Now that the candidates are all on the starting line, it's time for the televised contests.
While the French will go to the polls in 87 days to choose their future MEPs, all the major political teams are in battle order to convince voters and push their advantage.
Meetings, trips, speeches... In recent weeks, the European election campaign has intensified.
An acceleration linked largely to the designation of the last contender, and not the least: Valérie Hayer as leader of the macronie.
If certain figures are already known to the general public, other faces aim to gain notoriety.
To make up for these media and sometimes poll delays, these personalities are banking on debates.
Like the first which took place Thursday evening on Public Senate, in partnership with the regional press group Ebra.
For two and a half hours, the main leaders of the list, with the exception of the favorite of the opinion polls Jordan Bardella - replaced for the occasion by Thierry Mariani -, faced each other from the Strasbourg enclosure which they are all targeting next June: the European Parliament.
Four themes were on the program: agriculture, immigration, the war in Ukraine, the energy independence of Europe going hand in hand with the purchasing power of the French.
Le Figaro
returns to this first media meeting.
More or less Europe?
: that is the question
To open this debate, the different candidates first had to present their vision of Europe, a sort of first profession of faith.
From the outset, the PS-Place Publique contender Raphaël Glucksmann warned.
Faced with the risks that the possible election of Donald Trump in the United States and the war in Ukraine represent for the solidity of the Old Continent, the essayist intends to
“stand up to the foreign powers (and) the money powers who attack us from the outside.”
His communist competitor Léon Deffontaines promoted
“a list of large gatherings of farmers and workers”
who were
“offered to take back their hands for the dignity of their work.”
As for Valérie Hayer, she quickly played the face-to-face:
“Do not leave the field open to European populations.”
The question, according to her,
“is not more or less Europe”
,
“it is more”
or more Europe at all.
“After five years in the European Parliament, LR François-Xavier Bellamy said he wanted to
“make the voice of the French heard”
in Brussels and Strasbourg.
With the sole mantra:
“Take control of our destiny”
.
The right-wing MEP, who distanced himself from the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, did not hesitate to target the action carried out by the coalition between the Macronists and the right.
A policy that
“weakened us instead of strengthening us
,” he denounced.
Jordan Bardella's joker card, RN MEP Thierry Mariani for his part defended the
“opportunity to change Europe without destroying anything”
.
Before attacking
“uncontrolled immigration”
, which he blames on Emmanuel Macron and “VDL”.
The ecologist Marie Toussaint, for her part, pleaded in an anaphora for
“a Europe that protects us”
,
“an ecological Europe”
and
“a Europe of peace”
.
As for the rebellious head of the list Manon Aubry, she began by accusing
“Valérie Hayer, Emmanuel Macron and the commission”
of leading the European Union down
the “highway of chaos”
.
She wanted voters to give her list
“the strength to change everything”
.
An expression that she repeated numerous times in her introductory remarks.
The President of the Republic was also specifically targeted by Marion Maréchal of Reconquête!, accused of managing Europe within a
“coalition”
which includes the European People's Party (classified on the right), the socialists and the ecologists.
She also pleaded for
“an authentically right-wing Europe, which defends its identity and its civilization”
.
Arms passes around the CAP
A hot topic a few weeks after the rural crisis which shook France, the distress of farmers opened the substantive debates.
“Is the European Green Deal too restrictive?”
.
First to speak, Valérie Hayer was keen to point out that she comes from a family of farmers, saying she was
“anchored in her territory”
.
“We must not pit the agricultural world and the European Union, nor the agricultural world and the environment
,” she said.
Defending the common agricultural policy, she bared her claws, recalling that François-Xavier Bellamy and Jordan Bardella had voted for it alongside her in the European Parliament, before denouncing their current criticism of the system.
Targeted by the attack, François-Xavier Bellamy defended himself:
“We fought for the CAP so that it remained a policy of support for farmers.
The real subject of opposition is a text like that of restoration of nature”,
leading farmers to be
“in a situation of distress”
.
Taking a step further, Thierry Mariani praised the French model, which
“is fortunate to have the largest agriculture in the European Union”
.
And to raise the tone on CAP financing: when the French give
“24 billion euros to Europe, they only receive 9 billion”
in return.
On the set, between the battles, an agreement emerged on the subject between Raphaël Glucksmann and Marie Toussaint.
The socialist was thus indignant at a policy
“responsible for the misery of so many farmers”,
deploring that
“80% of subsidies are reserved for 20% of farms, the largest”
.
Same concern for the leader of the Greens, who pleaded like her neighbor for a policy which
“pays per job and not per hectare”
.
What controls are there on immigration flows?
While the right and the nationalists aligned themselves on the defense of
“controlled”
immigration , François-Xavier Bellamy tried to differentiate himself from his competitors.
“What matters is not the slogans.
It’s about doing and obtaining results
,” swept the outgoing MEP, targeting the RN and Reconquest!.
“We have difficulty following the consistency of their line on the subject: they have been against Frontex for a long time, and now they are for it.
They were for Brexit, now they are against it
,” he added.
Before shooting an arrow in the direction of the presidential camp.
The outgoing MEP hopes that asylum seekers will not have to
“arrive on our soil”
to submit their requests, but that they will be processed abroad and not in France.
A charge that made Thierry Mariani, who has long belonged to the right-wing party, smile.
More than 30 years after the RPR's States General, the nationalist mocked a camp which had
"never done anything"
in the matter.
As part of these elections, the RN
“proposes a double shield”:
one with Frontex, the other at national borders.
Another measure suggested for a long time: a reform of the Schengen area.
“When we accept a foreigner in a country, when we give him a residence permit in a country, he stays in the country
,” he thundered.
The proposal aroused the ire of Raphaël Glucksmann: if the RN comes to power in 2027,
“there will be a war between Italy and France”
.
All while accusing the flame party of wanting to create
“chaos”
.
And praising a
“coordinated policy”
on
“law”.
The MEP, who criticized the prevailing
“identity panic”
, detailed his project:
“Our countries need immigration.
Not having legal channels for immigration is to doom our economies.”
A risky vision according to Marion Maréchal, who sees it as a
“civilizational shift”
.
“No, Madame Marion Maréchal Le Pen, you don’t get on a life raft like you get on a cruise ship
,” Manon Aubry retorted.
And to denounce a
“Europe of barbed wire”
, whose
“Asylum Immigration Pact”
would, according to her, have as a
“priority”
to
“finance walls at the borders”
.
Valérie Hayer, who claims to be the only one on the set to soon vote for this common policy, argued that the text would be
“supported by the political family of Raphaël Glucksmann and François-Xavier Bellamy”
.
“In two years, thanks to this text, we will no longer have Lampedusa.
We no longer have the jungle of Calais
,” she further defended, praising
“much shorter procedures”
.
More discreet, Léon Deffontaines was outraged by a
“posture debate”
between the other candidates.
“Immigration, there is, there will be more and more of it
,” he conceded, before being interrupted by Marion Maréchal.
“I am appalled to see that from the start we have been calling each other.
We should not be surprised that the French are moving away from politics
,” he said, turning towards his nationalist competitor.
On immigration, the communist defended an
“integration policy”,
which involves the
“regularization of undocumented workers”
.
Ukraine: haro on Thierry Mariani
The angle of attack had not yet been used by Thierry Mariani's opponents.
The third theme dedicated to the war in Ukraine was not lacking: everyone carried out a group attack against the RN MEP, targeted by two preliminary investigations into possible acts of corruption with a Franco-Russian association.
“You helped Mr. Putin on the ground.
Explain to us your relationship with Putin?
, drew the first Marie Toussaint, while the RN candidate was questioned about the war in Ukraine.
“My relations with Putin are perhaps less frequent than Mr. Macron
,” the person immediately replied.
“It’s because Mr. Poutine was not available this evening
,” joked Manon Aubry.
Before Raphaël Glucksmann sounds the charge:
“You are on the European Parliament’s blacklist.”
The leader of the PS even assured that he had
“hesitated”
to come on the set, not wanting to face
“the little telegraph operator from the Kremlin (...) who served the soup to this regime”
.
“Coming here is, in a sense, endorsing you
,” he thundered.
“In five years, the only interference demonstrated in this Parliament is in your group.
It’s Qatar!”
, replied Thierry Mariani.
What long-term strategy for France?
What about, in this context, long-term military support for Ukraine?
To this question, Manon Aubry castigated the
“irresponsible comments”
of the President of the Republic on a possible sending of troops to the east.
Recalling having voted for the 50 billion euros in European aid to Kiev, the rebel, who refuses that her
“generation be sacrificed to go and fight”
, considers that
“we will have to take responsibility for putting the protagonists back around the table.”
The communist pretender followed suit, wishing for a
“peace treaty”
between the warring forces.
An analysis rebutted by the socialist pretender, who accentuated the divisions on the left on the subject.
“It is to avoid a direct military confrontation that we must deliver a lot more weapons to the Ukrainian front.
It’s not out of solidarity, it’s an investment in our own security,”
insisted Raphaël Glucksmann.
Valérie Hayer, for her part, recalled the links between the Kremlin and the RN, based on the conclusions of the National Assembly's investigation into foreign interference.
“If Russia wins, it will hold 80% of the world's wheat stocks.
We must support the Ukrainians to the end
,” she thundered.
Far from the passing of arms, François-Xavier Bellamy denounced
“the internal calculation”
of the Head of State, after his controversial outing on the possible sending of troops to Kiev.
Before taking part in the crossfire against Thierry Mariani, with a touch of irony:
“I'm glad you're here.
“It’s an opportunity to say face to face the reality of what the RN is doing in the European Parliament.”
“If we want to defend our democracies, we have a duty to fight against corruption
,” he continued, alluding to the links that the RN MEP maintains with Azerbaijan in the conflict which pits it against the 'Armenia.
The two radical left candidates, Manon Aubry and Léon Deffontaines, firmly opposed the enlargement of the European Union, in particular to Ukraine, responsible according to them for social dumping which harms workers.
Europe facing energy challenges
The fourth and final sequence of the debate, which focused on energy, opened on the question of nuclear power.
While the communist Léon Deffontaines ardently defended the atom, demanding that it be considered as a green energy at the continental level, the ecologist Marie Toussaint unsurprisingly recalled her party's opposition to this carbon-free energy.
Also opposed to nuclear power, Manon Aubry called more generally for energy to become a
“common good”
in Europe and for it to be removed from
“market logic”
.
“We cannot let the predation of large groups decide (in matters of energy)
,” she insisted, pleading for France to exit the European energy market.
“Who will pay for this transition so that it is socially just?”
, then questioned Raphaël Glucksmann, emphasizing his
“difference”
with Valérie Hayer.
He pleads for the creation of
“a European tax on large fortunes” in order to “free up 200 billion euros”
on the continent.
“I agree with Raphaël Glucksmann, we need to put money on the table
,” replied the Macronist, without dwelling too much on the means.
LR François-Xavier Bellamy recognized on the nuclear issue that he had something in common with the PCF:
“We are the only two political parties that have not changed on nuclear issues”
.
Mariani defends Bardella's absence
The only head of the list absent from the confrontation, the president of the RN was the subject of a question from the two presenters.
MEP Thierry Mariani tried to justify the non-presence of the nationalist leader.
“This is the first debate in Europe, we believe it is a little premature,” he put things into perspective.
At the moment, there are eight of us around this table, even though we only know three lists and two programs.”
“In the remaining three months, there will be many other debates, Jordan Bardella has given his agreement for five other debates, plus two duels,”
added the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Enough to convince voters?