Le Pen, Macron clash in debate
FRANCE: French presidential frontrunners Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron repeatedly locked horns in a 31⁄2-hour debate yesterday, providing a foretaste of the head-to-head fight they may face in the second round of voting about seven weeks away.
In the first debate of the top five contenders, Le Pen, the antiEuropean Union, antiimmigration candidate of the National Front (FN), made a show of dominance with blunt propositions to ban all immigration and impose a 35 per cent tariff on certain imported goods.
Macron, a 39-year-old contesting his first election, attacked his main rival for her alleged lack of ethics and lifelong presence in politics.
Former prime minister Francois Fillon, currently polling in third place, sought to promote his experience and ability to deliver change, and warned that Le Pen was ushering in economic ‘‘chaos’’ with her plan to pull France out of the euro.
The stakes were high for Macron. With no established party behind him and less than three years in the public eye, he is still being discovered by voters, and faced his biggest television audience yet.
Polls show both he and Le Pen have about a quarter of the electorate behind them in the first-round vote, with Fillon trailing in third with about 19 per cent support.
Le Pen, carrying the populist mantle of a party founded by her father, and making her second bid for the presidency, hammered away at her opponents, suggesting their records as ministers meant they were responsible for the current state of France.
After others exchanged their thoughts on immigration policy, for instance, she was unequivocal: ‘‘I want to stop immigration, both legal and illegal, and I’m proud of my plan.’’
In her closing statement, she attacked the EU. ’’Savage globalisation has been a nightmare for you,’’ she told voters.
Macron was up for that debate, interjecting regularly while Le Pen was speaking. ‘‘Contrary to you, I want responsible politics,’’ he told her. ‘‘I want a strong France within Europe. It’s our great disagreement.’’
Fillon jumped on Le Pen in the middle of a discussion about household purchasing power. ‘‘The real serial killer of French purchasing power is you, with your plan to pull out of the euro,’’ he said. Le Pen retorted that Fillon was resorting to ‘‘Project Fear’’.
In a debate that ranged from Fillon’s call to bring back school uniforms to the intricacy of France’s 35 hour-working week and the right of Muslim women to wear burkinis on beaches, Socialist candidate Hamon repeatedly sniped about the forces of ’’money’’ and promoted his plan for a guaranteed minimum income.
Communist-backed Melenchon won the one real laugh of the evening, mocking Macron and Hamon for what he said was their obligatory internal Socialist Party debate.
Le Pen at one point laughed and even clapped at a statement by the centrist Macron. ‘‘An absolute and bottomless vacuum,’’ she responded. ‘‘You say a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you never decide.’’
Early on, Macron opened his arms to refer to his opponents and reminded the audience, ’’All of you have been in politics for decades.’’
By the end, he was specifically targeting Le Pen and her policy on Europe and the euro. ‘‘Today Mrs Le Pen, many people in France don’t agree with you,’’ he said.
– Bloomberg