Purchasing power, the primary concern of the French against a backdrop of galloping inflation, opened the ball rolling for the debate.
The assurance of a nervous start as the two aspirants to the presidential office strive to present themselves as the undisputed champions in this field.
The two finalists first sacrificed in turn to an empathy sequence, evoking who of the French
"who can no longer make ends
meet" who
"shopping carts that we can no longer fill
".
After this common observation, place to checks!
To discover
Macron-Le Pen debate: what to remember from the face-to-face for the 2022 presidential election
Follow the Macron-Le Pen debate live
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A dialogue without a winner by knockout, but advantage to the president
Marine Le Pen hammered home her idea of
“giving the money back to the French”
and recalled her promise to save 150 to 250 euros per month in income per household.
In detail, the RN candidate wants to lower the constrained expenses, in particular by permanently reducing the VAT from 20% to 5.5% on energy (fuel, gas and fuel oil).
She also reaffirmed her desire to abolish income tax for those under 30 and to support
"the value of work",
by upgrading caregivers and teachers.
The RN leader still wants to offer additional income for students.
Opposite, Emmanuel Macron defended his record on employment.
"We have created 1.2 million additional payslips over the five
-year term," he said, noting that Marine Le Pen does not once mention the issue of unemployment in his campaign documents.
He defended the
“price shield”
put in place to limit the increase in electricity prices to 4% and block those of gas, a measure
“more effective than the reduction in VAT”,
according to the candidate LREM.
Emmanuel Macron again recalled his plan to increase pensions by 4% from the summer, to increase the smallest pensions, to increase social minima...
” SEE ALSO –
For Marine Le Pen, retirement at 65 is an “unbearable injustice”
For Marine Le Pen, retirement at 65 is an “unbearable injustice” – Watch on Figaro Live
Financing new social expenditure
On pensions, the two candidates reaffirmed their deep differences.
"The earlier we work, the harder we work, the sooner we leave",
hammered Marine Le Pen to justify her plan to lower the retirement age to 60 for those who had
"significant work" before the age of 20.
…
A clarification that excludes summer jobs and reduces the scope of the measurement.
Conversely, Emmanuel Macron defended the abolition of special regimes (RATP, EDF, etc.) and raising the retirement age to 65 - while taking into account long careers and arduous work - in order to restore
"the system which is unbalanced until the mid-2030s",
finance new social expenditure such as dependency, but also
“improve the level of pensions”.
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Macron-Le Pen: these two Frances that everything opposes
And the president recalled:
“I don't want a project that weakens pensions, I don't want taxes to increase, I don't want to increase our debt, so there is only one way to finance: it is to work more.”
While Emmanuel Macron wants to raise small pensions to a minimum of 1100 euros per month, Marine Le Pen wants to increase the minimum old age pension to 1000 euros (which is not conditional on having worked).
“You offer 1000 euros to someone who has done nothing like someone who has a life of hard work behind them,”
tackled Emmanuel Macron.
Make the city and the hospital work better
The two candidates also clashed over the hospital crisis and medical deserts.
If with the “Ségur de la santé” Emmanuel Macron has invested an unprecedented amount in hospitals and increased salaries,
“it is not enough”,
he estimated, promising to
“improve working conditions”
and to
“continue to invest heavily”.
On medical deserts, there is no magic recipe or coercive measures, he favors a range of solutions: to make the city and the hospital work better, to organize the sharing of tasks with the paramedics
"to have an organized care offer at the scale of a territory”.
Marine Le Pen was indignant at the dismissal of "
15,000 caregivers because they were not vaccinated
”: “
I will reintegrate them
”, she affirmed, promising to invest 20 billion over five years, with in particular a
“scanner and MRI plan”.
Read also
The editorial of
Le Figaro
: "Macron-Le Pen debate, a France without vision"
Finally, on nursing homes, if the two candidates want to strengthen controls and increase the number of staff, Marine Le Pen defended the establishment of a
"mutualist system",
while Emmanuel Macron refuses to
"cast opprobrium on the private system"
and emphasizes home support.