Photo Gallery A Visit with Macron in the Élysée Palace
French President Emmanuel Macron not only wants to reform France, but he also wants to rebuild the European Union. He sat down with DER SPIEGEL to talk about his vision for the EU.
Macron has only been in the Élysée Palace since May, but he has already stirred up the country's political culture. "Perhaps I am following in the footsteps of Mitterrand, who really did want to shape Europe. My predecessors, by contrast, thought it was best to say nothing at all and to keep all their options open. That may sound like a tactical approach, but perhaps it was simply because they didn't have any ideas for Europe at all."
Macron in the Élysée Palace: "Some would just like to stick a pin through me like insect researchers do a dried butterfly and then say: Look, there's the banker who doesn't like people. If that were the case, I would not be here. I am not arrogant to the French I am determined."
Macron's dog Nemo. "He was abandoned as a puppy and spent a year in an animal shelter. I had decided that I wanted a dog from an animal shelter. Normally, presidents have purebred dogs, but he is a Labrador-griffon mix. Absolutely adorable. Quite a stroke of fortune, isn't it? From the animal shelter to the Élysée Palace. I quite like the idea, even if he has little idea where he has ended up."
Macron says he has made quite a few changes to the Élysée Palace since moving in. "We made everything lighter and more modern and we provided more space to contemporary artists. I want to open up this palace."
Macron and his dog Nemo. "Ambition is never modest. If modesty means to have middling success, then I can only say: I'm not interested."
Macron with SPIEGEL editors Britta Sandberg, Julia Amalia Heyer and Klaus Brinkbäumer.
