The two candidates, who crossed swords on Wednesday evening on television, had a lively discussion on the Russian-Ukrainian war.
If the discussion was rather muted on the question of purchasing power, that on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine heated the spirits of the two finalists, during the debate between the two rounds of the presidential election. , Wednesday evening. While Marine Le Pen had just unveiled her vision of this war raging at the gates of Europe, she once again “condemned” and that she findsinadmissible“Emmanuel Macron quickly replied. Asked about his management of the crisis, the president-candidate “taken note of Mrs Le Pen’s positions, which do not correspond to the positions that (her) party and that (her) parliamentarians defend in the European Parliament, whether it is a question of protecting Ukrainians when they come to our soil, such as additional sanctions (…). such as the financial aid to Ukraine which you objected to.»
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Looking his opponent in the eye, the president insinuated that his nationalist competitor had taken a favorable position on the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 because of its financial links with Moscow. “You depend on Russian power and Mr Putin. A few months after saying that, you took out a loan in 2015 from a Russian bank, close to power. Then you re-stored this loan with other players (…). who then became involved in the war in Syria“And to conclude:”You don’t talk to other leaders, you talk to your banker when you talk about Russia. That is the problem. As soon as there are courageous and difficult positions to take, neither you nor your representatives are there.»
If the spade on the changes of foot made Marine Le Pen react immediately – “it’s wrong» -, Emmanuel Macron gears up – “it’s a fact, it’s the votes” -: “What you have just said is the opposite of the positions you have always held. You were one of the first European politicians to recognize the annexation of Crimea.»