MACRON. In this second round campaign, Emmanuel Macron is on all fronts, with field trips, meetings, interviews. The poll results are worrying. Follow his campaign live.
09:00 – In Le Point, Emmanuel Macron takes stock of the result of the 1st round
“If a third of voters turned to the far right and its fallback project, a majority chose candidates who carry a project of openness, independence and progress as I do. I therefore believe that, despite the difficult context and despite the fears, the French spirit, that of humanism, of the Enlightenment and of 1789, is there”, declares Emmanuel Macron in a river interview given to Point. And to add: “That French people, because they are worried or even angry, have voted for candidates in favor of leaving the euro, it’s true. But that a majority of French people are in favor of leaving the euro, I don’t think so. And so one of the challenges of this second round is to highlight the truth of the project of the far-right candidate. Project of submission abroad, project of exit from Europe, a project to divide the French people, a project for climate regression, a project that would threaten our pensions, our savings, our jobs. I will put all my energy into it. Just as I will put all my energy into convincing people that it is through Europe that we can meet the challenges of the times and defend our values”.
08:52 – “The beginning of an authoritarian drift”: Marine Le Pen severely criticized
The outgoing president returned this morning, on France 2, to the press conference organized yesterday by Marine Le Pen, and for which she refused certain colleagues. “When Marine Le Pen says who is a journalist who is not, it is the beginning of an authoritarian drift. Despite all efforts, the true face of the far right returns. It does not respect freedoms, the constitutional framework, the independence of the press, and fundamental freedoms which are at the heart of our values such as the abolition of the death penalty”.
08:42 – For Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen takes people “for fools”
Emmanuel Macron, on France 2 this Wednesday morning, once again harshly criticized Marine Le Pen’s economic program, castigating several of its measures intended to strengthen purchasing power. “To reduce VAT from 5.5% to 0% on prices which already have reduced VAT, as Marine Le Pen proposes, is to take people for fools. It’s a few cents, it’s not really something that lowers prices. I mean that what we have decided with the government on the price of electricity, gas, and petrol is more effective than a reduction in VAT. These are blockages that have avoided +140% increase”.
08:16 – Emmanuel Macron: “to seek a majority in the second round”
Supported by a part of the right as well as the left with many calls to vote in his favour, Emmanuel Macron believes that the objective now is, for him, “to seek a majority in the second round. To be able to move forward and bring together , we will have to take into account all these sensitivities that are ready to move forward.”
08:05 – Macron proposes a “review clause” in 2027 on the retirement age
On France 2, Emmanuel Macron clarified his pension reform as well as the age finally mentioned for retirement at 64 years old. “The milestone of 65 years did not arrive before 2031. From 2023, there will be a 4-month lag, 4 months the following year. Which means that we will reach around 64 years of age in 2027/ 2028.” At that time, the president-candidate proposed “a review clause. That’s opening a project. Does that cut off some reform ambition? No. But I heard the anguish of people who understood ‘ you’re going to turn 65 next month.'”
04/12/22 – 11:14 p.m. – The call for athletes to vote for Emmanuel Macron
END OF LIVE – Calls to vote for Emmanuel Macron, or rather against Marine Le Pen, have flourished in recent days. One of the latest? That of many sportsmen appeared in the columns of Parisian and on the site of franceinfo. As the Paris Olympics loom, Tony Parker, Clarisse Agbégnénou and even Nikola Karabatic claim that they cannot imagine that “this historic moment will be marked with the seal of a far-right presidency”. “The sport in which we believe, that of the values of Olympism, is made of friendship and respect; it is the place of diversity. It refuses all discrimination”, they highlight in particular, before concluding: “It is because we believe in this sport, fraternal and inclusive, that we are committed to preventing our nation from placing at its head a president who embodies the complete opposite, the stigmatization of the other, the withdrawal into oneself , nationalism. And that we therefore call for a vote for Emmanuel Macron on April 24th.”
04/12/22 – 10:28 p.m. – Carole Delga calls for a vote for Emmanuel Macron
With France 3, the socialist president of the Occitanie region made an announcement this Tuesday, April 12: “We are going to mobilize for April 24. I announce to you that on Thursday, April 21, I will organize a rally for the Republic, for remember that we must use the Emmanuel Macron ballot.” However, Carole Delga denies supporting the policy of the outgoing president. “During the legislative elections, we will support candidates who will be a counter-power to Emmanuel Macron,” she assured.
04/12/22 – 9:48 p.m. – Emmanuel Macron heckled in Strasbourg
Emmanuel Macron was greeted by “Macron resignation” this Tuesday, April 12, in Strasbourg, as we can see in this video:
04/12/22 – 9:23 p.m. – In Strasbourg, Emmanuel Macron voices his opposition to Marine Le Pen on the EU
Emmanuel Macron was at a meeting in Strasbourg this Tuesday evening. The opportunity for him to play his pro-European candidate card, in opposition to his competitor Marine Le Pen. “Our Europe is peace”, insisted Emmanuel Macron for whom “Europe is what protects us from crises and war”. And the president-candidate to highlight the issue, according to him, of the presidential 2022: it is “a referendum on Europe”. “She is, because between the project that I defend and that of the far-right candidate, things are clear,” he said.
The Macron – Le Pen duel for the second round of the 2022 presidential election has already been the subject of numerous polls during the campaign. Each time, Emmanuel Macron will have been given the winner of the election, but with a gap that narrowed considerably in the final days before the ballot. As a reminder, during the last presidential election, Marine Le Pen was largely beaten in the second round with 33.90% of the vote against 66.10% for Emmanuel Macron.
Emmanuel Macron, in this campaign between the two rounds, indicated that he wanted to “complete” and “enrich” his program, in particular on ecology. He said he was ready not to push back the retirement age to 65. The Head of State also indicated that he was “not opposed” to the establishment of a “full” proportional system for the legislative elections.