The centrist leader Emmanuel Macron and the extreme right Marine LePen staged a tense debate this Wednesday, marked by clashes over Russia, Europe and the Islamic veil, four days before the ballot of the presidential election that will set the course of France until 2027.
“You depend on Russian power and on Mr. Putin (…) You talk to your banker when you talk about Russia,” Macron told his rival from the National Grouping (RN), during the only televised face-to-face between the two before the second round on Sunday.
In the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which brought back the fears of the French about rising inflation and the loss of purchasing powerthe president seeks to present Le Pen as complacent with Moscow and warn of his foreign policy.
“It is not true and it is quite dishonest,” replied his rival. In 2014, his party contracted a loan of 9 million euros (about 9.8 million dollars) – which he still pays back – to a Russian bank, because no French bank wanted to give it to him, he defended.
In foreign policy, Le Pen proposes leaving the integrated command of the NATO, which sets the military strategy of the alliance, although no longer of the euro. His election would be a setback to the European Union (EU)which he wants to reform, after the re-election of the Hungarian Viktor Orban.
“This election is also a referendum for or against the EU”, “of an ecological ambition”, “of secularism, fraternity”, warned Macron, who advocated “a strong Europe (…) with powers strong as France” to weigh on the world stage.
Hours before the debate, both the Russian opponent Alexei Navalni, in prison in his country, as well as the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, pointed out the relationship between the far-right and Putin. The Ukrainian urged Le Pen to admit that he “was wrong”.
To clear up any doubts, the heir to the National Front (FN), reiterated that the “aggression of the Ukrainian people is inadmissible” and said she supported “a free Ukraine”, independent of the United States, the EU and Russia.
Civil war
France repeats the final duel of 2017, but the country is not the same. Meanwhile, a series of social protests, such as the “yellow vests”, shook Macron’s mandate, a pandemic confined millions of people and the war returned to the eastern reaches of Europe.
“For five years, I have seen the people of France suffer … worry about the future and doubt. Another election is possible,” said Le Pen, 53, who introduced herself as the president of “freedom “, of “purchasing power” and of “national fraternity”.
Although Macron leads Le Pen by 12 points, according to the latest Ipsos/Sopra Steria barometer, only 69% of those registered say they are sure to vote, including about 6 out of 10 voters of the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, that both candidates seek to attract and mobilize.
The face-to-face is announced as key, since that part of the electorate will look at it “in the hope” of “confirming an election that is not entirely safe” or that it will help them finally make a decision, advanced Emmanuel Rivière, a political scientist at Kantar, on RFI radio.
Both tried to score points on that field. Macron, a 44-year-old candidate for the Republic on the Move (LREM), estimated that the Rival’s proposal to ban the Islamic headscarf in public would lead to a “civil war” in France.
Marine Le Pen, for her part, described Macron’s flagship proposal to delay the retirement age from 62 to 65 as “absolutely unbearable injustice”, although he opened up to delaying it only to 64 in a nod to left-wing voters.
too authoritarian
Unlike 2017, when with 66.1% of the votes he was proclaimed president for the first time, Macron had to defend his administration, marked by crises and protests against the policies of the popular classes.
The president defended his balance, as well as the reformist and liberal impulse that he intends to recover. To “finance” the pension system, it is necessary to “work progressively more”, defended the head of state
According to the Ipsos/Sopra Steria barometer, Le Pen is considered the one who best understands the problems of the people and Macron, as the one with the best international image. Both are “too authoritarian” for half of the French.
During the televised debate, tense but more cordial than five years ago, the candidates tried to project that image of their opponent. “I try to put myself in the place of the people,” the far-rightist told her rival.
The candidate presented a calmer profile than in 2017, when she was criticized for her “aggressiveness” and “her lack of preparation”, which she did not book in exchange for Macron’s criticism: her program “has neither head nor tail” .
On Sunday night, the name of who will preside over France for the next five years will be known and the June legislative campaign will begin, which will define with which parliamentary majority it will govern, something uncertain in a political board in recomposition.