Paris prepares for Emmanuel Macron's inauguration as French President

Paris: Independent-centrist Emmanuel Macron will be sworn-in as the 25th President of France following his landslide 66 percent victory against far-Right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace here, the media reported Macron, 39, will become the youngest President in French history since Napoleon Bonaparte was elected in 1848 when he was 40 years of age, The Telegraph reported. Macron will walk up the red carpet to the palace steps and exchange a ceremonial handshake Socialist President Francois Hollande. [caption id=“attachment_3430022” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] File image of Emmanuel Macron. AFP[/caption] He would normally be accompanied on the red carpet by his wife Brigitte Trogneux, but because there is no outgoing First Lady, protocol will oblige her to enter the palace before him, along with other guests. Macron and Hollande will withdraw for about half an hour to discuss matters of state in private. Hollande will also hand over the codes for France’s nuclear arsenal. According to sources, Hollande may show Macron around the Elysee, although the president-elect is familiar with the palace layout from his time as an advisor and later his Economy Minister. Macron will accompany the outgoing President to the palace steps. He is expected to wait on the porch until he has departed. Macron will then review the Republican Guard and a 21-gun salute will be fired, reports The Telegraph. He will be driven up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, where he will rekindle the flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After taking power, he will also name a Prime Minister. After a string of terror attacks, security will be extremely tight. Thousands of armed soldiers and police will be deployed and there will be helicopter surveillance. Parts of Paris will be closed to traffic. France remains under a state of emergency introduced after the Paris attacks in November 2015. The alert was heightened after a policeman was killed on the Champs-Elysees last month just days before the first round of voting in the presidential election. Macron has laid out ambitious plans for reforming the European Union and loosening France’s rigid labour laws, The Telegraph reported. His first foreign trip will be to Berlin on Monday, in keeping with the tradition for French presidents to visit Germany soon after their inauguration.