Four days before the second round of the presidential election in France, candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen faced off on Wednesday night (20) in the only debate between them in this campaign. Early on, two of the hottest topics, purchasing power and foreign policy, motivated an exchange of attacks between the candidates.
First to speak, the far-rightist took advantage of the cost of living issue to repeat promises that are at the heart of her campaign, such as the reduction of taxes from 20% to 5.5% on fuel and electricity. The rise in prices in recent months, pressured by the rise in energy, is the main concern of the French – annual inflation is 5.1%.
“My priority for the next five years will be to give the money back to the French people,” she said.
The centre-right Macron criticized the move, saying a permanent tax cut was ineffective, and highlighted the government’s intervention to limit the rise in electricity and gas prices late last year — a move Le Pen , and he made a point of citing the fact, voted against it in Parliament.
The president also defended that job creation is the best way to restore the population’s purchasing power. “I studied your program and I didn’t find the word ‘unemployment’. A sign that we are doing a good job”, said the candidate, with irony. The unemployment rate in France is 7.4%, the lowest in almost 14 years.
In the second bloc, under the foreign policy theme, the War in Ukraine and their relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin occupied most of the clashes. Le Pen condemned the invasion, which he called inadmissible, and went so far as to praise the adversary for “the efforts in the search for peace”.
But he declared himself against sanctions that affect Russian gas and oil production, of which Europe is a major importer. “It would do enormous harm to the French population.” Macron has been in favor of measures against Russian oil.
In turn, the candidate took the opportunity to attack the opponent for her past ties to Putin, such as the loan that his party made to a Moscow bank in 2014, worth around 9 million euros. “You depend on Russian power and President Putin,” she accused, also recalling that she recognized, in 2014, Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
In his response, Le Pen recalled the attempts at rapprochement promoted by Macron, who received Putin at Versailles and Brégançon at the beginning of his term.
In the debate on international policy and free trade in the European Union, Brazil was even mentioned, when Pen accused Macron of favoring the import of foreign food over French products, citing Brazilian chickens, in the context of the agreement between the bloc. and Mercosur.
He stated that his government was against the negotiation for reasons related to non-compliance with environmental rules. The case is from 2019.
Lasting almost three hours, the candidates also dueled on social policies, retirement, the environment, French competitiveness, education, security and governance.
The meeting, on the eve of the second round, gained relevance due to this year’s atypical presidential campaign, overshadowed in recent months by the pandemic and later by the war in Eastern Europe. As a result, experts believe that the candidates’ proposals did not occupy due space in the public debate, motivating the lack of interest on the part of voters in the first round.
Abstention was 25%, the highest since 2002.
In the Ipsos poll released this Wednesday, before the debate, the electoral race appears in a stable situation: Macron is ahead, with 56.5% of the voting intentions, against 43.5% for Le Pen. The president’s lead rose from 6 percentage points on the eve of the first round, on April 10, to 13 points.
Among voters who say they are going to the polls, 87% say they are decided on Sunday’s vote.
The meeting, the eighth presidential debate in France since 1974, was preceded by a negotiation of minute details between the campaigns, which even involved the temperature of the air conditioning, at 19°C. Another agreement was in relation to the reduction of scenes in which the candidate appears on the screen even when he is not speaking. In 2017, images of Le Pen flipping through her notes in search of data would have reinforced the perception that she was unprepared.
In addition, her attitude was considered overly aggressive, and she herself considered that her performance was one of the biggest mistakes of her political career.
This time, the far-rightist slowed down her street and television campaign in the 48 hours preceding the debate to prepare with her team. Macron, on the other hand, devoted less time, at least officially, due to his schedule as president and the international negotiations on the War in Ukraine.
This Tuesday, he participated in a video conference with European leaders and US President Joe Biden.
