel a better place five yea rs if it does feel a better place five years from there is no reason to think that marine le pen and jean—luc melenchon of the far left, will be then really poised to take part. but that is a big if. but it is possible that there are historical forces at work here that are beyond the possibility of any president to turn around. maybe what is happening in europe and france is a decline in relationship with the rest of the world, a sense of no longer being the top dogs at the top table, that is something which will have to get used to. it will be a long process of adjustment of other parts of the world like china and india become more important and richer. it may be a psychological adjustment of the country has to go to. which will take a long period of time, and it may be in five years' time, and it may be in five years' time the country still feels very badly off and unhappy and miserable and nostalgic, in which case the solutions offered by the protectionist, the nationalists, or on the left the people who want to com pletely on the left the people who want to completely overhaul the capitalist system, those messages may still have great appeal. they are owed an enormous result ability under shoulders of emmanuel macron to give signals over the next five years. no one expects things to sell around completely, but at least the start of the process of rebuilding. —— no one expects things to turn around completely. 0n the european level, this will play out. if macron gets his way, we will see a big relaunching of the european project. again, some say we have been there and done that. do we really want to rest all our hopes on a resurgence of the european project? is his argument will be, yes, we have reached a point where we have got rid of britain which was the great, sort of, ball and chain about immigration, now is the chance for you really to move down the road to integration —— for europe to really move down the road to integration, setting up european parliament, is there a system of distributing wealth. if that can happen in partnership with france's reef forming, maybe europe will start being able to take the rightful place on the world stage to which he certainly think is it. thanks for joining us. hugh schofield with his analysis of where we are on a historic day this france as it watches the transfer of power from francois hollande too, as you were saying, the young emmanuel macron. close by to the elysee palace is our correspondent, and we were seeing people on the street speaking we we re we were speaking to people and the crowd of been huge, whether it is a socialist or another party. perhaps emmanuel macron has not attracted the same amount of actual supporters turning up to the elysee palace because he is so new. but they are saying around here, this is a far smaller crowds may have seen at the elysee palace for past inauguration. you were talking about the difficulties and challenges that emmanuel macron faces and has been facing since the moment he was elected one week ago. all the newspapers this morning, pretty much all of them, are talking about what he has to do now. the honeymoon period was so incredibly short before, immediately, he started thinking towards the 11th ofjune, thatis thinking towards the 11th ofjune, that is one the lower house of parliament elections take place. he needs a majority of mps in that lower house of parliament. at the moment en marche, his party, his movement, has absolutely nobody in the parliament. they have to get a working majority of people to support him in orderfor emmanuel macron to carry out the reforms he wa nts macron to carry out the reforms he wants in order to pass laws. that is talk about this some more. this week, we have had the revelation of people running for the seats, not all of them have been announced. they are a diverse bunch, exactly half female, and come from all walks of life? the presidential office will be in enormous for macron. he realises that. the difficulty for him will be that he has at the moment, no constituency behind him and his en marche is fairly new. he has this changed it to republic en marche. at the moment, he doesn't have a shoo—in. —— a shoo—in prime minister to come into the lower house. and he has no obvious political allies either. he will have to find some too, effectively, e nforce have to find some too, effectively, enforce his ambitious political programme. as you said, at the moment, people have emigrated so far, half of them have no political experience at all —— people have been recruited so far. the average age is ag which is younger than the people who occupy the seats at the moment. people from all walks of life including a former bull—fighter and a former nobel were winning mathematician. it is 50—50 in terms of male and female distribution. but this strikes me less about ability than representational correctness. he will have to find political friends and allies pretty quickly. we see inside the elysee, everybody in anticipation. that meeting between outgoing and incoming president seems to be going on for a while. they are having essentially an informal conversation before emmanuel macron sees francois hollande out of the elysee palace the good. but as an outgoing president, i'm sure francois hollande will be welcomed but they will follow the actual inauguration after that. we saw emmanuel macron's rive bridget alive —— wife bridget alive before her husband. why did it come in that order? the president—elect will —— review that guard by the incumbent president and his wife by the steps of the elysee palace. of course, president emmanuel macron is a bachelor and doesn't have an official first lady. the surgery and —— to avoid embarrassment, she arrived before him. we have talked about his forthcoming parliamentary legislative election, there is obviously the fact that the french president is a powerful role in itself. but parliament is essential still for doing things he wants to do. absolutely. the irony about emmanuel macron is that what it essentially allowed him to rise so quickly, is also to do with his ability. we discussed how lucky he got with this election. but it has to do with the details. he is hands on with the policies he lamented. —— with the policies he invented. he will be having to find ministers and crucially, a permanently to reinforce his policies. he will be less hands—on ironically, and he will have to find people to implement this programme. monday will be the day that announcement all be to be premised. a lot of names are being bandied about. that will be crucial to set the tone for his presidency, whether he chooses someone his presidency, whether he chooses someone from the socialist party or the more right—wing candidate, it will be decisive in the course of action in his administration. so far, there have been 24 socialists who have been selected to represent his republic en marche movement to face this parliament elections. there will be members from the conservative republican parties who wa nt conservative republican parties who want to leave what is a blighted party now in the wake of their their support of a candidate who is going under criminal investigation. they will want immediate power and will be tempted tojoin they will want immediate power and will be tempted to join the they will want immediate power and will be tempted tojoin the en marche movement. these allegations against francois fillon, he would have been a favourite for centre—right and his expenses and salaries are now under the microscope and that effectively led to the fact that he fell out of the race and did not make it through to the second round. i think it is fair to say when the scandal broke, the state job scandal, he would've been a shoo—in, for fillon. he had a formidable vehicle behind him help, he took over as sarkozy as head of the party and he was hugely popular. everybody was absolutely convinced that he was going to be the next president and all of a sudden, this scandal broke out which has to do with the effectively self enrichment and i think that is what made an awful lot of difference in the minds of french