Emmanuel Macron and Marin Le Pen faced off in a live televised debate Wednesday night that could change the course of the presidential election this weekend.
The long-awaited two-and-a-half-hour exchange, broadcast on television, radio and online at 9pm local time, began in a civilized way with a smiling Le Pen, who said he would be president of Respect and Common Sense.
Le Pen drew lots to speak first and began by addressing the cost of living crisis, which studies say is a major concern for French voters. She spoke of a steady reduction in taxes to give French families between 150-200 euros an extra month each month.
“The absolute priority for next year will be to return the money to the French,” she said, promising to reduce VAT on fuel and energy.
Macron, who seemed more serious, said his approach to “the anger of people struggling to make ends meet” was to freeze prices during the crisis with the cost of living as an emergency measure. “This is more effective than reducing VAT,” he added. – And you voted against.
“I want something permanent, such as leaving the European electricity market, not something temporary,” Le Pen said in response.
The French television station TF1, which is hosting the debate, had hoped to start an exchange between the candidates on the international situation, namely Ukraine, but Le Pen vetoed it as a starting point.
The first clash over wages came when Macron rejected Le Pen’s offer to increase wages by 10%.
“The president doesn’t decide salaries, it depends on the employers,” Macron said. “You’re trying to make people believe you’re going to increase wages by 10 percent, and that’s not true.”
“And you’re trying to make people believe you’re going to increase bonuses,” Le Pen said.
With everything to win or lose, the 44-year-old Macron had to avoid sounding arrogant and a director, and the 53-year-old Le Pen had to look calm, credible and above all moderate to win over 40% of the floating voters. who did not support any of them in the first round 10 days ago, especially the 7.7 million who voted for the candidate from the radical left, Jean-Luc Melanchon.
The meeting was moderated by two journalists well known to the French public, with each candidate having equal time to answer questions on a number of topics and their policies. The debate is a major event in the French presidential election since it was introduced in 1974. Only Jacques Chirac refused to discuss his second-round rival, far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Marine’s father, in 2002, saying he would will legitimize Le Pen’s ultimate views.
After the disastrous performance in the presidential debate in 2017, this time Le Pen was much better prepared. She was advised to play the mother of the nation, a board she failed to accept in 2017. Then her team suggested that she try to destabilize Macron, treating him like a “spoiled child.” In this case, Macron destabilized her from the beginning, telling her that despite her efforts to detoxify her and her party’s image, she was the “true heiress” of Le Pen Sr. and the “French far right.” She stumbled, confused the euro with the ecu and became aggressive. He told her to “stop being funny.” More than 16 million people watched. At one point, Le Monde claimed to be losing 30,000 votes per minute, and polls have since shown that it lost four percentage points.
Five years later, Macron is no longer a political holder and has managed to convey his arguments with the weight of the presidential experience, albeit with mixed results. Le Pen is weak in terms of technical details and is open to criticism of her previous support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In addition to program differences, viewers will monitor the behavior of the two candidates.
Ahead of the debate, Jordan Bardella, acting leader of Le Pen’s National Rally party, said the candidate was “focused and ready”. He added: “Our situation is that we are ready today… and this is the message we will convey tonight to the French.
Government spokesman Gabriel Atal said: “The President of the Republic is approaching this debate calmly and with great interest, because this is an important democratic moment, because this is an important moment of clarification that will allow us to go into the details of the projects. ”
Among the thorny issues are Le Pen’s plans to ban Islamic headscarves in public places, exempt people under the age of 30 from income tax and hold a referendum to circumvent the constitution to limit immigration and introduce France’s nationalist job policy. , benefits and health care.
Le Pen is expected to lure Macron into some of his more unpleasant public comments, including that he wants to “anger the unvaccinated” or that he “can cross the road” and find work for an unemployed person.
Much of the debate is expected to be technical. The issue of pensions and the official retirement age is an extremely complex issue that will be difficult to clarify in a televised confrontation.
Europe is also expected to be a hot topic, with Macron wanting a stronger and more powerful union and Le Pen wanting to ignore the EU and create a union of nations in the bloc.
The latest Ipsos poll shows that Macron has a 12-point lead over Le Pen in the second round, with 56% winning and 44% ahead with a 1.1% error. However, 13% of these voters did not indicate who they would vote for. Of those who said they would abstain or vote in vain, 43% said they could change their minds during the day.
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