French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday it was not the time to speak about his eventual bid for re-election in 2022, stressing that his priority is to make his mandate a success despite social rebellion reflected in weekly "yellow vest" street actions, Trend reports referring to Xinhua.
"I assume to have an agenda that goes beyond the term of this mandate," but "It's not the subject today," he said when replying to a question at a press conference, the first such meeting since he took power.
"I do not care about the next election...I want to succeed in this mandate," said the 41-year-old president.
Upon his inauguration in May 2017, Macron, pledged that his first mission would be to unite the French people, tackle all challenges and get the country out of crisis.
Since then, he had been changing labor code and pension, proposing to inject dynamism into public services and institutions and reforming the rail sector and education system, areas where he was facing fierce opposition that drew thousands of protestors to the streets across the country in addition to rolling strikes.
His latest reform to speed up energy transition and protect environment has created a tense social climate that led his approval rating to record low.
A recent Elabe poll showed 28 percent of those interviewed expressed confidence in the president's ability to fix the social and economic crisis, down by three percentage points.