Emmanuel Macron

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has fallen behind centrist Emmanuel Macron in the opinion polls but millions of voters are still undecided. It did not take long ...

It was intolerant and she was pushing millions of compatriots out of the public space on account of their religion, he said. Constitutional change: Another of Marine Le Pen's big policies is for citizens' referendums, which she said were rooted in the yellow-vest or gilets jaunes protests that began early in the Macron presidency. Marine Le Pen retorted that he was a "climate hypocrite". Mr Macron denied that was the case. European Union: Marine Le Pen has changed her policy from leaving the EU to seeking change from within it. And in the main, he avoided the trap of coming over as too arrogant or technocratic. Ms Le Pen said she had taken Russian money as no French bank would lend to her party. She snapped back: "I want to give the French their money back." "We need to give priority to the French in their own country," she said. And yet, the president never gave the feeling he was not on solid ground. Ms Len Pen was deemed to be more in tune with normal people (37% to Macron's 34%), but 50% of voters also found her "worrying". But this time, Marine Le Pen was ready from the start and far more composed.

French President Emmanuel Macron tore into his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in a debate for her ties to Russia and wanting to strip Muslim women of ...

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Ms Le Pen was deemed to be more in tune with normal people (37% to Macron's 34%), but 50% of voters also found her "worrying". She said her party is repaying the loan and called him "dishonest" for raising the issue. That is a fact," Mr Macron said. I was extremely clear about that, I think the hijab is a uniform imposed by Islamists. He zeroed in on her voting record as a lawmaker and questioned her grasp of economic figures. But Ms Le Pen made an inauspicious start: Having been picked to speak first, she started off before the debate's opening jingle had finished playing.

In Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Insoumise, two-thirds backed either abstention or spoiled ballots in the presidential runoff. Emmanuel Macron's record of ...

. . . We have the fourth-largest army in the world, and it is capable of taking out this scum.” From then on, the idea of somehow being “on the same side” with these people became simply unthinkable for large sectors of society, above all — but not only — among the working class. To that end, it is necessary to get rid of the habitual moralistic posturing and go beyond simply repeating historical references that make little sense to large sections of the population — precisely the people who need to be convinced. For those on the Left, we are told, refusing to vote for Macron means to succumb to “anger,” to be a prisoner of “emotions,” and thus to “pave the way” for the far right. Symbolic violence does not constitute a distinct, autonomous and self-subsistent species of violence that could be opposed to physical violence and the use of brutal force. Anger, in the end, is a beautiful, noble emotion, linked to freedom, to justice, to the hope for a better world. The term essential to understanding it is “violence” — social, physical, and symbolic. Yes, it is perfectly true that Le Pen does represent a “danger” — or, more precisely, that the implementation of her program is incompatible with any notion of a humane life. However, to reach beyond those already convinced of Le Pen’s badness, it is also necessary to emphasize the profoundly antisocial character of her program and the fact that far from attacking only “minorities,” it attacks the rights and vital interests of the great majority. This is the real issue: “after the five years we have just had,” it is politically untenable for the main left-wing formation to call for a Macron vote. For years, pollsters have built up a sort of “fear rating” for Marine Le Pen, designing surveys to measure the “danger” she represents according to public opinion. According to estimates, between 24 percent and 36 percent of Mélenchon’s voters abstained in that runoff, with 17 percent opting for a blank or null ballot; among voters for then Socialist/Green candidate Benoît Hamon, abstention was between 17 and 24 percent and the blank or null vote 10 percent. Emmanuel Macron’s record of slashing welfare and repressing protests has hobbled his call for a vote to stop the far right.

Emmanuel Macron won office in 2017 running as an independent centrist and an ambitious reformer. The youngest president elected in France's modern political ...

It was the calamity of the Covid-19 pandemic that finally gave Macron the pivot he would use to reinvent his leadership. Buoyed by those numbers and absorbed by the conflict, Macron delayed the launch of his re-election bid, again and again, providing new grist for the political mill. But the tide began to turn in earnest for Macron in 2018 with the Benalla Affair, setting his institutional reforms off track and tarnishing his campaign pledge to clean up politics. Talking strategy, he boasted that his reasoning for the country's controversial vaccine pass was to "piss off" the unvaccinated. "He's the president of the very rich," the Socialist quipped.) And quickly, his decisions began to unsettle some of the Socialist supporters who had carried him to power in the first place. He did away with the wealth tax as France knew it and imposed a flat tax on capital gains, earning Macron the "president of the rich" monicker that stuck thereafter. As a cabinet minister in a Socialist government, Macron was already something of an iconoclast. Supporters revere him as an audacious, seductive, protective sort of conqueror while detractors slam his arrogance, deeming him a "president of the rich" uninterested in the little people. An elite French education, in sum, although with one nagging setback: Macron failed to win a place at the exclusive École Normale Supérieure, not once but twice. Be they of his own making, at least in part, or fully extraneous bombshells, the challenges arrived quick and thick for Macron as president. Now with a full five-year term under his belt, Macron has the grey hair, the crow's feet and the furrowed brow to show for it.

French President Emmanuel Macron cleared a major hurdle on the path to re-election with a combative TV debate performance against far-right candidate Marine ...

Still, during the debate Macron failed to dispel an image of haughtiness that has taken root during his presidency. "Each of them has a huge weakness," Bernard Sananes of pollster Elabe said. And Marine Le Pen remains scary for half of them." "You talk about your banker when you talk about Russia, that's the problem," Macron told his opponent. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

As an ardent supporter of President Emmanuel Macron of France, Nicole Liot was all smiles after seeing him at a recent campaign stop.

He is the president of the rich and the president of disdain.” In one city in the region, Denain, a woman buttonholed him on a campaign stop with strong criticism about his presidency, his handling of the pandemic and schools. Rosanvallon noted that “disdain” also ran deep among Le Pen’s core supporters — though it is directed at migrants, foreigners and others perceived as socially inferior. But if Le Pen was seen as a bulldozer of far-right ideology back then, in the current campaign she has tried to present a softer, more personable side. “We remember all these little phrases because they humiliated people,” Pasquier said. The most critical bloc voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran leftist who came in a strong third. A visibly annoyed Macron made a circular motion around his right temple with his forefinger. You’re telling us that, Mr. Macron?” Just cross the street and you’ll find one.’” “Macron and the hatred he arouses is unprecedented,” said Nicolas Domenach, a veteran political journalist who has covered the past five French presidents and is the co-author of “Macron: Why So Much Hatred?,” a recently published book. As an ardent supporter of President Emmanuel Macron of France, Nicole Liot was all smiles after seeing him at a recent campaign stop. “Like when he told someone, ‘You’re searching for a job?

Far-right candidate hits back at president's economic and social record in pre-election TV debate.

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said today he wants some of esports' biggest events to be a part of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Macron, who was elected in May 2017, is running against Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election. “We have, in this regard, a historic opportunity: that of the 2024 Olympic Games. It is up to us to take advantage of it to make the link between the Olympiads of the two worlds by hosting the biggest sporting events in the world that year: a [CS:GO Major], the Worlds of League of Legends, and The International of Dota 2. The French capital has not hosted either a CS:GO Major or The International, although the city’s most popular soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain F.C, is in a partnership with Chinese esports organization LGD Gaming that has yielded two second-place finishes for PSG.LGD at The International in 2018 and 2021.

Whoever wins on Sunday will only have done so after a bitter campaign which could bode ill for their capacity to win a parliamentary majority in June and ...

Viewers of Wednesday’s televised encounter between the two final candidates deemed Macron prone to bouts of high-handedness with Le Pen but also found him more convincing and fit to be president, a separate Elabe poll for BFM TV showed. If Le Pen wins, radical changes to France’s domestic and international policies would be expected, and street protests could start immediately. “Things are not changing quickly enough,” he acknowledged to a gathering of locals there, promising to put more resources into housing, security, education and job opportunities for underprivileged communities. “Did she give the impression she is ready to govern?” Le Parisien said in an editorial on Thursday. “Judging by the debate, she did not dispel that doubt.” “Why wait for Macron to step down when, by using your vote, you can fire him?” Le Pen told a rally in the town of Arras in which she urged a “silent majority” opposed to Macron not to facilitate his victory by abstaining. With just three days to go before Sunday’s election run-off, the two were back on the campaign trail — Macron in a Paris suburb with a strong left-wing vote, and Le Pen in the north of the country where she has a loyal following.

As a young Muslim, I resent voting for a man who has trampled on my rights. But things could be much worse with Le Pen, says student Kamelia Ouaissa.

Blocking the far right is mainly justified by the desire to protect my folk, people like me, from a potentially deadly fate. It would lead to more discrimination, adding to the rising Islamophobia of the past five years. This election boils down to choosing the lesser of two evils, and damage limitation.