Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the Socialist Prime Ministers of Spain and Portugal, Pedro Sánchez and António Costa, implicitly urged the French to vote for the incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the second round on Sunday. In an article published by French newspaper Le Monde on Thursday, the three heads of government spoke out against Macron’s populist right-wing opponent Marine Le Pen, without naming her. The French would have the choice between a democratic candidate and a right-wing candidate. They hoped the French would “choose a France that upholds our common values,” the post read.
After the TV duel with his rival Marine Le Pen, French President Emmanuel Macron is the favorite in the second round of the presidential election, even after the nearly three-hour long and sometimes heated televised debate. In a poll by broadcaster BFM on Thursday night, 59% of viewers found Macron more convincing. At the same time, according to the Elabe Institute, half of French people perceived him as arrogant, while Le Pen seemed closer to the people than Macron. According to polls, Macron can count on his re-election in the second round on Sunday: up to 56% of the votes are expected for him. That means the race will be much less tight than it was assumed before the first round of voting.
Le Pen was better prepared than in 2017
According to Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter, if Le Pen were elected French president, Europe would change forever and threaten democracy. The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag told the Reuters news agency: “It is in fact dependent on Putin – and he wants to destroy democracy and freedom in Europe,” he added, referring to the Russian president.
In the televised duel, Macron also accused Le Pen of being dependent on Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, referring to a previous loan from a Russian bank to his party. She replied that her independence was not affected by the loan. At the same time, she spoke out against the Russian gas import ban, which she believed meant “hara-kiri” due to the devastating economic consequences.
At the same time, Le Pen presented herself as an advocate for consumers whose purchasing power she wants to increase. Macron accused the competitor, which campaigns for a sharp reduction in VAT on energy, that some of its proposals were unrealistic. This also applies to the salary increases she wants to obtain in the case of her presidency.
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Le Pen appeared to be better prepared in the televised debate than in 2017, when, according to many observers, she fared worse in the televised duel with Macron at the time. In the presidential election, she suffered a crushing defeat against Macron, who received 66.1% of the vote. Unlike in the past, she no longer entered the election campaign demanding an exit from the euro zone. However, according to her idea, the EU should be replaced by a “Europe of Nations”.
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Macron accused the rival of secretly still fighting for the exit from the euro: “Today she wants to go further, but she doesn’t say more”. -German axis. Le Pen replied that he had observed in the European Parliament how “the Germans defended the interests of the Germans”. She wants to change the EU, but not leave it.