Emmanuel Macron is now Europe’s most powerful politician. The president of France has a new electoral mandate. Over the next five years, he will use it to try and transform not just France — but Europe.

If Macron truly succeeds, his second and final term in office will see the EU emerge as a major geopolitical power, on a par with China and the US. That goal of creating a European superpower may seem distant, even delusional. But circumstances are combining to give Macron his best ever shot to push forward the vision.

During his first term in office, Macron was frequently overshadowed by Angela Merkel. But Merkel has now retired as German chancellor. Her replacement, Olaf Scholz, lacks charisma and has made an uncertain start. Macron, with the enhanced prestige that comes from re-election, will look to provide the ideas and dynamism for the EU.