Macron-Le Pen debate: how Léa Salamé and Gilles Bouleau are preparing – The HuffPost

via Associated PressThis is what the set of the debate between the two rounds looked like in 2017. PRESIDENTIAL – One is “scared”, the other is convinced “that it will be fine”. A few days before the debate between the two rounds, which will be held on Wednesday April 20 at 9 p.m. on TF1 and France 2, Léa Salamé and Gilles Bouleau told Le Parisien how they were preparing to play the referees between Emmanuel Macron (LREM) and Marine Le Pen (RN). “Me, I’m scared, confides Léa Salamé in Le Parisien. There is a monumental democratic expectation, in a strange campaign, with no notable debate.” Gilles Bouleau, presenter of the 8 p.m. news on TF1, believes that they both come out of “a fortnight of complicated political interviews” and that they know “the programs by heart”. “So I tell myself that it will be fine”, he assures. “Perhaps if you ask me the question again two hours before the air, I would have a healthy tension,” he admits, however. The challenge for the presenters is to “respect absolute equality of speaking time and absolute impartiality”. “We are the guarantors of the holding [du débat]. A debate is not a rat race”, summarizes Gilles Bouleau. “Every micro-detail is discussed” To be ready on D-Day, the TF1 journalist turned to a former presidential candidate, who had been declared the winner of the debate. He indeed “discussed with François Hollande to find out how he had prepared”. The former President of the Republic “answered to him that the most important thing was to enter the brain of the other, to anticipate”, as he had been able to do in 2012 with his “I, President” facing Nicolas Sarkozy. The two journalists hope to question the two candidates on purchasing power, the question of pensions, France’s place in the world, ecology, youth, security and immigration. “The choice of the first theme will change the dramaturgy”, says Léa Salamé. Asked about the demands of the candidates on the conditions of the debate, Léa Salamé reveals that “there are questions about the temperature, the shape of the offices […], whether they will be standing or sitting, on the cutaways, the distance between them – which should be reduced – and that with us”. “Every micro detail is discussed, explains the journalist. And that doesn’t shock me because they are gambling their lives and the future of a country. They can leave nothing to chance.” “The clothes, the posture, the body language, the notes that we have or not, the pen that we hold or not, the color of the watch, of the tie”, abounds Gilles Bouleau. Indeed in 2017, the far-right candidate had disappointed her supporters, who had judged her too “in invective, attack”. According to RTL, Marine Le Pen will devote two days to preparing for Wednesday’s debate, while Emmanuel Macron’s entourage studied the program of the RN candidate in particular to identify its flaws, notes Franceinfo. Referring to his temperament of ” Mediterranean” and her spontaneity, the challenge for Léa Salamé will be to “constrain herself as much as possible” to succeed in the “exercise of sobriety and humility”. One thing is certain for the presenter of Sept neuf on France Inter, she will pay attention to her wardrobe. “How are you going to dress, Gilles? Me, I’m going to ask the color of Marine Le Pen’s jacket so as not to wear the same one, ”she says.