Macron accused Le Pen of becoming dependent on Russia. “They depend on Russian power and they depend on Putin,” Macron said. “They don’t talk to other leaders, they talk to their banker when they talk about Russia,” the liberal president continued. Macron was referring to a loan Le Pen took from a Czech-Russian bank in 2014.
The policy defended itself by pointing out that French banks would not approve such financial aid. “Don’t you find that scandalous?” replied Le Pen, speaking of the democratic deficit of the banks. She also accused Macron of preventing her party from getting a loan in France in 2015 when she was a minister. The President replies that no one intervened at the time. He was also Minister of Economy, banks were not part of his area of responsibility.
Le Pen wants to end arms cooperation with Berlin
The 53-year-old condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a clear violation of international law. At the same time, she wants to work towards rapprochement between NATO and Russia if the war in Ukraine ends and a peace treaty is signed. The right-wing candidate, who accuses Macron of “blindness towards Berlin”, wants to end arms cooperation with Germany.
APA/AFP/Ludovic Marin The TV duel on Wednesday, the election on Sunday: Macron against Le Pen
Macron emphasized France’s anchorage in the European Union and committed to Franco-German cooperation. “I believe in Europe and I believe in the Franco-German couple. I think it was the Franco-German couple that allowed us to reach agreements.”
debate
Where is France going?
Le Pen said that there is no European sovereignty because there is no European people. “I defend Europe from the nations.” She doesn’t want to leave the EU, if that were the case she would say. Yours is about changes in the Union.
Controversy over retirement age
Previously, Macron and Le Pen presented opposing proposals to increase purchasing power. At the start of the long-awaited televised debate ahead of Sunday’s second round of elections, Macron announced increases in pensions and the minimum wage, as well as a cap on gas and electricity prices. It is also important to further reduce unemployment. Le Pen proposed reducing the value-added tax on energy and eliminating taxes on a hundred basic everyday products.
When it comes to pensions, a topic that has been the subject of repeated debate in France, Le Pen insisted on retiring at age 60 to 62. Those who start working at the age of 16 to 20 should be able to retire at the age of 60, the other employees, as has been the case until now, at the age of 62. “Retirement at 65 is an absolute injustice,” Le Pen said of Macron’s plan for a higher retirement age.
French presidential election 2022. Strongest candidates by department in the first round.
Macron stressed that a pension from age 65 should not apply to all employees, with the exception of people in particularly strenuous jobs. In view of the increase in life expectancy, the pension system must be counter-financed.
I tried to be objective
There was a dispute over the issues of environmental protection and energy supply. “Your program is baseless,” Macron told Le Pen, whom he described as climate skeptic. Le Pen, in turn, accused the president of a “punitive ecology” that restricts the lives of “ordinary people”. While Macron advocated the parallel expansion of renewables and nuclear energy, Le Pen described wind energy as “ecological and economic nonsense”.
At the start of the TV debate, Macron and Le Pen tried to make an objective, if critical, exchange. When the two sat face to face in a TV duel ahead of the 2017 election, the argument was characterized by insults and personal attacks.
Now Macron has shown himself to be a listener who agreed with his opponent on some claims – but then tried to refute his conclusions or demands. Le Pen also focused on her opponent’s statements and presented herself as a defender of the population.
Courting the favor of Melenchon voters
Both candidates are courting voters of leftist populist Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round with just under 22%. He asks “not to vote for Le Pen”, but abstains from supporting Macron. Melenchon expects a good result for his movement La France Insoumise (Indomitable France) in the June general elections and has already presented himself as prime minister.
France: TV’s duel for the presidency
The French presidential campaign culminates in a TV duel between incumbent Macron and challenger Le Pen. The polls before the discussion were tighter this time than they were five years ago.
For the last two days of the election campaign, Le Pen plans several more visits to the north of the country, where he did well in the first round. Macron will conclude his election campaign in Nice, in the south of France. In polls before the second round, the incumbent was clearly ahead in favor of voters. On average, he presented 55.83%. This means that the race is not as fierce as expected according to polls ahead of the first round of presidential elections.
At midnight on Friday, political silence begins on the radio, during which polls and interviews are not allowed to be published. Polling stations are open on Sundays from 8 am to 7 pm, in large cities also until 8 pm. The first projections will be published at 8 pm.