Emmanuel Macron played one of his toughest cards. At the 21 Le Débat, the televised confrontation between the candidates for President of the French Republic, began live on TV and via streaming. As decided in the past few days, it was Marine Le Pen who harassed the outgoing president about the loss of purchasing power. An opening awaited by the French press as the Rassemblement National candidate has hit a lot on this point in the electoral campaign. Macron responded with an expected attack on another front. He accused Le Pen of being too close to Vladimir Putin: “Your interests are linked to the interests of Russian power. They depend on Russian power and on Mr. Putin ». The reference relates to a loan from 9 million euros Le Pen asked a Russian creditor close to Putin. Le Pen’s reply was prompt: “If I was forced to go abroad to take out a loan, it was because no French bank agreed to lend me a loan. I am an absolutely free woman ».
During the election campaign there was also another case related to relations between Le Pen and Russia: in early March, the candidate was destroyed Thousands of flyers with a photo of her with Putin. According to the Liberation newspaper, the photo was taken 2017. Macron also accused her rival of immediately recognizing the annexation of Crimea: “You were among the first MPs to recognize the result of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. That’s how it was, and I say that in all seriousness, because you’re dependent on Russian power and on Mr. Putin, a few months after you took out a loan from a Russian bank close to power in 2015, then you renegotiated that loan with others on Actors involved in war in Syria”.
The controversy over the Islamic veil
Marine Le Pen reiterated that if she became president, she would ban women from wearing the Islamic veil: “I think it’s a uniform imposed by Islamists.” Macron explained that the consequences of such a decision could be very harsh: “The ban on wearing the Islamic veil would lead to a civil war. With me there will be no ban on the veil, the kippa or religious signs».
How Le Débat was organized
Macron and Le Pen employees studied every detail, starting with the temperature in the studio (19 degrees). Le Pen started according to the draw. Macron sits on the left, Le Pen on the right, still undecided. The debate will be led by two journalists: Gilles Bouleau from the private channel Tf1 and Léa Salamé from the public television France 2. The director also has references to the use of cameras: as agreed, they will not be able to linger too long on the candidate, when they don’t speak. Macron has the edge: According to the latest Ifop poll, he has the 55 percent of preferences.
The defeat of 2017
It’s not the first time Macron and Le Pen have challenged each other to become presidents. It also happened in 2017, during the last round of presidential elections. Then Le Pen asked for the debate to be postponed because she was suffering from a severe migraine. By the evening of the confrontation, she had arrived exhausted, losing ground dramatically with a series of mistakes, starting with the economic data. Le Pen called this confrontation the “biggest failure” of his entire political career. This time, to prepare, she made no commitments for the two days leading up to the meeting.
