By John Irish and Tassilo Hummel
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron slammed his far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Wednesday, saying his true “authoritarian” intentions were showing after he banned a team of journalists and did not rule out a return to the death penalty.
Macron, a pro-European centrist, became president in 2017 after easily defeating Le Pen as voters rallied behind him to keep the far right out of power. This time he faces a much tougher challenge.
He’s slightly ahead in the polls, but ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting, Le Pen successfully used his anger at the cost of living and perception that Macron has lost touch with everyday hardships to keep pressing on these issues.
Macron was criticized for not fighting properly in the run-up to the first round and changed course ahead of the April 24 runoff. He has targeted areas where people have voted against him to compromise and adopted more aggressive rhetoric towards his rival.
He said Le Pen’s manifesto was full of lies and false promises concealing a far-right program that would eventually lead to France’s exit from the European Union.
On Tuesday, at a press conference where she outlined her vision of democracy under her presidency, Le Pen was asked why a team of journalists from a popular nighttime program had been denied accreditation.
She shrugged and said the show was about entertainment, not journalism, and that she reserved the right to decide who would be allowed to attend her press conferences, now as a candidate and later as president if elected .
“Despite all efforts, the true face of the far right is making a comeback. It is a face that does not respect the freedoms, the constitutional framework, the independence of the press and fundamental freedoms, the rights (…) that are at the heart of our values, such as the abolition of the death penalty,” Macron told France 2 TV.
He added that this was the beginning of an “authoritarian drift”.
Le Pen, who has worked to detoxify her party’s image with populist, Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant policies, responded that Macron was showing his “weakness” and was unable to offer lessons on how to deal with the press. . .
Macron has had a volatile relationship with the media during his presidency and came under fire last week for refusing to appear on several prime-time shows before the first round.
“It would be better if you got into the background of my project. It is known transparent. We can discuss it and argue our disagreements,” Le Pen told reporters during a campaign stop outside of Paris.