HHello, it’s lunchtime in Paris and the two far-right candidates, Marine le Pen and Eric Zemmour are presenting the costs of their respective platforms.
What happened yesterday? Conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse was loudly booed on Tuesday night when she spoke at an event organized by the ultra-conservative weekly Current Values.
Why does it matter? The theme of the evening was the unification of the right, from its moderate or traditional wing to the extreme right, for which the magazine actively campaigns. But the booing showed that divisions are still very deep within this camp.
The war in Ukraine overshadows once again the French presidential election with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remote address before the Assemblee Nationale and the Senate on Wednesday afternoon. After the US Congress, the Bundestag, the House of Commons, the Knesset, and the Italian parliament (to be continued), the new Western icon is adding another stage to his virtual World Tour of temples of democracy. He may probably saturate another cycle of news. Not for too long, of course, but 24 hours is already a lot of time with less than three weeks to go to the first round, on April 10.
Volodymyr Zelensky brings back to the forefront memories that some candidates would like to forget. His discourse reminds us that some candidates have made awkward and pro-Russian statements that do not correspond to the flattering idea of statesperson they have of themselves. After the popular revolution of Maidan, in 2014, leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France Insoumise) frowned at “an adventurous putschist power, in which the neo-Nazis have a very detestable influence.” This is exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin says today.
As he is a member of Parliament and the leading candidate for the left, it will be difficult for him not to join in with the standing ovations for Mr. Zelensky, a former actor and a master of playing to a crowd. Far-right candidate Marie Le Pen, who received embarrassing Russian financial support five years ago, made a misstep on Monday when she said that she had “no particular admiration for Mr. Zelensky.”
She got her feet tangled up in her explanations. “I just think he behaves like a head of state, it should not arouse admiration, it should be normal, it is because our leaders do not always behave like heads of state that we think it is wonderful when others do it,” she added . She made things worse when she announced that she wouldn’t attend the special session due to “long standing requirements,” an excuse that the worst liars have not dared to use for a long time. An uproar was rapidly gaining ground when she miraculously freed up some time in her schedule. Communist candidate Fabien Roussel, who is also an MP and a NATO-skeptic, couldn’t come because of a personal bereavement.
As the Ukrainian people are fighting for their homeland and for their dreams of democracy and rule of law, Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech may shed a harsh light on some comments made during the last days of the presidential campaign. Gérard Larcher, the president of the Senate, who may warmly introduce the Ukrainian president, openly questioned Emmanuel Macron’s “legitimacy” if he was to be re-elected without campaigning. The incumbent president refused to engage in any debate with his opponents before the first round on April 10.
At his last meeting in Metz (east) on Friday, far-right candidate Eric Zemmour took an almost Trumpian tone when he stated a conspiracy theory. “They [meaning the alleged elites, pundits, pollsters, globalists, George Sorros-funded progressists of the world] are trying to steal the election from you,” he said. “They want to reimpose the Le Pen-Macron confrontation [of 2017] that you no longer want, this runoff without any suspense, this wrestling show where everything is rigged, between the eternal teenager and the eternal loser,” he added.
On Tuesday, Conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse also wandered in muddy waters. “I think that the war in Ukraine and the Covid crisis hijacked the campaign. I say to the French: ‘Don’t let this election be stolen like in 2017,'” she said. Mrs. Pécresse addressed the same theme later in the day.
She was probably referring to the graft allegations against conservative candidate François Fillon, which ultimately sank his bid in the Presidential election in April 2017. He was first convicted, then he appealed, but he risked another conviction that May. Making preemptive excuses for one’s defeat, in defiance of the values one is supposed to protect, is one thing. Defending democracy at gunpoint, as Volodymyr Zelensky is doing in Ukraine, is another story.
Quote of the day
“For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the danger comes from the West, while the aggression is in the East, which means that he has lost his North Star a bit.”
Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo continues to hammer home the idea that a vote for left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not a strategic vote for the entire left. On Tuesday night, she once again used his former pro-Russian positions to try to demonstrate that he is not a reliable leader.
Countdown
18 Days until the presidential election’s first round
32 Days until the presidential election’s second round
Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.