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In France, the wife of the president does not hold an official position as part of the administration like First Ladies do in the United States. She is a lowercase-f first lady. But new French President Emmanuel Macron is hoping to change that.
On the campaign trail, Macron said that he would like to make a statute that would give his wife, Brigitte Macron, an official role in the presidency. Though he made it clear that the First Lady would not be paid with government money, the idea still received a huge amount of backlash. As of August 6, over 220,000 had already signed a petition against the idea.
It’s possible that the French see the idea as an Americanization of French politics, but it’s also possible that the reason they’re so against it is because they’ve been burned by politicians too much in the past. Conservative politician François Fillon ruined his chances at becoming president because his wife was receiving a public salary of close to one million euros, even though she never showed up to work.
Learn more about Macron’s “First Lady” idea in the video above.
Featured image: Stock Photos from Frederic Legrand – COMEO/Shutterstock
