French President Emmanuel Macron says he will not remain in politics after leaving the Élysée Palace in 2027, once his maximum two terms are over.
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“I wasn’t involved in politics before [becoming president] and I won’t be involved afterwards,” the president told students in Nicosia on Thursday, during a two-day visit to Cyprus for a European Council meeting.
Elected in 2017 aged 39, Macron became France’s youngest president since the 5th Republic was founded in 1958. He was re-elected in 2022 but cannot stand for a third term in next year’s presidential polls.
His comments stand in marked contrast to those made in July 2025 in Paris when he told a rally of his party’s youth section, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary, “I will need you in two years, in five years, in 10 years”.
It was seen as a sign he was preparing for the 2032 presidential election.
None of France‘s presidents have managed to return to office after leaving it.
Defending his record
Macron, who also served as economy minister from 2014-2016 under François Hollande‘s socialist government, gave no indication of what his next steps might be. But admitted the hardest part of his final stretch in office was defending his record.
“After nine years, you have to hold onto what you’ve done well and try to go further, but sometimes you have to fix things you’ve done wrong,” he told students at the Franco-Cypriot school.
Balancing achievements with unfinished reforms was, he said, the most challenging aspect of his final term.
Macron’s key domestic reform has been to raise the legal minimum age of retirement from 62 to 64. But the controversial legislation is currently suspended until after the 2027 election after his party lost its majority in the lower house following snap elections in June 2024.
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.
In his 2025 New Year speech, Macron admitted his decision had brought more political instability to France rather than “solutions for the French people”.
(With newswires)
