The government spokesman said he was “skeptical” about a pre-first round debate with Emmanuel Macron and the other presidential candidates
In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper on Saturday, Gabriel Attal highlighted the results of President Emmanuel Macron. He considered that the left was at the end of a cycle and accused the oppositions of having a black and pessimistic vision of a France where “everything was better before”.
“A lack of democratic requirement”
The government spokesperson highlighted the infernal loop of the candidates’ debates. Valérie Pécresse who does not want to debate with Marine Le Pen who, herself, refuses the discussion with Eric Zemmour. The latter who has already debated with Jean-Luc Mélenchon but the candidate of the Insoumis regrets and does not want to debate with Yannick Jadot, who himself refuses to discuss with Anne Hidalgo. The government spokesman wondered what a debate would look like with 12 candidates desperate to talk to the president or settle their differences with him. “I am skeptical of such a format which would show a lack of democratic requirement,” he explained.
This Sunday, Valérie Pécresse estimated that the president and quasi-candidate must accept a debate to “report” on his “calamitous record” and “confront with reality”. “Refusing the debate before the first round is archaic”, insisted the candidate LR in the program “Sunday in politics”, on France 3.
A positive balance sheet for Attal
Gabriel Attal also returned to the results of President Macron’s five-year term, recalling that the government had spoken to the French and continued to speak of them, “as throughout this five-year term”.
A word also on the growth which reached 7%. According to Attal, it has made it possible to “escape hundreds of thousands of French people from precariousness with unemployment at its lowest for 15 years”. He also recalled that the government had obtained wage increases in several social sectors, including catering, with substantial increases for low wages.
LR, RN, Zemmour: “the French are lost in this sitcom”
Gabriel Attal was then brought to speak of opponents of Emmanuel Macron such as Valérie Pécresse, Marine Le Pen or even Eric Zemmour but also of the left. The spokesperson tackled the right-wing candidate on her proposal to abolish inheritance rights for 95% of French people. “When the president says he wants to open the site of ‘popular transmission’, he is addressing himself to everyone”.
He then assured that the left-wing parties were at the end of a cycle and that the real social project was on the side of the President of the Republic, which for him justified the choice of the Social Democrats to line up behind Emmanuel Macron. Then Gabriel Attal analyzed the situation on the right by describing the trio LR, RN and Zemmour as a “mercato”, a “three-way match” and a “Bermuda triangle”. “The French are lost in this sitcom which focuses on personalities rather than ideas,” said Gabriel Attal. “It does not help to arouse interest in the presidential election,” he slipped.