President Offers First Glimpse of Post-Elysee Plans to Students Who Were Expecting a Different Kind of Lesson
Reported by Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Emmanuel Macron, in a garden of the French-Cypriot school in Nicosia during an official visit, told a group of schoolchildren that he was thinking about a life outside politics after the French presidency ends in 2027. The children, who had presumably prepared questions about how he became president, received instead an early hint of his post-presidential career planning, which Macron delivered with the serenity of a man who has been chairing international summits on maritime security and has begun to think about what comes after.
The Serenity of a Man Who Has Had Four Prime Ministers
Macron’s equanimity about the approaching end of his presidency is either genuine philosophical acceptance or an extraordinarily well-maintained performance, and in either case it is impressive given the domestic political conditions of his second term. Four prime ministers. A hung parliament. A credit downgrade. Ratings near contempt. The 2024 snap election that clarified nothing. And yet: the man sits in a garden in Cyprus, tells children he is thinking beyond politics, and appears to be at peace with the trajectory. This is either the serenity of someone who has genuinely made peace with circumstances, or the practiced poise of someone who has been in high-stakes situations for a decade and has learned that the performance of serenity is its own form of political statement.
Macron became president in 2017 at 39, the youngest head of state in modern French history, having founded a new political party from scratch and won an election against Marine Le Pen by a margin that the French establishment described as a relief and Le Pen described as a temporary condition. He was re-elected in 2022 against Le Pen again, with a smaller margin and the specific warning that the country was not enthusiastic about his re-election but preferred it to the alternative. His second term, shaped by international crises he has managed with visible energy and domestic political chaos he has managed with visible difficulty, is ending with the foreign policy legacy substantially outpacing the domestic one.
What Comes After, Which He Declined to Specify
Macron did not specify what his post-presidential life would involve, beyond suggesting it would not involve politics in the traditional sense. Former French presidents have pursued various paths: Nicolas Sarkozy has been occupied by legal proceedings. Francois Hollande returned to the National Assembly as a member of the NFP, which is a striking career arc for a former president and one that reflects the specific post-presidential landscape of a country with an active political left that can always use a former head of state. Jacques Chirac spent his post-presidency in relative quiet. Valery Giscard d’Estaing spent his writing novels and participating in European constitutional conventions.
Macron at 48 will be the youngest former president in the Fifth Republic when he leaves office. He is unlikely to be quiet. Whether his post-presidential activities involve international organizations, private sector engagement, writing, or the continuation of his European project advocacy through non-governmental channels is unknown. The schoolchildren in Cyprus did not press him on the details, because they are schoolchildren and the question was about how he became president, not what he planned to do afterward. He answered the second question. He was in Cyprus. He seemed fine. Bloomberg reported on the exchange with the careful prose of journalists who cover finance and are used to people being more specific about their plans. Macron was not more specific. The garden was pleasant. The presidency continues for approximately another year. The post-presidential career will be revealed in the fullness of time, which is exactly the kind of phrase Macron would use and which means: not yet.
For more on powerful people contemplating the next chapter, visit The Onion.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
