Renaissance, the party of French President Emmanuel Macron, is seeking to regain its former strength and reinvent itself two years before the end of his term in office.
With a view to the upcoming 2027 presidential election, in which Macron will not be able to run after two terms in office, the party said on Monday that it now had two years “to propose a future for this country.”
Since mid-January, the party has been holding hundreds of events to understand what went wrong and what is on the minds of its supporters.
Renaissance itself says it is not satisfied with its membership numbers, and notes that seven years after Macron’s first election win, the party, which he created out of nothing, still lacks local roots.
While the dynamic Macron, who started out as a minister under Socialist President François Hollande, initially inspired many in the country, Renaissance lost further ground in last summer’s parliamentary elections.
It is unclear whether the party, which once drew support from the centre-right and the left, will have much political clout beyond Macron’s term in office.
It has yet to decide on a candidate to replace Macron in 2027’s elections, though former prime minister and party leader Gabriel Attal is said to have ambitions.
For the centrist parties, the election is also about who could stand a chance against the far-right nationalists led by Marine Le Pen.
