Macron Plays Down Reelection Aspirations, Says Focuses On Current Term

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2019) French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, when asked about the possibility of running for a second term in 2022, that he did not care about the next election, as he focused on succeeding during the ongoing presidential term.

"I don't care about the next election. I want to spend this presidential term successfully," Macron said at a press conference held in the follow-up to the national debate in France.

The French leader, who has been in office since 2017, stressed that in order to succeed he had to make "unpopular" or "difficult" decisions and undertake responsibility for them.

France held is national debate from January 15 to March 15. Macron came up with the idea to hold the debate as a response to the yellow vest protesters, outraged with the social policies of the French government. The press conference drawing the conclusions of the debate was initially scheduled for April 15 but then postponed due to the fire that broke out in the landmark Notre Dame cathedral exactly on that day.