Trevor Hughes

USA TODAY

France’s youthful new president took office Sunday with a pledge to rebuild the country’s economy and listen to its citizens as he invoked the national motto: “liberty, equality, fraternity.”

Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated at the Elysee palace in Paris, taking control of the country and its nuclear codes from mentor Francois Hollande. After posing for selfies with members of the political party he founded, Republic on the Move, Macron had a message for the country.

“I will be at work this evening,” the 39-year-old posted on Twitter following a day of ceremonies. Macron’s first international trip as president is scheduled for Monday: a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, 64, will live in the Elysee palace.

A former economy minister with pro-business, pro-European views, Macron is the first French president who doesn’t originate from one of the country’s two mainstream parties. Macron now leads a country that, when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019, will become the EU’s only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Macron must now form a government and name a prime minister in advance of June elections. A political newcomer himself, Macron has recruited hundreds of progressive candidates to stand for election in what is widely seen as a repudiation of far-right politics represented by the candidate he defeated, Marine Le Pen. Many of the Republic on the Move candidates are newcomers in politics. Their average age is 46, compared with 60 for the outgoing assembly. Half of them are women. Only 24 are lawmakers running for re-election, all Socialists.

France has faced repeated terror attacks by Islamic militants, and Le Pen’s campaign focused on limiting immigration and withdrawing from the EU. President Trump stopped short of formally endorsing Le Pen but said she was the “strongest” on security. Former president Barack Obama, however, endorsed Macron, and voters swept him into office by a large margin.

Macron’s Republic on the Move party is considered progressive but with a practicality linked to his pro-business worldview. In his inauguration speech, Macron said he will do everything that is necessary to fight terrorism and authoritarianism and to resolve the world’s migration crisis. He also listed “the excesses of capitalism in the world” and climate change among his future challenges.

“We will take all our responsibilities to provide, every time it’s needed, a relevant response to big contemporary crises,” he said. Macron announced his determination to push ahead with plans to free up France’s economy and pledged to press for a “more efficient, more democratic” EU. France is a founding member of the 28-nation bloc, which Britain plans to leave in 2019, and its third-largest economy after Germany and Britain.

Americans have been fascinated by Macron's youth and his marriage to Brigitte, who is 24 years older than him. The two met when he was a high school student and she was a married teacher with children. She eventually divorced, and the couple married a decade ago.

She's 64. He's 39 and could be France's next president

Contributing: The Associated Press