Presidential: the duel Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen is accelerating

Published on: 04/13/2022 – 13:54 Marine Le Pen tackles delicate ground this Wednesday in the face of Emmanuel Macron: foreign policy. Objective, to establish its presidential stature, while the passes of arms between the candidates multiply. They don’t exchange bird names but their exchanges are acerbic to say the least. Visiting a construction company in Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), Wednesday April 13, Marine Le Pen, candidate of the RN, judged that the government and Emmanuel Macron were in “denial” against the “wall of inflation” which France was going to face.>> To read also: Presidential: scattered and uncertain vote reports for the second round Asked earlier in the morning of France 2 about the measures to be taken in the face of inflation, Emmanuel Macron had already replied that “what [il avait été] decided with the government on electricity, gas and gasoline is more effective than a reduction in VAT”, as proposed by Marine Le Pen. The candidate also denounced the “febrility” of her opponent, who criticizes her an “authoritarian drift” with regard to the press and institutions. When Marine Le Pen “says ‘you are a journalist, but sir is not because he says things that I don’t like’, the beginning of an authoritarian drift”, indeed affirmed on France 2 the candidate president, noting that his opponent had also proposed to “change the Constitution in his hand”. Asked about these remarks, the far-right contender s ironically asked if it was the “same President of the Republic who abolished the press room at the Élysée” and “who created a scandal within the editorial staff because he wanted in each editorial staff to choose the journalists who followed him”. According to her, “all this shows a form of feverishness on the part of the pres id”. The battle of figures is launched Marine Le Pen is on the defensive on another front, this time with the National Commission for the Control of the Electoral Campaign (CNCCEP) which, according to France Inter, has asked him for clarification on his profession of faith for the second round. In the crosshairs of the “gendarme” of the campaign, figures put forward to illustrate Emmanuel Macron’s record on insecurity and immigration. “I really do not see what could push the judge to the election to prohibit my profession of faith, which would amount to addressing to the French only the profession of faith of the outgoing president”, replied Marine Le Pen. “Beware of this type of maneuver (…) be careful to respect democracy”. With a view to April 24, the two finalists are eyeing the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third place on Sunday evening with 21.95% of the vote .Abstention, blank vote or Emmanuel Macron vote? Jean-Luc Mélenchon launched the consultation of his 310,000 supporters on Wednesday, the ex-candidate having already called not to “give a single voice to Le Pen”. The consultation, the results of which will be public, ends on Saturday at 8 p.m. The two finalists “are not equivalent. Marine Le Pen adds to the project of social mistreatment that she shares with Emmanuel Macron a dangerous ferment of ethnic and religious exclusion”, specified the LFI candidate in a message to voters. >> To see also: Report at the faculty of Saint-Denis, the useful vote in the second round is not an option Divided on Europe After her morning trip to Gennevilliers, Marine Le Pen will continue in the afternoon with a press conference in Paris on the subject of diplomacy and foreign policy. For the RN candidate, who can claim to have campaigned extensively since the fall, the goal is now to broaden her base and appear presidential. On foreign policy, everything opposes the outgoing president and his rival. Neither Atlanticist nor multilateral, Marine Le Pen focuses all her diplomacy on the idea that France would no longer be “respected” in the world. She sees Europe as a brake and wishes, for example, to renegotiate the Schengen agreements in order to reinstate border controls or lower France’s financial contribution to the EU. Emmanuel Macron, on the contrary, made Europe the central pillar of his diplomacy for five years, as he said again Tuesday evening in Strasbourg, stressing that this election is also “a referendum on Europe”. Nationalism leads to “an alliance of nations that want to go to war” in Europe, he believes. The conflict in Ukraine should figure prominently in Marine Le Pen’s press conference, as she tries to forget her closeness to Russia and Vladimir Putin. The candidate nevertheless condemned the Russian invasion and said very early on that she was in favor of welcoming refugees from this country to France. French.With AFP