The credits sound the start of hostilities.
In the background, Marine Le Pen speaks.
Would the two adversaries exchange informally?
No, only a false start from the RN candidate who obviously does not hear the music… Moment of embarrassment, the presenters interrupt her.
The debate is really starting.
Back to the main moments of this televised face-to-face between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, this Wednesday, April 20, four days before the second round of the presidential election.
9:02 p.m .: “I will be the president of…”
Dark blue jacket on the shoulders - she had initially opted for a pale pink before changing her mind - Marine Le Pen begins by saying that "another choice is possible".
The RN candidate supports her statement by using the figure of speech of the anaphora used by François Hollande in 2012. “I will be the president of the regal
(…)
, I will be the president of the daily newspaper
(…)
.
Above all, I will be the president of the harmony restored between the French, ”she lists.
Macron continues with an introductory remark without relief, but takes the opportunity to certify from the outset that he will take up "the ecological question" if he is re-elected.
9:10 p.m .: Macron's first attack
Marine Le Pen begins with purchasing power and immediately presses where it hurts: “I've only seen French people tell me that they can't do it anymore.
Then she unfolds her proposals on the reduction of VAT on energy, the disabled adult allowance, pensions.
The tone is polite, a little borrowed, until Emmanuel Macron sends the first charge of the evening, sending her back at the same time to her status as an MP: "You voted against the price freeze
(of gas and oil during the crisis)
.
Why ?
".
A recurring angle of attack on his record as a parliamentarian.
"The teams have worked well, they have dissected each vote of the last five years", relishes a strategist.
Second scud, when he recalls having created 1.2 million jobs during the five-year term: “I looked at the program of your twenty-two measures.
There is not even the word unemployment in it
(…)
.
It is recognition of the work done over the past five years and I thank you for that”.
In the presidential candidate's box, the team is tense.
There is Brigitte Macron, the ministers Gabriel Attal, Sébastien Lecornu, the MEP Stéphane Séjournée, the communicator Clément Léonarduzzi.
"It's good, she looks scared," slips one of them.
Read alsoPresidential debate: Marine Le Pen's missed opportunity on purchasing power
9:35 p.m .: surge of tension on Russia
When discussing the war in Ukraine, Macron asserts: “You depend on Russian power, you depend on Mr. Putin.
“A reference to the loan taken out by the RN with a Russian bank in 2014. The first real highlight of the evening.
The outgoing president continues his charge, all the heavier as he attacks on the angle of sovereignty: “You don't talk to other leaders, you talk to your banker when you talk about Russia
(…)
.
You are not in a power-to-power situation.
»
Le Pen responds, as if awake: “That's wrong.
I am a totally and absolutely free woman.
But Macron insists, comes back to it, drives home the point — "You still haven't repaid that loan."
She, her cheek close to the people: “It's true.
We are a poor party, but that is not dishonorable.
»
VIDEO.
"I am a totally free woman" responds Marine Le Pen to Macron's accusations of his "dependence" on Russian power
9:42 p.m.: two visions of Europe
Macron poses as a defender of the Union and attacks, again: “Your project consists in getting out of Europe!
» Reply tit for tat: « I wish to remain in the EU, I deeply wish to modify it to make emerge a Europe of the Nations!
retorts Le Pen.
Comment from a supporter of the RN candidate present on the set: “Emmanuel Macron is overexcited and tries in vain to strike, without proposing.
Marine is very serene, dismantles her lies and makes her proposals.
10:05 p.m .: Le Pen mocks the “Mozart of finance”
The two candidates are questioned on the pension reform, but it is on the economic and social balance sheet that the debate deviates.
"Mr. Macon, don't give me a lesson on the financing of my project.
When we have 600 billion in debt, we remain modest, ”attacks Marine Le Pen.
“The 600 billion is the Covid debt, so I fully assume them”, replies his opponent.
The RN candidate then disputes the unemployment figures put forward by Emmanuel Macron, such as the productivity rate of France which "has been dropping since he was elected".
“Your economic balance sheet is very bad, your social balance sheet even worse”, she summarizes, mocking in passing those who had called him the “Mozart of finance”.
Stoic, the outgoing president disputes the figures put forward by Marine Le Pen and comes out with a formula: “The figures are not Gérard Majax, this evening, Madame Le Pen!
»
10:22 p.m .: “climate-skeptic” against “climate-hypocrite”
Knives again drawn between the two on ecology.
“You are a climate skeptic!
accuses Macron, believing that Le Pen's program "has neither head nor tail" in terms of ecology, because it would like to subsidize hydrocarbons.
“You are a bit of a climato-hypocrite!
“, replies Le Pen, attacking his “changes of foot” on nuclear power and a “punitive ecology”.
10:40 p.m.: the figure of de Gaulle to the rescue
The two finalists evoke the digital giants, the industry, and inevitably come back to Europe.
“Europe, Europe, Europe.
I am thinking of the words of General de Gaulle, ”cuts Le Pen.
Dry response from Macron: "Coming from where you come from, you should not talk about General de Gaulle".
10:55 p.m .: McKinsey point
Le Pen went on the offensive on the school component of his rival's program… and on the controversy over the use of consulting firms which polluted his campaign.
“I don't know if it was McKinsey who came up with that…” she stings.
"Ah that's it, I was waiting for this one.
You took your time Mrs. Le Pen, ”he sends her back.
11:24 p.m .: showdown on the veil
A close friend of Macron rubbed his hands in advance: "On the veil, we don't know what she is going to do as a strategic choice..." Macron did not fail to go on the offensive on this subject in the face of to his adversary who proposes to prohibit the wearing of the veil in public space.
“You are going to create civil war”, he poses, before continuing: “France, homeland of the Enlightenment, would be the first country in the world to ban religious symbols in public space.
(…)
What you are proposing is not the France of universalism.
He insists: “How many policemen will run after veils, yarmulkes?
»
Le Pen's response: "As much as those who ran after masks
(during the Covid)
.
“But the outgoing president raises:” Latifa Ibn Ziaten
(
the mother of a victim of Mohammed Merah in 2012
),
do you want to tear off her scarf?
(…)
You cannot explain to me that a law which prohibits the veil in public space is a law against Islamism.
“The RN candidate assures that” if “.
"Well, my arms are falling off," his rival blurts out.