Less than twenty days before the European elections, the heads of the list clashed on Tuesday evening for more than three hours on LCI. A major confrontation during which they were able to strongly challenge each other on international and migration issues.
D-19. Less than three weeks before the European elections, the eight main leaders met for the first time on Tuesday evening on LCI. International issues, economy, immigration… For more than three hours, Jordan Bardella (RN), Valérie Hayer (Renaissance), Raphaël Glucksmann (PS-Place Publique), François-Xavier Bellamy (LR), Manon Aubry (LFI), Marion Maréchal (Reconquête!), Marie Toussaint (Les Écologues), and Léon Deffontaines (PCF) crossed swords on the major issues of the election. While the latest survey “rolling” For Le Figaro, LCI, Sud Radio, reinforces the balance of power between each other, each candidate has pushed their advantage. Way to try to make a hole at the moment when opinion crystallizes.
Ukraine: arms exchange between Bardella and Hayer
Haro on the head of the RN list. Two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, this still burning question has opened the debate. If Jordan Bardella repeated that “Russia was a threat to our security and our sovereignty”, his Macronist opponent Valérie Hayer asked “get out of postures”. “Marine Le Pen called for a military alliance with Russia”mocked the president of the group “Renew» in the European Parliament.
“You have always refused to condemn the imprisonment of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny”, also criticized the one who is in second position in the opinion surveys. A dig that the nationalist MEP did not let slip, recalling Vladimir Putin’s previous visits to France at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s first term. And that the head of state had wanted a “rification within the framework of the security architecture between the EU and Russia”.
Russian gas at the heart of trade
“Why continue to import natural gas when you consider your supplier a threat to our security?” continued the 28-year-old nationalist leader. An argument also used by Marie Toussaint, who also refused the“import of enriched uranium” : “We continue today to finance the (Russian) war effort (…) We must hit Vladimir Putin in the wallet.”
For his part, François-Xavier Bellamy also criticized Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. Before targeting its environmentalist competitor and all those “who campaigned against the nuclear industry”. “What can we say about François Fillon who went to work with Putin’s regime?” immediately replied the main interested party. Still on the left, Raphaël Glucksmann considered that“we had to wake up because the situation on the front is absolutely dangerous.” “The urgency is to finally create a European defense worthy of the name.”
Aubry steps up to the plate on Gaza…
The cornerstone of Manon Aubry’s campaign, the war between Israel and Hamas quickly heated minds. The day after the request from the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the former spokesperson for the NGO Oxfam demanded “sanctions against the far-right government” facing what she calls “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
Introductory remarks which allowed him to question Valérie Hayer. In the event that such an international mandate were launched, would the government make every effort “to be able to arrest a war criminal (…) who is massacring a civilian population?” Stung, the Macronist said “respect international law and the ICC”. “At this stage, we are at the stage of an indictment. “There is no decision made,” she argued. And hammer out a principle: “Do not put the terrorist organization Hamas and the government on an equal footing” Israeli.
…And gets caught by Bellamy
A duel in which the LR candidate made his way, directly targeting Manon Aubry. “I believe that you and your political force are forever disqualified from speaking about international law,” thundered François-Xavier Bellamy. Who recalled that the Insoumis “have always refused to say that October 7 was an Islamist terrorist attack and to qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization.” The pretender LFI refuted these assertions. But the right-wing MEP affirmed that the speech of his opponents makes “creating virulent anti-Semitism”.
Marion Maréchal outbid herself, explaining that “it’s not just out of humanism” that the Insoumis carry a pro-Palestinian discourse, even complacent with Hamas. “It’s through electoral patronage,” she snapped. The communist Léon Deffontaines, for his part, demanded “a little decency” For “denounce the terrorist acts of Hamas, (and) the acts of Netanyahu.”
Calmer debates on the economy
Another theme: how can the Old Continent protect itself against American protectionism? Valérie Hayer first called on Europeans to “stop being the turkeys of the world joke”. Considering that the “international trade rules are no longer respected”, the Macronist urged her allies to “be more offensive by establishing customs tariffs”.
Raphaël Glucksmann has put China’s trade policy in his sights. In favor of European protectionism against the great powers, the essayist considered that “the Chinese are in the process of reducing our production.” “It is not a law of the market, it is a geopolitical strategy. (…) We must have trade barriers,” he hissed. While Manon Aubry mocked the “dose of hypocrisy (…) of the political groups (which) voted for the free trade agreements”, Jordan Bardella called Europe a “sick of developed economies”. “Why would we be the only economic area not to protect our sectors?”
Finally, on the question of taxation, Manon Aubry was in favor of “a European ISF”. Marion Maréchal, for her part, opposed the fact that “taxation or labor law could be a European competence.” What followed was a spicy exchange between Léon Deffontaines and Jordan Bardella. The communist accused his opponent of having “betrayed the workers” on the taxation of very high incomes. To which the president of the RN replied: “You are a communist in 2024 (…) It would be about growing up!” “Okay OSS 117”then quipped Léon Deffontaines.
Heated exchanges on immigration
First to speak on the issue of immigration, Jordan Bardella played his part. Seeing in the migratory waves a “existential threat”the MEP said he was in favor of “systematic pushback of migrant boats.” He also pleaded for “free movement in the Schengen area for Europeans only.” His nationalist opponent Marion Maréchal, for his part, affirmed that “the policy of deterrence was the best way to save lives.” For her, laxity “transformed the daily lives of the French into hell.” “When we propose zero immigration, we finance smuggling networks,” replied the communist candidate. Raphaël Glucksmann, despite accepting the “borders”he however refused to have “cemeteries as borders”.
Valérie Hayer, finally, denounced “hypocrisy” of his opponents, who did not vote for the asylum and immigration pact a few weeks ago. Concerning asylum seekers, “we will take their fingerprints, their identity, we will register them very quickly.” “We will look and we will tell them whether or not they can access the territory of the European Union,” she defended.