(Paris) Purchasing power and immigration: Jordan Bardella, whose far-right party has a wide lead in France's upcoming legislative elections, appeared brimming with confidence Tuesday evening during a tense televised debate with Prime Minister Macron Gabriel Attal and a representative of the Justice and Development Party. Left: Manuel Bombard.
Clearly calm and better prepared than he had been during a previous debate against Gabriel Attal a month ago, during the European campaign, Mr Bardella clearly predicted victory and the position of prime minister would fall to him if his party won an absolute majority in parliament. Assembly, at the end of the elections of June 30 and July 7.
“If I become prime minister in a few days…” he said when the debate was on immigration, the favorite topic of his party, the National Rally, and stressed “the main topic that disrupts our identities.” He promised: “I will be the prime minister who restores power.”
Facing him, Emmanuel Macron's Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, has re-cast himself as a serious, credible and informed candidate, but without succeeding in shaking Bardella.
The two men clashed violently over the National Front party's controversial proposal to ban French people with dual citizenship from accessing some sensitive public positions.
When Mr. Attal was asked about one of his French-Russian advisers in the European Parliament, Mr. Bardella replied dryly: “I hope you pack your boxes quickly because you are not up to the mark.”
As for Manuel Bompard, the candidate of the radical left but representing the alliance of the New Popular Front with the environmentalists and socialists, he seemed to have been relegated to the role of spectator to the duel between M.M. Bardella and porter.
“I'll let you argue, I want to address the French,” he tried during the first major televised clash between the three blocs, as part of the legislative blitzkrieg.
The three men fought over purchasing power, pensions, and security…
“We can work for purchasing power,” said Bardella, who has made the topic his passion, promising to immediately reduce value-added tax to 5.5% on fuel, electricity and gas.
“How much does it cost and how do you finance it?” the Prime Minister replied, pretending to be a defender of budget seriousness.
Bompard insisted on the left's programme, promising to increase the minimum wage, scrap pension reform, the main text of Macron's five-year term, and raise taxes on the richest French.
Historic poll
After its success in the European elections, the National Front party dominates the opinion polls in the first round, with 36% of voting intentions according to the IFOP survey, and can boast of a historic ambition to reach power. It is ahead of the left-wing New Popular Front coalition (28.5%) and the presidential camp (21%).
So far, nothing seems to break his momentum towards the position of prime minister: neither his camp's ambiguity over the possible cancellation of the pension reform, nor his declared refusal to be appointed to Matignon if he does not obtain an absolute majority. At the end of the second round on July 7, “Reject the Obstacle” faced Gabriel Attal.
In the presidential camp, Emmanuel Macron, who is being criticized from all sides for dissolving the National Assembly after the failure of his forces in the recent European elections, is increasing his interventions despite the warnings of his allies and the decline in his popularity.
It appears that his camp is the weakest among the three competing blocs, even in the event of an alliance with the (right-wing) Republicans who oppose the National Rally Party (7 vs. 10%).
Can a television debate change the balance between the three blocs? “What discussion?” squeaks a Macroni executive. “The people have already chosen, it has already taken shape. Debate is not going to change things. Maybe it can work on the abstainers” and “benefit us,” he is still qualified.
The scrutin issue, within the scope of the first government's largest collection of the history of the payments and a national assembly in three pôles irreconcilable for a minimum, is paid in France as the next to the Olympic Games. from Paris.
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