The president met students in Nicosia on 23rd May during his two-day visit to Cyprus for the European Council meeting, during which he said that he was not involved in politics before his presidency, and won’t be involved afterwards.
Elected in 2017 at the age of 39, Macron became France’s youngest president since the 5th Republic was founded in 1958. He was re-elected in 2022 but is ineligible for re-election in next year’s presidential elections.
The remarks, however, mark a stark departure from his own remarks in Paris last year, when he addressed a party youth meeting, marking the 10th anniversary, saying “I will need you in two years, in five years, in 10 years”.
This was interpreted as an indication that he was getting ready for the 2032 presidential campaign.
It is the first time France’s presidents have been unable to come back to their offices.
Defending his record
Macron, who was also economy minister in the socialist governments of François Hollande from 2014 to 2016, offered no clue as to what his future plans might be. However, the toughest part of his last years in power was to stand up to attacks on his record, he acknowledged.
Students at the Franco-Cypriot school were told by the author that, after nine years, they should be proud of what they have done well and try to do more, but sometimes they should rectify what they have done wrong.
“That was the toughest part of his last year in office,” he said, “achievements versus unfinished reforms.”
One of Macron’s top reforms has been to increase the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
The contentious bill, however, is on hold pending the 2027 elections following snap elections in June 2024 that brought his party a defeat in the lower house.
His unilateral decision to dissolve parliament and call snap elections after the far-right National Rally trounced his centrist bloc in the European polls has been much criticised, even within his own Renaissance party.
However, Macron accepted in his speech for the new year in 2025 that his action had introduced more political turmoil than “solutions” for the French people.
