First major campaign rally | Macron calls for “general mobilization” against “extremists”

(Paris) Candidate Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday, at a giant rally with a more social focus, for “general mobilization” against “extremists” and “great stunting” in the face of the strong surge in the Marine polls. Le Pen who is campaigning on purchasing power.

After a minimal start to the campaign, this first major gathering comes at a time when the outgoing president is crumbling in the voting intentions in the first round, even if he remains in the lead, and his entourage is worried about the tightening (53 /47%) in the polls for the gap with the far-right candidate in the second round.

For the 12 contenders for the Élysée, this is the last weekend of rallies before the first round on April 10. The communist Fabien Roussel was near Lyon to call for “effective voting”, the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, given 3^and in the polls, will gather his supporters in Toulouse on Sunday and Valérie Pécresse (LR) his supporters in Paris.

“Progress versus retreat”

“It’s the fight of progress against withdrawal, the fight of patriotism and Europe against the nationalists. April’s choices are simple, basically, “summarized Emmanuel Macron at the end of a speech of nearly 2:30 hours in front of 30,000 supporters waving French and European flags at the Arena in Nanterre (Hauts-de- Seine), the largest indoor hall in Europe.

Having entered the campaign late, very busy with the war in Ukraine and his mandate as President-in-Office of the Council of the EU, he wanted to dispel an excess of confidence among his supporters: “Do not believe the polls or the commentators who would formal, who tell you that (defeat, editor’s note) it’s impossible, unthinkable. That the election is already decided, that everything is going to be fine”.

In addition to mobilizing his supporters, who might be tempted to abstain, he called for “political overcoming”, inviting “those from social democracy to Gaullism, via ecologists who do not [l’]have not yet joined, to do so”. Like a first sketch of a “republican front” against the far right.

He also highlighted two areas hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, education, because “the social elevator is still too broken” and health, an area “where we must go more far “.

Emmanuel Macron went back on his promises of lower taxes and a return to full employment while defending his RSA project conditioned on hours of activity. And those “too damaged by life” will continue to be helped “unconditionally”, he promised. This reform of the RSA had been widely criticized by these opponents, both on the left and on the far right.

He again defended raising the retirement age to 65, a promise also under fire from critics. “Do not believe those who explain to you that they will retire at 60 or 62, (..) and that everything will be fine, it’s not true”, he hammered, clearly targeting Marine the pen.

“Good luck to those who, faced with Russia, advocate the great withdrawal and good luck to those who, faced with the return of empires and the challenges of the times, defend the ‘great stunting'”, he launched against the leitmotif of the “great replacement” of the other far-right candidate Eric Zemmour.

“Give their money back”

The other candidates were quick to react to candidate Macron’s rally.

Marine Le Pen accused Mr. Macron, described as “president of the rich” by his detractors, of having financed the abolition of the ISF “by taxing fuel, gas, fuel oil and electricity for all households” , promising to return “their money to the French”.

The rebellious candidate joked about “a long notarial unpacking sewn with improbable satisfactions”, denouncing “social threats for the future”.

As for Eric Zemmour, target of the candidate Macron even if he did not pronounce his name, he launched: “Let him come and debate. He has 7 days left to pretend to have campaigned”; claiming that the outgoing president “leaves us a third-world France”.

“Macron steals our slogans. Decidedly, these people dare everything”, choked the far-left candidate Philippe Poutou when Emmanuel Macron, referring to the scandal of nursing homes, said: “our lives, their lives, are worth more than all the profits”.

Previously, Éric Zemmour called on Saturday in Marseille the LR voters, whom he considers “betrayed”, to vote for him, before being released later from a city stadium where he had invited himself without warning of the presence of cameras.

Fabien Roussel defended him in Villeurbanne (Rhône) the “effective vote, of conviction”, again rejecting the idea of ​​​​a useful vote in favor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.