MARSEILLE, France French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to make France the “first major nation” to phase out oil, coal and gas as energy sources in a speech to “green” voters and young people on Saturday may abstain from voting in the second ballot next week.
At a rally in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which saw a massive firstround vote for leftwing leader JeanLuc Mélenchon, Macron sought to extend what opinion polls show is a small lead over his farright rival Marine Le Pen.
Ahead of the second round on April 24, the presidential race will be played on the left, with both candidates trying to win over voters who backed Mélenchon in the first round last Sunday.
Macron said he would put his next prime minister directly in charge of what he called “green planning,” and appealed to leftwing voters’ nostalgia for postwar communistinspired central planning while addressing 21stcentury concerns examined for climate change.
“This Prime Minister’s mission will be to make France the first major nation to get out of gas, oil and coal. It is possible and we will do it,” Macron said. “Between coal and gas on the one hand and nuclear power on the other, I choose nuclear power.”