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LAST UPDATE | 21 Apr 2022
VOTERS HAVE SAID that French President Emmanuel Macron won last night’s bristling election debate against Marine Le Pen.
A poll for BFMTV / L’Express found that 59% of people thought Macron was the winner of the debate, with 39% responding that Le Pen was the winner.
The poll also found that Macron was both more sincere (36% of voters), and more arrogant (50% of voters).
In last night’s 2.5 hour debate, Macron attacked his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen over her ties to Russia and her suspicion of the European Union in a play for the votes he needs to win another five-year term.
In their only televised debate before voters have their say in Sunday’s run-off, Macron sought to portray Le Pen as fundamentally untrustworthy, accusing her of dishonesty in her election promises, while she sought to keep the focus on the government’s performance.
Le Pen, whom Macron beat in the last presidential election five years ago, is doing better in polls this time although she still trails the incumbent president.
Le Pen’s Russian loan
Macron was particularly vocal in his criticism of a loan taken out by Le Pen’s party in 2014 from a Russian-Czech bank. He said that debt meant that, if elected president, Le Pen’s hands would be tied when dealing with the Kremlin.
“You are dependent on the Russian government and you are dependent on Mr [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Macron said. “When you speak to Russia you are speaking to your banker, that’s the problem.”
“You made a choice which, obviously, acted as a constraint on your political position and does not make you independent on that issue. That is a fact,” Macron said.
Macron also referred to Le Pen’s past recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. “Why did you do this?” he asked.
Le Pen replied that she was “an absolutely and totally free woman”, arguing that her party had only taken that loan as it could not find financing in France where banks refused to lend to her.
Hijab
The most explosive clash came when Le Pen confirmed she was sticking to her controversial policy of banning the wearing of the Islamic headscarf by women in public, describing it as a “uniform imposed by Islamists”.
Macron responded: “You are going to cause a civil war if you do that. I say this sincerely.”
She also vowed to put an end to “anarchic and massive” immigration into France, claiming it was worsening crime which she said was becoming “unbearable” for people all over the country.
Macron and finance
She sought to put heat on the president, mocking how the “Mozart of finance” had left a “bad” economic legacy that included an extra €600 billion in national debt.
“It’s not Gerard Majax (on TV) this evening,” retorted Macron, referring to a well-known French television conjurer. “You never explain how you will finance your projects and you are not honest with people.”
Turning to Europe, Le Pen insisted she wanted to stay in the European Union but reform the bloc into an “alliance of nations”.
“Your policy is to leave Europe,” Macron responded, describing the election as a “referendum for or against the EU”.
There were also intense exchanges on daily concerns such as the rising cost of living, which Le Pen has made a major feature of her campaign.
Le Pen said she had seen people “suffering” over the first five years of Macron’s rule and that “another choice is possible”.
Macron replied that “we must and should improve people’s daily lives through major projects for the school and health systems”.
The big debate
Both candidates had prepared carefully for last night’s debate.
But Le Pen made an inauspicious start: Having been picked to speak first, she started off before the debate’s opening jingle had finished playing. Inaudible because of the music, she had to stop and start again. She apologised.
Once the jousting began, Macron quickly put Le Pen on the defensive. He zeroed in on her voting record as a lawmaker and questioned her grasp of economic figures.
In 2017, a similar debate struck a decisive blow to her campaign.
Macron, a pro-European centrist, emerged ahead from the 10 April first round and is leading in opinion polls.
But Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist who has gained ground this year by tapping anger over inflation, has significantly narrowed the gap in public support compared to 2017, when she lost with 34% of the vote to Macron’s 66%.
Both candidates need to broaden support before Sunday’s final vote. Many French, especially on the left, say they still do not know whether they will even go to the polls.
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Although the best of a bad bunch, make the right decision France. Vote Macron.
@Gavin Rynn: Just so that you know , he was the one that demanded Zelensky to sign Minsk agreements by the way.
I know that you are unaware , so i would question your calls to vote for a proven putins lapdog.
@John Johnes: and what do you think Le Pen is???
@Graham Manning: well as far as im aware: she wasnt at kremlin every week kneeling before putin. And she wasnt in Ukraine demanding Zelensky to sell off his country to russia.
@John Johnes: maybe if Zelensky and Co had kept quiet instead of goading the Russians about joining the EU and worse NATO. I seem to remember the last time we were on brink of WW3 was when missiles were to be put in Cuba by the Russians and the US didnt like them at their back door…….so what’s different? I think Zelensky has always been backed to the hilt by the US …suits them just fine. But are they taking any of the refugees – No.! But they did offer to fly their man Zelensky out at the beginning of the war. ! One just as bad as the other
@Barbara Coleman: I don’t recall the United States of America invading Cuba with a quarter million troops and bombing the place to smithereens, so i suppose that would be a major difference.
@John Johnes: In what year John was the Minsk treaty signed? Who was French president at the time? Just so people know and don’t fall for the shyte you are spouting, it was signed in 2014 and Francois Hollande was French President. It may have escaped your attention John, though it does say in the above article, that the French presidency has a term limit of 5 years and Macron is going for his 2nd term.
@Barbara Coleman: “maybe if Zelensky and Co had kept quiet instead of goading the Russians about joining the EU and worse NATO.”
Hardly “goading”. The Ukraine has expressed it’s desire as a sovereign indpendant nation to join the EU and NATO as it sees it’s future looking west rather than east.
And much like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, given it’s experience under the influence of the USSR it has every right to chose its own future.
Besides, it’s hardly very statemanslike to allow yourself to be ‘goaded’ into killing thousands of civilians and wiping cities off the map.
“I seem to remember the last time we were on brink of WW3 was when missiles were to be put in Cuba by the Russians and the US didnt like them at their back door…….so what’s different?”
Well for a start the USSR made no bones about the fact that it was going to install nuclear weapons in Cuba whereas any missiles installled in eastern Europe in recent times are conventional or missile to missile defence systems with limited range.
Secondly the US didn’t invade Cuba killing thousands of civilians and causing billions in damage and a huge humanitarian crisis.
Kennedy and Khrushchev sat down like grownups and reached an agreement which had secret longlasting positive consequences for years to come.
Thirdly the US didn’t feel the need to conjure up a number of nonsence reasons in order to justify it’s actions e.g. apparently the Ukaine itn’t a real country and is run by neo-nazis even though their president and PM are both Jewish and pre invasion it had a thriving Jewish population.
@John Johnes: which is maybe why he qualified his statement by saying he is the best of a bad bunch. MLP is a dangerous alternative for France, for Europe and the EU.
@Barbara Coleman: so you think the Ukrainian deserves to be murdered because they want to join an alliance that will protect them from Russia. Will Finland also deserve it if they join. They want to join nato as protection from a monster.
@Barbara Coleman: What’s different is the US did not invade Cuba, but imposed sanctions/an embargo, whereas Russia invaded The Ukraine. A sovereign nation that should be allowed join whatever international organisations it chooses. If the Ukraine was to join an organisation wirh Russia the the US invaded, would you say the US was correct to do so in the same way you are now claiming Russia are right to do so?
@Gavin Rynn: i dont care really but its stinks that she or her party were unable to get a French loan and had to seek it outside of the country. Sounds corupt
Every country all over the world and the same is happening here, people are voting in the loonies believing their BS and think everything will be great again. Social media and fake news have a lot to answer for.
@Mark Jones: but we didn’t fall for the gemma-oids and the Danes destroyed their trump/BJ clone lookalike….trump got thrown out….and maybe…just maybe the brits have woken up.
@Mark Jones: governments like ours have forgotten who they work for. People will turn to any alternative that promises to improve their lives. Neo liberals are to blame for the rise of the far right in western democracies.
@Mark Jones: exactly, Biden, Trudeau, Macron, Ardhern etc we’ll end up like China if people keep electing these fruit loops
@lumberjack: you forgot Johnson.
@lumberjack: What are you talking about? It was Trump who wanted to ignore the will of the people and overthrow the rightfully elected winner. All of these have been elected which is something the people of China don’t have the luxury of.
Personally I think he is Better choice.
Le Pen is dangerous. She’s going to lift sanctions on Russia and is Putin’s pet.
@Seán Ó Briain: Just when I thought I couldn’t like Le Pen even more than I do.
@John Johnes: simply untrue, and you know it
@Lesidees: you are simply haven’t a clue..
@John Johnes: some amount of shyte you’re spouting.
@Bríann O Connor: your ignrance level intensifies.
@Seán Ó Briain: and you know this how?
@Margaret Mcgarry: Because she has stated it.
Pot calling kettle black.as macron is lesser of the two evils there is plenty of footage of macron cosying up to Putin over the years
@doyle: He was exactly the one that kept asking Zelensky to sign Minsk agreements to pretty much give away russia their sovereignty and grant full amnesty to pro russian rebels for their crimes in ukraine.
This guy is putins lapdog.
@John Johnes: quick, we didn’t hear you the other half dozen times. Whose doggie is he???
@John Johnes: again, you know that that is untrue. If it were true, what is the country that Putin has invaded?
@Lesidees: no , it is true , because i am listening to what influential people in ukraine are telling while you are not. Stop spreading your ign0rance please.
@doyle: maybe he was using the tactic.. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
@John Johnes: If thats true, than why is Zelensky active pushing for the French voters to vote Macron and not Le Pen!!
@Lee McKeown: I haven’t said that x is better than y. I am saying that both are super corrupt.
All i see is everyone demonising le pen while macron is nowhere better.
@John Johnes: “He was exactly the one that kept asking Zelensky to sign Minsk agreements ” – what year was that John?
@John Johnes: as pointed out above macron was not in power when the Minsk agreement was signed. He was voted in 3 years later. Please check your facts
It’s a case of “Better than the Devil you know” (de deux maux, choisir le moindre) for French voters when deciding between the disliked, but more experienced and safer Macron to the more uncertain, untested Le Pen. Her infamous family and politically populist record gives a lot of French voters the jitters.
Going to vote marine on Sunday. Macron have so little consideration for the working class.
State of Le Pen
I don’t like her,
I hate him.
Easy choice on Sunday…
have your say