PARIS (AP) – President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for bringing France out of the pandemic aren’t just about resuscitating long-closed restaurants, boutiques and museums. They are also about preparing his possible campaign for a second term.
A year before the next presidential election, Macron is focusing on saving jobs and reviving the pandemic-battered French economy as his country inches out of its third partial lockdown.
The centrist president’s ability to meet the challenge will be significant for his political future and for France – which is among the world’s worst-hit nations with the fourth-highest number of reported COVID-19 cases and the eighth-highest death toll at more than 106,000.
While he has not officially declared his candidacy, Macron has made comments suggesting he intends to seek reelection. And he has pushed recent legislation on issues that potential rivals on the right and the left hold dear, from security to climate change.
Pollsters suggest Macron, who four years ago became the youngest president in French history, has a good chance of winning the presidency again in 2022 despite his government’s oft-criticized management of the pandemic and earlier challenges to his policies, from activists protesting what they see as social and economic injustice to unions angry over retirement reforms.