A close run-off race for the French presidency is expected on Sunday. The TV duel can get things moving again in the election campaign.
France’s liberal head of state Emmanuel Macron has accused his right-wing opponent Marine Le Pen of becoming dependent on Russia. “They depend on Russian power and they depend on Putin,” Macron said Wednesday in the televised debate of presidential candidates ahead of Sunday’s runoff. “They don’t talk to other leaders, they talk to their banker when they talk about Russia,” Macron told Le Pen.
Macron is referring to a loan Le Pen took from a Czech-Russian bank in 2014. She defended herself by pointing out that French banks did not want to authorize such financial aid. “Don’t you find that scandalous?” replied Le Pen, speaking of the democratic deficit of the banks. Le Pen also said, “I am an absolutely and totally free woman.” Macron accused her of preventing his party from getting a loan in France when she was minister in 2015. Macron replied that no one intervened at the time. She was also Minister of Economy, banks were not part of her area of responsibility.
inflation main topic
Previously, Macron and Le Pen presented opposing proposals to increase purchasing power – a key issue in the election campaign. 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 late on Wednesday.
It is also important to further reduce unemployment. Le Pen proposed reducing VAT on energy and eliminating taxes on 100 basic necessities.
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 statements – 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.
Both candidates are courting voters for left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came third in the first round with just under 22%. He asks “not to vote for Le Pen”, but abstains from supporting Macron. Mélenchon 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.
Two more days of intense campaigning
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.
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.
(APA/dpa/AFP)