Macron announces re-election bid 'in face of challenges of century'

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced that he will run for re-election.

“I am a candidate to invent with you, in the face of the challenges of the century, a unique French and European response,” Macron announced in a letter published in local media.

“I am a candidate to defend our values that the disruptions of the world threaten. I am a candidate to continue to prepare the future of our children and our grandchildren. To enable us today and tomorrow to decide for ourselves,” he said.

The announcement came a day before the deadline for candidates to finalize their bid in front of the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest constitutional authority. The presidential election is scheduled to be held on April 20.

In the letter he said, he wants to "defend French singularity” which “involves promoting a certain way of being in the world” and promised to "build a credible Europe."

He emphasized that his first term in office and the last five years were marked by the accumulation of crisis; “terrorism, pandemic, return to violence and war in Europe.”

However, he added: “We can make these times of crisis the starting point for a new French and European era.”

“We are experiencing upheavals of incredible speed: threat to our democracies, rising inequalities, climate change, demographic transition, technological transformations,” he said.

Currently, there are 10 other candidates who will be competing with Macron for the highest office: Valerie Pecresse, Anne Hidalgo, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Melenchon, Eric Zemmour, Yannick Jadot, Jean Lassalle, Fabien Roussel, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Nathalie Arthaud. Macron’s rating for winning the second term is the highest among all the candidates.

Citing Russia’s war on Ukraine, Macron recalled in the speech that “the upcoming electoral moment” was “very important.”

“This presidential election will determine the directions that the country sets for itself for the next five years and beyond,” he said, regretting his inability to campaign because of the ongoing geo-political crisis.