Le Pen is the most interesting politician in France , then Emmanuel Macron is almost certainly the runner-up.
Previously an aide to French President François Hollande, he was appointed as Finance Minister with a mandate to, in a word, liberalize France's economy in a desperate bid to boost employment and rescue Hollande's abysmal poll ratings.
His economic philosophy seems to come close to what the economist Ed Glaeser called "small government egalitarianism": the idea that the government should leave the economy alone and let most things go unregulated, but redistribute money to buffet the impact of economic shocks on everyday people.
This is the exact opposite of the traditional French approach, where it is thought legitimate for the government to direct economic activity and where the safety net is created as much by protected legal statuses, such as tough work rules that discourage employment, as by redistribution.