A debate that is debated. The first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure denounced on Saturday, in a letter to the audiovisual regulator Arcom, the organization on May 23 on France 2 of a debate between Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella, seeing it as a “fundamental democratic problem” less than three weeks before the European elections.
“A debate organized for the European elections cannot be reduced in our country to a confrontation between the right and the extreme right, effectively excluding any representation of left-wing groups,” wrote Olivier Faure in a letter to the president of the Arcom, Roch-Olivier Maistre, of whom AFP had a copy and who had been revealed by Release.
In support of his referral to Arcom, Olivier Faure observes that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal “is not a candidate for the European election, and that he is replacing the head of the Renaissance list”, Valérie Hayer , to face the president of the National Rally (RN), head of his party’s list and very large favorite in the polls. “Disregarding equal treatment and respect for political pluralism two weeks before a major political election, the debate organized by France 2 poses a fundamental democratic problem,” writes the boss of the PS, whose joint list with Place publique, led by Raphaël Glucksmann, is neck and neck with the Renaissance list in the polls.
Arcom warns France Télévisions
He asks Arcom to implement its “regulatory power to ensure respect for the pluralist expression of political debate, and hence the sincerity of the vote on June 9.” Olivier Faure also bases his referral on the cancellation in Italy of a debate scheduled for May 23 on public television RAI between the head of government Giorgia Meloni and the leader of the opposition Elly Schlein. The Italian regulator had recalled that equal treatment must be offered to all parties in the run-up to the European elections.
Arcom had sent, on Friday, a letter to the president of France Télévisions Delphine Ernotte Cunci in which she considered that this debate was “likely to compromise compliance with the rules which apply to the treatment of the campaign for the European elections “. The regulator asked France Télévisions to inform it of the “provisions that the channel intends to implement to guarantee the other lists of candidates full respect for fair presentation and access to its broadcast”, according to the text of this letter that AFP obtained.