He was undoubtedly one of those who spoke about it most openly. At each meeting with the press, François Patriat, former boss of the Macronist senators, ended up blurting out: “As soon as the president leaves the Elysée, I will launch a hashtag #Macron2032.” This great devotee of the Head of State, who died in the middle of August at the age of 83, will not have had the opportunity to try to create a trend on social networks. But his young champion, for whom he had left the PS, is perhaps already laying the first milestones for a return to politics.
At almost 49 years old, Emmanuel Macron is prevented by the Constitution from running for a third consecutive term. Speculation about his future is rife. What will he do once the keys to the Elysée are handed over to his successor in May 2027? Is he really considering a return to politics?
During a visit to the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (Alpes-Maritimes) on September 7, Emmanuel Macron was questioned by journalists from the American magazine Variety about the possibility of running for a third term at the Elysée. “Let's be clear: according to our Constitution, you have the right to two consecutive mandates. So I will end my mandate next May, and the French people will elect someone else,” he first responded, as shown in a video extract from this interview published on September 25. And to continue: "I have been very honored and proud [to be president] all these years. After that, I should reinvent something else. But I am not excluding anything. It is quite unusual to come back, but we will see. Life is inventive, sometimes more than films."
“Emmanuel Macron positions himself”
Why leave the suspense hanging over a possible return, in the middle of an electoral campaign where his own camp, divided between his two former Prime Ministers Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe, is struggling to break through in the polls? Marc Fesneau, president of the MoDem group in the National Assembly, sees above all in this declaration "a word of common sense". “He is only describing the reality of things, without locking himself into I don’t know what outcome for him. He will see. And we will see with him,” he puts things into perspective. “Emmanuel Macron is intelligent enough not to say this sentence randomly,” adds a Macronist parliamentarian, assuring that the head of state undoubtedly saw the opportunity to “show that he is still in the position.”
"Emmanuel Macron is positioning himself. It allows him to consider the future and, at worst, to explain that he will still count tomorrow, engages political scientist Benjamin Morel. If Edouard Philippe or Gabriel Attal wins in 2027, he will be a sword of Damocles on their heads to defend his record and they, therefore, have no interest in being in radical criticism."
“If it is Marine Le Pen who wins, Emmanuel Macron will be the only one in the political field to have beaten her twice. He will therefore appear as an recourse.”
Benjamin Morel, political scientist
at franceinfo
The hypothesis of “recourse” appears at this very distant time. The second five-year term, since the failed dissolution of 2024, has turned into a nightmare for the macronie while the figure of the president acts as a foil for public opinion. Emmanuel Macron thus fell to a record level of only 16% of favorable opinions in the Ipsos barometer published on September 12.
“I have no doubt about his ability to come back”
Some figures from the central bloc are banking on the long term to hope to rebuild a bond of trust between the French and Emmanuel Macron, and thus change the perception they have of his record. "The national and international situation creates tensions, even rejection [of the figure of the president], this is normal, but history also teaches us that politicians who leave the front of the stage are acclaimed over time, says Marlène Schiappa. Look at the hype [the craze] with Jacques Chirac: he was reviled during the exercise of his mandates."
For the former Macronist minister, now supporter of Gabriel Attal, "it is not impossible to think that in five years, Emmanuel Macron will be [seen as] a recourse once his results have been considered with more lucidity and objectivity, particularly on the international level."
Several loyalists of the president are in any case ready to return to the fight behind Emmanuel Macron. “I remain a great supporter of the president,” says Renaissance MP Marie Lebec. “I remain very admiring of his ability to read events, to prepare the country for the challenges of tomorrow,” continues the Yvelin elected official who confides “loving the idea” that Emmanuel Macron “does not close the door” on his return to politics. “I have no doubt about his ability to return at a later date, and if that were to be the case, I would be, as I have been since his beginnings, at his side,” supports Renaissance MP Denis Masséglia. The elected official from Maine-et-Loire would imagine the head of state, while waiting for a return to the national scene, to play the leading roles on the European scene in a new role.
“I would be quite in favor of Emmanuel Macron becoming the first European president elected by direct universal suffrage by all Europeans.”
Denis Masséglia, Renaissance MP
at franceinfo
“Everything is open,” summarizes Renaissance MP Céline Calvez, who recalls another episode where Emmanuel Macron left the door wide open to a return to politics. On July 5, 2025, the President of the Republic was the surprise guest at his party's youth meeting, at the Cirque d'hiver. “I came to tell you that it was not over. I will need you in two years, in five years, in ten years!”, said the head of state.
“It phosphorus”
Only Emmanuel Macron knows precisely today what form his political commitment will take after handing over, even if his camp is also thinking about it for him. “I know that around him, things are phosphorous, without him having asked for it elsewhere,” says a ministerial advisor.
In the meantime, the head of state will have to go through this presidential campaign from the spectators' bench. “This role of guarantor does not require me to be a commentator on our public life. I am therefore not going to tell you if I think that this or that is at the level: this is absolutely not what the president should do,” he declared to a journalist who questioned him about his role in the campaign during his press conference on September 18.
However, "the president will not be able to avoid, if there is a real danger from the extremes, calling the candidates to responsibility, [even if] I do not know what form this will take", confided last spring to franceinfo the Minister of Vocational Education Sabrina Roubache, very close to the Macron couple. "I don't know if he had something specific in mind when he responded to the journalists from Vanity Fair, book a Renaissance executive. On the other hand, I found him offensive and relevant against Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen, without mentioning them, in his interview on Thursday. I imagine that he will punctuate the campaign a little with this kind of booster shots."
Not enough to impress the opposing camp. “Can’t wait in seven months!”, jubilant someone very close to Marine Le Pen, anticipating a victory in the spring. “For the most part, its rejection persists,” supports LFI deputy Eric Coquerel. The oppositions have already turned the page on the Macron era.
