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FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER Emmanuel Macron attacked far-right leader Marine Le Pen over her economic policy and plans to scrap the euro last night in an unprecedented debate between all 11 contenders ahead of this month’s election.
The discussion was at times chaotic and dominated by the anti-capitalist and virulently anti-EU smaller candidates who made their first major appearance ahead of the first round of the two-stage vote on 23 April.
The most telling clash between the frontrunners came at the end of the first section when 39-year-old Macron took on what is considered one of Le Pen’s vulnerabilities – her plans to scrap the euro and revert to the franc.
“What you are proposing, Madame Le Pen, is a reduction in French people’s spending power because, by withdrawing from the euro, for savers, workers, it’s a reduction in spending power,” he said.
Polls show only a third of French voters support scrapping the euro, many of them anxious about the impact of a devaluation which would hit their savings and spur inflation.
The clash and Macron’s more combative performance could point to the tone and shape of the campaign ahead, with Macron and Le Pen having emerged as the clear frontrunners.
Macron accused her of wanting to start an “economic war” with France’s neighbours and denounced her nationalist stance, which he said had torn the continent apart in the past and filled graveyards near his hometown Amiens in northeast France.
With just 19 days until the first round of voting in a rollercoaster contest, the debate could influence the momentum of the campaign, with around a third of voters still unsure of how they will vote.
Polls show far-right candidate Le Pen and centrist independent Macron in a dead heat at around 25% heading into the first round on 23 April. Macron is seen easily winning the second round on 7 May.
‘Unfettered globalisation’
Le Pen put in a steady performance under fire, warning about the closure of factories, and the danger of Islamists and immigrants eroding France’s national identity.
“I consider that in this election our civilisation is at stake,” she said at the start of the debate, promising to restore order and combat “unfettered globalisation”.
When questioned about legal problems surrounding her National Front party including campaign financing and the use of expenses at the European parliament, she said she considered herself to be “politically persecuted”.
Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon scoffed at her defence, saying it was “amusing to see you playing the victim while spending your time attacking immigrants”.
For the second time, Hamon found himself eclipsed by his rising far-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon, who put in another assured performance, according to a poll published by BFM television after the debate.
One candidate who needed to shine was conservative Francois Fillon, whose campaign was almost derailed by criminal charges over claims he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for fake parliamentary jobs.
He concluded by saying that if voters did not want the ”chaos proposed” by Le Pen or “the continuity” represented by Macron, then they should vote for him.
Unlike the first debate, yesterday’s featured all of the candidates ahead for the first time in French history.
They included fast-talking autoworker Philippe Poutou, who featured widely on social media after taking on Le Pen and Fillon over their legal problems in unusually blunt language.
“With Fillon, the more you look the more corruption and cheating you find,” he said.
Communist firebrand Nathalie Arthaud vowed to protect French workers from being “strangled by the capitalist system”, while anti-EU nationalists such as Francois Asselineau, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Jacques Cheminade enjoyed rare airtime.
‘Race to the bottom’?
It was the first time that all candidates had debated before the first round of a presidential election in France with many observers sceptical about whether the format would help inform voters.
Writing in Le Monde before the debate, Michel Noblecourt, noted that President Francois Hollande — who decided in December not to seek re-election — warned that the “dangerous” innovation in French politics risked “a race to the bottom”.
The final result of an election that is being watched closely around the world is still seen as highly unpredictable.
Dissatisfaction and outright hostility towards mainstream politics is high in France and surveys show around a third of voters plan to abstain.
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Euro has been an unmitigated disaster .
Certainly from wee Paddy’s perspective, bailing out this disaster .
@Willy Malone: Are you even old enough to remember the punt and what the economy was before the bubble? Newsflash! For almost all the time we had our own currency the country was in recession or close to bankrupt.
@8bitplebian: totally agree with you there.in fact can’t see why there can’t be a single world currency.it might cut out all this fluctuation and maybe even some of the corruption.Le Pen fluffed her chances when she misused European Parliament funds.
@Bennythekid: We had big self inflicted recessions in the 30s and 80s. The first was long before the concept of the EU. You can destroy an economy with (Greece) or without (Venezuela) a currency union.
@8bitplebian:
So we needed the Euro to bail us out, and in turn we end up bailing it out, bit of a disaster all round.
@8bitplebian:
Socialism destroyed Venezuela.. https://youtu.be/WCUq0V-3mgo
@8bitplebian: interest rates were also insane back when we had to punt, 18 percent in early eighties. 12 percent in early 90s. Yep, Things were far from better!
It’s funny that people pay no attention to what previously happened in this country.
We also bailed out banks back then too, AIB was bailed out back in the days of the punt.
@8bitplebian: Not quite as black or white. Ireland’s celtic tiger began in the mid 90s when we still had the punt, 2000-2001 were great, once the Euro came into effect in 2002 it kept going, but the economy was already performing well. The unemployment and economics of the past were die to failed policies. It was the change to corporate tax and economic measures from the 90s that gave us a boom and a recession. The Euro just made it more difficult to come out of that recession. Look at Iceland, no Euro, hot rock bottom in 2008 and they are on the top of the world now and has been for a while already.
@Juan Venegas: Couple of points there. The “real” boom appears to have lasted for no more than a few years at best from around 97 to 2001 with the rest being property inspired madness. I’d be hesitant to call that as having anything to do with currency. Also the comparison to Iceland is not a fair one. It has the population of Limerick county and could make a nice enough living just selling fish to the rest of the world.
@8bitplebian: Or old enough to remember the Pound?
Let’s hope Le Pen wins outright
It will be the best thing for France
@Gary Purcell: yeah, nothing like starting a economic war to make things better for everyone.
@Gary Purcell: A brainless populist thug, clearly melting under any form of adult scrutiny.
@Diarmuid:
Coming from you that’s a bit rich, wasn’t it you who hoped the EU would give the UK ‘a good hiding’ over Brexit? What did you mean exactly? An invasion? Sanctions? Punishing the voters for actually voting and winning, is a bit sick.
Cue all the comments about how terrible the euro is followed by the usual verbiage about printing our own currency again. Countries like Ireland who grossly mismanage and inflate their economies as in the early 2000′s will eventually experience a crash, irrespective of them being constrained by the rules of a single currency union or not.
@8bitplebian: There’s some truth in that, but being in a single currency removes much of the ability to do the management necessary. FF made an unholy mess of the public finances, but there was very little they could do to prevent the mad accumulation of private debt that was fuelled by the euro.
@Ben McArthur: I think that’s an unknown. When FF faced down the economic crisis in the 80s (created in part by their own 1977 budget) the approach they took made the situation progressively worse even with all the tools they had available. We also had very high inflation and a currency devaluation to worry about. So there’s no reason to think the 2008 crash would have been handled any better.
@8bitplebian:
Correct me if I misunderstand your position but your arguing that our politicians are inept whether in the Euro or not, so its better to stay in it?
@Maurice Bourke: No, more that blaming the single currency for the 2008 crash and subsequent recession is inaccurate. Economic mismanagement can happen with or without the euro. If Ireland had properly regulated its banks and controlled the property bubble, the impact of the then financial crisis would have been much less severe.
Le Pen is as damaged as her father -
@kingstown: The fake fight with her daddy is the most cynical political move in decades. And transparent as hell.
The thing about Le Pen is she could win if she pledged a tough crackdown on non-EU migration, while maintaining the status quo economically and pledging to keep the euro.
If she just stuck to that issue, she would win.
@Fred Jensen: Le Pen might not even get to the 2nd round and there are absolutely no poll results that even suggest that she will win.
@Neil Mcdonough:
I know. I’m saying she is shooting herself in the foot with her anti-euro rhetoric. Peoples savings would be wiped out. She should just stick purely to the non-EU migration issue if she wants to win.
@Fred Jensen: I don’t understand her point about the Euro. Some countries might do well to leave it, Greece for example ( mainly because they should have never adopted it in the first place ) but there is no way it would benefit France in any way anymore.
That was by far not the moment of that debate. Macron is the worst that could happen to France,worst than le pen.that guy agree with everyone and can never answer a question. The best moments of the debate came when the so called “petit candidates “started speaking specially Mr asselinaud. Mr poutou or Miss arthaud. Macron telling people that Tx to European Union we were not killing each other what a joke that guy is.
@Frantz Harband: “Macron is the worst that could happen to France …” Most people agree, yet the media always give him as favourite. Hmmm…
@Neil Mcdonough: Like Simon Coveney, he is backed by the bilderburgers
Ireland cannot be trusted to manage its own independent currency. Look at what Charlie Haughey did when Ireland did a devaluation. he passed insider information to his cronies so that they could enrich themselves.
It would be better, in light of the credit bubble from 2002 to 2007, had Ireland not joined the euro because it facilitated a massive credit expansion for non economically productive borrowing but exiting the euro would now be be very damaging.
Public goverance and economic management in Ireland are very lacking. The Punch and Judy of FG andf FF does not help. It is a Lanigan’s Ball.
@Neil Mcdonough: Like Simon Coveney, he has the same bilderburgh backing
Macron or Le Pen?
Pragmatists will prefer Macron.
Ideologues with far right sympathies, Brexit types, will prefer Le Pen.
At least there is a choice but with choice comes adult responsibility.
@Tony Daly: Listened to the entire debate and some of the commentry this morning. Le Pen has her support but did herself no favours trying to convince anyone else last night. Macron, the candidate of the media did no better. The surprising thing is the media constantly make him favourite yet no-one I know, both from the left and right, can stand him. He’s seen as being more liberal than Fillon, thatcherite even, but mostly an empty vessel who tries to please everyone.
Melenchon maybe but unlikely, and no-one should write off Fillon yet. If it wasn’t for his affairs with the law, he would stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of stature and experience. Going to be an interesting few weeks!
@Neil Mcdonough: all the French people I know will happily vote Macron.
@David Fülöp: Interesting. That would have been true also a while back for some of my acquaintances, but not anymore. Sound more and more like Vallsozy everyday.
@David Fülöp: your friends are blind . that guy is a joke. He will the continuation of what’s happening for the last 15 years in France.
I never liked when we switched from the punt to the euro. I found I could get very little with the euro. With the old currency you could get a litre of milk for a pound/punt. With the euro, out can but a bag of chrisps with a euro and then, that’s it. It’s gone. There was no value in the euro. The euro only benefitted those who dealt with mainland Europe often like for holidays or work.
So I was never a fan of the euro. However we are stuck with it. I don’t like it when I read comments about ditching the euro and going back to the old currency. A new currency will be worthless for a long time and imports into the country would be very expensive and we rely a lot on imports.
Debates will mean very little. Le Pen hasn’t got a hope. Even if she gets through the first round, she’ll get utterly demolished in the 2nd round of voting.
Another one with lots of rhetoric and no plan just like the brexiteers. Easy to knock something down very difficult to put in a credible alternative. But no one looks at that.
When Ireland had the punt it was like living in Mexico, there was always the risk of devaluation and currency shocks.
@Robert Nugent:
Soros style devaluation?
have your say