Over 200, 000 People Sign Petition To Oppose Emmanuel Macron’s Wife Brigitte Becoming ‘First Lady’

More than 200,000 people have signed an petition against the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron being given a formal position as the country’s First Lady.

The online petition calls for a stop to the plans to create a ‘First Lady’ public office, which would see Brigitte Macron, 64, support the president as part of his administration.
President Macron, 39, promised to create the office for his wife Brigitte, 64, on the campaign trail ahead of his victory in May.

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The petition on change.org began two weeks ago to demand that no public money be set aside for the First Lady role.

‘Brigitte Macron currently has a team of two or three aides, as well as two secretaries and two security agents. That’s enough,’ says the petition which had collected 220,000 signatories by Monday afternoon.

The petition also states that Mrs Macron is not elected to any office by the public, and that it would be hypocritical of the president to hire his wife as the government is about to pass a law preventing MPs from hiring family members as assistants.

However, Macron has promised that the she would not be paid from public funds in the event the office is created.

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This comes after a series of polls showed that Macron’s popularity among the French electorate has plummeted, putting an end to his honeymoon period.

The polls, published last week, showed the percentage of French citizens who said they were satisfied with Macron’s policies and trusted their young leader to deal with the country’s problems plunging.

France’s Ifop polling agency put it bluntly: ‘Apart from Jacques Chirac in July 1995, a newly elected president has never seen his popularity rate falling as quickly during the summer after the election.’

The energetic and image-conscious president has seen his popularity drop after announcing budget cuts, launching a divisive labor reform and engaging in a damaging dispute with the military.

While struggling at home, Macron has succeeded in raising France’s diplomatic profile, hosting meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump and Libyan peace talks in Paris.

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More than 250,000 people have signed an online petition that Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French President Emmanuel Macron, should not be given the official status of first lady,

France currently doesn’t have an official first lady and during his election campaign, Macron said he would create the position for his wife and pledged it would not be paid for with public funds, but the petition claims it will cost the French taxpayer money.

The online petition was published on the change.org platform and created by Thierry Paul Valette, the founder of the “national equality” movement.

The petition specifies that, if enacted, the special status would allow the first lady benefit from the French budget. Having an office, staff and an allowance from the public purse are examples of some such benefits.

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