French election 2022: Macron and Le Pen clash in presidential debate over far-right candidate Russia links
Follow the debate as it happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have clashed over the far-right leader’s links with Russia in a live television debate ahead of the upcoming election.
The incumbent president said Ms Le Pen was “dependent on Putin” and called Russia her “banker” as he launched into fierce criticism over a loan taken from a Russian bank in 2014. The National Rally leader denied her independence was compromised by this.
The two candidates also clashed over energy - in particular renewables - and Muslim headscarves in public spaces, with the Mr Macron saying Ms Le Pen’s plans to ban them would start a “civil war”.
Mr Macron, a pro-European centrist, has been enjoying a growing and significant lead over Ms Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist, according to polls. But the result is expected to be closer than five years ago.
Bookmakers said more than a quater of French voters were waiting for the debate to decide how - or whether - to vote in the final round of the presidential election on Sunday.
Debate turns out to be more heated than expected
It had been suggested the debate could be relatively boring, with both candidates wanting to give a solid - rather than combattive - performance.
But it has been pretty heated so far, with the candidates accusing the other of getting stuff wrong and interrupting each other.
”Are you joking or what?” Emmanuel Macron just said when Marine Le Pen was talking about energy.
Clash over hydrogen
The two have clashed over hydrogen. Marine Le Pen says she wants to make “green hydrogen” from nuclear.
Emmanuel Macron says this is not what the country’s nuclear capacity is for. He also tells her hydrogen “is not an energy source” itself.
Some are mocking this idea from Ms Le Pen on social media:
“To be honest, she should have responded to ‘how do you produce hydrogen?’ with ‘soak it in oil, soak it in water’, she would have almost appeared more competent to me’
‘Illogical’
As well as the exchange between the two on hydrogen:
More key quotes from debate
Climate and energy
Macron:
“There is no way out of fossil fuels that relies solely on nuclear. Your strategy is not workable.”
“Even though we have energy needs today, you are not telling me how we will cope with moving beyond fossil fuels, how we will reduce our dependence on Russian gas.”
Le Pen:
“I am in no way a climate change denier. But you, your are something of a climate hypocrite.”
“Free trade kills the planet.”
“You have completely changed your tune on nuclear power... We have wasted 10 years destabilising a nuclear industry that needed to be strengthened to make this carbon-free energy source once again the basis for our energy mix.”
Pension and retirement age
Macron:
“I don’t want to increase our taxes, I don’t want to increase our debt, I even want to start paying it off over the next five years. So I want us to work more, a pillar of which would be to push back the legal retirement age by four months a year until we reach 65 in 2031.”
Le Pen:
“All those who had their first proper job before the age of 20 will be able to retire at 60.”
Reuters
Le Pen Muslim headscarf policy ‘would create civil war’, Macron says
One of the hosts has now asked about Muslim headscarves in public.
Marine Le Pen starts going on about an “extremely present” terrorism risk and says she wants to fight against “islamist ideology”.
The host says she did not answer the question about headscarves, to which she replies she wants to ban them in public spaces.
Emmanuel Macron says such a law would be a “betrayal” of the French spirit and speaks passionately about freedom.
He also confuses her of getting “things confused” by mixing up religion and radical islamism.
Ms Le Pen also said: “I think the headscarf is a uniform imposed by Islamists.” She said: “I think a great proportion of young women who are wearing it have no other choice in reality.”
Mr Macron replied: “What you’re saying is very serious. You’re going to create civil war if you do it.”
And now onto immigration...
Marine Le Pen says she wants a referendum on immigration - a topic she has been famously tough on.
Throughout this presidential election campaign, she has pushed for ending family reunification policies, restricting social benefits to the French only, and deporting foreigners who stay unemployed for over a year and other migrants who entered illegally.
Emmanuel Macron has also proposed measures to limit immigration, including strengthening external borders of the European passport-free area and creating a new force to better control national borders. He also wants to speed up processing of asylum and residence permit applications and to deport those who aren’t eligible.
Emmanuel Macron’s final remarks
We are now into the final remarks.
Emmanuel Macron says he opposes Marine Le Pen‘s politics and her party, but says: “I respect you as a person.”
He dedicates the last part of his final speech to “our children” and says he wants to build a better world to “better protect them”.
Marine Le Pen final remarks
Marine Le Pen says she wants to address the “people” and she wants to restore “common sense”.
Key takeaways from debate
The debate is now over. Here are some of the key takeaways:
- Marine Le Pen launched into a speech even before the introductory theme music had come to an end, forcing the moderator to ask her to begin again.
- The light-touch moderation meant there were plenty of interruptions, vexed expressions, impatient body language and appeals of: “Can I finish my sentence?”
- Mr Macron dissected each of his opponent’s economic proposals to show the difficulties Ms Le Pen would have in implementing and financing her manifesto.
- A heated exchanges took place over Ms Le Pen’s links to Russia. Mr Macron said she “depends” on Vladimir Putin, but Ms Le Pen said she had not been able to get a loan in France and was “a completely free, independent woman”.
- Mr Macron took aim at Le Pen’s assertion that she wanted France to keep its place within the EU while reforming the bloc. “It is a project which dares not speak its name - and that is to leave Europe.”
- Mr Macron called Ms Le Pen a “climate sceptic” to which she replied by calling him a “climate hypocrite”.
- Ms Le Pen spoke about wanting to ban Muslim headscarves in public places. Mr Macron said this would create a “civil war”.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Second round of French election on Sunday
The candidates were hoping to sweep up votes from those who opted for other candidates in the first round.
The second round - which is being fought by just Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen - is being held on Sunday.
Want to know more about the French election? Joe Sommerlad has more:
When is the French presidential election and what are the polls saying?
Incumbent Emmanuel Macron facing tight race against far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in second round of vote
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments