The President of the Republic will be interviewed Thursday on TF1 and France 2 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Landings, in the home stretch of the campaign. Several opposition parties have announced that they will contact the audiovisual police.
Published
Reading time: 4 min
The announcement, late Sunday June 2, immediately aroused the ire of the opposition. Emmanuel Macron will speak on Thursday evening, in the 8 p.m. television news on TF1 and France 2, from Caen (Calvados), on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Landing. The President of the Republic, who will be questioned by Gilles Bouleau and Anne-Sophie Lapix, must discuss the commemorations of this historic event, but also international news, marked by the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. But the timing chosen, three days before the European elections and 24 hours before the start of the reserve period, is not to the taste of all the rival parties in the presidential camp.
“The opposition must have the same speaking time. We are seizing Arcom”protested the boss of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, on X. In a letter addressed to the audiovisual policeman and revealed by Le Figaro he points a “completely unjustified discriminatory choice between the candidates”. “Is it normal that in the middle of the campaign, we have such a confusion of roles, that the executive spends its time saturating the media space?”questioned François-Xavier Bellamy, the head of the LR list for the Europeans, Monday on franceinfo. “We’re playing into the hands of François-Xavier Bellamy, he’s right and we can’t take that away from him”concedes a figure of the majority.
The same indignation gripped the left. “I believe that in a democracy, there is no official candidacy”quipped Manon Aubry, head of the list of La France insoumise, Monday morning on RTL, announcing in turn “enter the Arcom to request that the airtime [d’Emmanuel Macron] be deducted from Valérie’s campaign time Hayer”, the head of the Renaissance list. The national secretary of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, made the same request, calling on the audiovisual policeman on X: “No one is fooled. Macron invites himself to the 8 p.m. show of the two biggest TV channels, 3 days before the Europeans.”
The supervision of speaking time during a campaign for the European elections is less strict than before a presidential election. It is the principle of fairness, and not of equality, which applies: longer airtime may be granted to lists deemed to be the most representative, based on the results obtained in the last elections, polls of opinion and their “ability to lead the electoral campaign” through public meetings or travel, in particular, details Arcom on its site.
Under these conditions, how will the words of the President of the Republic be counted on Thursday? Will the channels have to deduct it from the time given to Valérie Hayer and other supporters of the presidential camp? In a deliberation in 2011, the CSA (ancestor of Arcom) established a general principle: the words of the Head of State “which, due to their content and context, fall within the political debate linked to the elections”especially when they include “the expression of support for a candidate or a list of candidates, a party or political group”are counted, and the media must ensure that the other political forces “benefit, in return, from equitable access to the air.”
Everything should therefore depend on what the President of the Republic says in his interview on France 2 and TF1. “When Emmanuel Macron speaks as head of state on Ukraine, for example, it will be regal and it will be another countdown, estimates a source at France Télévisions. But when he gives information on his vision of Europe, we will consider that this is support for Valérie Hayer, and we will count it in the candidate’s speaking time.”
“He will talk a little about the Europeans”anticipates a member of the latter’s campaign team, who regrets that the audiovisual policeman has chosen “the hard option”, at the beginning of May, by asking to count the entirety of a presidential speech on the future of Europe, at the Sorbonne, as speaking time for the majority. If this “hard option” is again detained regarding Thursday’s interview, “you have to prepare” to a last day of campaign reduced to the bare minimum, whispers this same member of Valérie Hayer’s team.
This very late interview with the Head of State, which takes place at the same time as the last meeting of the presidential camp, in Nice, in any case upsets the schedule planned by the television channels. “We will make all our best efforts to respect the fairness of speaking time, but if it is impossible, no one is obliged, and Arcom will have to take this into account, we sigh at France Télévisions. It will not be possible to rebalance everything.” Arcom’s response to the political leaders who contacted it will undoubtedly be eagerly awaited and debated.