Macron pledges to scrap French licence fee as he takes on Right-wing rivals
President avoids launching his campaign with a mass rally as he refuses to join opponents in debate
EMMANUEL MACRON last night pledged to ditch the French version of the licence fee as he began his re-election campaign with a low-key meeting in a Paris suburb.
The president also ruled out taking part in any debates with rivals before the first round of the election on April 10, a move likely to enrage opponents who say he is hiding behind his presidential status to avoid taking hits.
While his mains rivals launched their campaigns at flag-waving mass rallies, Mr Macron yesterday picked a small cultural centre in the town of Poissy for a “conversation” with 300-odd locals on everything from the threat of nuclear war to more sport in primary schools to avoid child obesity.
But perhaps his most eye-catching pledge was to do away with the licence fee that helps fund France Télévisions, the national broadcaster, and several state radio stations, saying it was part of his drive to cut taxes and boost people’s spending power.
“It costs €137 (£114) on average,” he told the crowd. Removing it, he added, was in the same vein as shelving housing tax, which he did during his first term. “We must go all the way,” he said.
As in the UK, the licence fee is contentious for the French Right. Both Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour want to see it ditched and Valérie Pécresse, the mainstream conservative candidate, has said there should be no “taboo” over privatising state broadcasters. Riding high in the polls – the latest place him on 30 per cent in round one of the election, with his nearest rival, Ms Le Pen, on only 18 per cent – Mr Macron has been accused of using his presidential status first because of the Covid crisis and now Ukraine to avoid entering the electoral ring.
Yesterday, however, he insisted he had no intention of “eluding” the contest even if the Ukraine crisis meant that he could not campaign as intensely as previously planned.
“What’s hard is to be president and candidate at the same time,” he said. “I will be president for the coming days and weeks when I must but I will be candidate whenever I can.” Aides say he will hold a few rallies but Mr Macron ruled out taking part in any debates with his 11 rivals, though he will debate against his opponent in the run-off.
“No other incumbent president has done it. I don’t see why I would do differently,” he said after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr Macron’s far-right rivals were drawn into a family feud, as Marion Maréchal, the niece of Ms Le Pen, officially joined forces with Mr Zemmour.
Ms Maréchal, 32, who had already dropped heavy hints at joining the Zemmour camp, threw her weight behind the 63-year-old essayist and former television pundit at a rally in Toulon on Sunday. “I am certain that political transformation will take place and I believe again that victory is possible,” she said.
Ms Maréchal also hit out at Mr Macron, who is runaway favourite to be re-elected, calling him a “president of division”.
Analysts yesterday questioned whether Ms Maréchal’s defection would create any lasting boost to his campaign, even though his camp called the arrival of a figure seen by many observers as a future far-right leader a “turning point”.
Early polls suggested Mr Zemmour could match or beat Ms Le Pen in round one for a place in the April 24 run-off. However, an Ipsos-sopra Steria survey on Saturday placed Ms Le Pen slightly ahead of her far-right rival, on 14.5 per cent to his 13 per cent.
Ms Le Pen had in January said she was personally hurt by Ms Maréchal’s apparent intention to back Mr Zemmour, calling it brutal and shocking, as she had partly raised her niece.
Yesterday she said: “I still haven’t received an explanation that appears coherent on Marion Maréchal’s change of mind a month after said she would support the best-placed candidate in this contest. So this change of tune is incomprehensible for me.”
‘It costs €137 on average ... we must go all the way’
‘What’s hard is to be president and candidate at the same time’