No arguments, no direct confrontation. Instead, consecutive performances by the top eight candidates in the polls, without any possibility of exchange or even crossing paths. This is the table of the first big election night organized by TF1 on Monday, during which the contenders for the Elysee Palace were successful. Here’s what to remember from their performances.
Emmanuel Macron: more president than candidate
His confession of faith? “We can get there,” said Emmanuel Macron, recalling all the crises experienced over a five-year period. Journalists Anne-Claire Coudret and Gilles Bulo made it clear that they were interrogating the “candidate” Emmanuel Macron. But the president responded more, defending his track record and calling for unity. On the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron defended his ongoing dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “get a ceasefire and an architecture for peace.” “Europe cannot be safe and at peace if it does not speak with Russia,” the Head of State substantiated.
It is the same with purchasing power, the questions are based on energy prices. “20 billion euros of purchasing power! We have protected the purchasing power of the French,” the presidential candidate said, listing all the relief measures taken in recent months, from checking inflation to checking energy supplies, tariff bills and lowering prices by 15 euros to the dollar. liter from 1 April to 31 July … Defending himself against a pre-electoral measure with this latest aid announced over the weekend by the Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron calculated that “the emergency cannot wait for the elections. Emmanuel Macron, in passing, justified his switch to nuclear power, now recalling the three pillars of his strategy: consumption reduction, nuclear power and renewable energy.
“The real answer is ecology and work,” the candidate nevertheless emphasized, recalling the goals of his pension reform. And we agreed that it is necessary to carry out work on social dialogue regarding the work of people over 55 years old, with an increase in the retirement age to 65 years. When asked, like every candidate, about taxes, Emmanuel Macron promised that there would be no increase and that he would continue to cut if re-elected, “as he has been doing for five years.”
Marine Le Pen: Purchasing power is like a red thread
The RN candidate spared no effort to smile and calm down, she still drags her failed debate from 2017 like a ball. choice” by Emmanuel Macron. And she returned to the topic as much as possible, trying to mobilize the popular electorate. “I want to protect the purchasing power of the French,” she said.
Marine Le Pen promised to “reduce the taxes of the French”. She insisted on the “extremely social” nature of her pension reform (a progressive system with a full pension at 60 for forty pensions). And she achieved a reduction in fuel prices from “34 to 50 cents per liter”, lowering the VAT on energy and canceling “Emmanuel Macron’s tax increase.” “What I don’t want,” she said again of the war in Ukraine, “is for the price of gas to increase eightfold” and “for the French to commit hara-kiri based on sanctions imposed by our leaders.
“There is no fatal outcome. If you vote, absolutely everything can change,” she assured, calling her “solid” project “defend the nation.” Marine Le Pen also refused to call Vladimir Putin a dictator, preferring the term “autocrat” because using “cruel words” in his eyes would not “probably lead to peace.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon: how to get out of the Russian trap
Regularly accused of some ambiguity about Russia, the rebellious French candidate was forced to devote much of his speech to justifying his position on the Ukraine conflict. “I have been warning about the risk of war in Ukraine since 2014,” he assured, while confirming his desire for France to work more on a ceasefire agreement rather than push for sanctions against Moscow.
In his opening remarks, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is by far the best left candidate in the polls, urged “not to forget to think about the problems that we have to solve during this election”, in particular social and environmental. By doing so, he confirmed his intention to lower the retirement age to 60, freeze the prices of essentials, or even raise the minimum wage.
On energy and environment issues, the MP from Marseille maintained his desire to phase out nuclear power as soon as possible, emphasizing the “danger” of the atom, recalling incidents that occurred at Ukrainian nuclear power plants on the battlefields. .
Eric Zemmour: defense as offense
Once this is not accepted, the Reconquista candidate abandoned his favorite topics, including immigration, to focus his speech on the international situation. As the Ukraine conflict hastened his fall in the polls, he has once again tried to justify his earlier stance favoring Vladimir Putin. “After the collapse of the USSR, Putin put his country in order like a Russian patriot,” he said when asked about his desire to one day see a “French Putin.” “I condemned the Russian invasion,” he recalled in the preamble, looking more comfortable about it than he had during his last forays.
Eric Zemmour also laid out his defense proposals, in particular increasing the budget of the Armed Forces to 70 billion euros by 2030. “We have to be strong,” he said. According to him, the “weakness” of the French army is such that in the event of “a war of high intensity, we would have three days of ammunition.” He also criticized the European defense project dear to Emmanuel Macron. “There is a strengthening of the European agency of NATO. What will Germany do with its 100 billion? They are going to buy American,” he complained.
Valerie Pekress: “responsible candidate”
Hours after presenting her “breakthrough” project, the Republican candidate tried to convince her that she could bring “long-delayed reforms” in a country that, she said, “has been weakening for a decade.” “There’s so much to rebuild […] This will take courage. This courage, I have it, ”she assured, saying that I have a“ firm hand ”but“ respectful ”.
Always on her feet, always on the move, Valerie Pecresse vowed to “apparently” cut taxes and defended her promises to increase net wages by 10%, increase survivor’s pensions for widows, “simplification shock”, “migration quotas” and “zero immunity.” She said she refused to “bequeath an over-indebted and deficient country”, posing as a “responsible candidate”.
Former minister Nicolas Sarkozy finally accused Emmanuel Macron on several occasions of “realizing Putin’s danger too late”, discussing his decision to close the Fessenheim plant and ridiculing his will to raise pensions. age up to 65 years. “He listened to my program and I’m glad of that,” she said, urging the French not to be “deceivers” by an “illusionist” who wants to “do the opposite of what (he) did” as president. . “The fate of France is in your hands,” she concluded.
Yannick Jadot: fossil fuels, tendons of war
Will Yannick Jadot be the most belligerent of the candidates? The ecologist suggests that he wants to arm the Ukrainians in order to support their “heroic resistance.” “This is a fight for freedom against repression. Let’s look at twenty years of massacres, war crimes. Putin is a dictator,” the MEP said, denouncing the “too much complacency” associated, in his words, with fossil fuels, “with this incredible addiction.” “Fossil fuels are killing democracy, and so is the climate,” drummed the Green candidate, who wants to “hunt down Russian billionaires everywhere.”
For Yannick Jadot, an “immediate” embargo on Russian gas is possible with the mobilization of state authorities. “Every day we give Putin $700 million to finance his war,” he said, hoping that a major mobilization plan would reduce “our gas consumption by 10 to 15 percent.” This happens, he explained, by repairing the buildings “the most gas-intensive” or even solar panels “where possible.” Yannick Jadot also proposed the creation of a single buyer of gas on a European scale, “just like for vaccines.”
Assuring that renewable energy sources are “the only energies of security and peace,” the environmentalist repeated that he wants a gradual exit from nuclear energy: “as renewable energy sources are deployed, we will close power plants, this will take twenty, twenty-five years.”
Fabien Roussel: shocking formulas and measures
Like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Communist candidate called for a focus on ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, unhesitatingly calling Moscow the “aggressor” in the conflict.
However, Fabien Roussel urges “not to put aside the war” the difficulties of the country “that were there before.” Very vividly, he clung to percussion formulas, recalling “a gas station that has become the only place where they hold a gun at gunpoint” or even “Coco Chanel gasoline.” Like his competitors on the left, he has detailed his measures in favor of purchasing power: lowering fuel prices by taxing big energy companies, raising the minimum wage, or even lowering the retirement age to 60.
The only candidate on the left to support nuclear energy, the communist finally believes France needs the atom to achieve energy sovereignty through “stable, controlled and carbon-free energy.”
Anne Hidalgo: “unification” against Putin
Facing great difficulties in the polls, the Socialist candidate primarily sought to stand out from his left-wing competitors. Emphasizing the need for “unification at the European level” against Vladimir Putin, she continued her remarks about Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whom she accuses of complacency towards the Russian president.
While advocating immediate measures to support purchasing power, such as lowering the VAT on gasoline, she also distinguished herself from Yannick Jadot, who, according to some, advocates a “punitive” environmental policy: “In my program, we never pit ecology against social.” launched the socialist by forking out on proposals such as maintaining a retirement at 62, raising the minimum wage, or even strict enforcement of equal pay for women and men.
Despite the Ukrainian crisis, the candidate has maintained her goal of phasing out nuclear power by 2050, saying, however, that she is opposed to a “brutal phase out” of nuclear power in order to find time to develop renewables.
Why the candidates did not have the same speaking time
Each candidate present had one minute to present their “statement of faith” at the beginning of the program and approximately 2 minutes before the end. On the other hand, the speaking time during the interview was uneven, with breaks of several minutes.
To calculate them, TF1 relied on Arcom’s integrity rules, taking into account the representativeness of candidates (number of elected officials, recent polls, recent election results) and their “ability to demonstrate intent to be a candidate” (number of public meetings, travel, social media presence, and… participation in the debate).
However, the first channel did not strictly apply these rules, because “it would give too big discrepancies. Rather, we applied the spirit of justice,” we argue. “On the other hand, you cannot apply equality in a period of justice. Because we wouldn’t have a problem with Arcom.”