Paris, Apr 2 (EFE) .- In full growth of the far-right Marine Le Pen in the polls, the current French president and candidate to renew the position, Emmanuel Macron, held a massive rally in Paris this Saturday in which he emphasized in emblematic causes of the left and in which he claimed his Europeanism.
Just 8 days before the first round of the presidential elections, Macron insisted on giving new impetus to an atypical campaign, in which he has been more absent than his rivals due to the war in Ukraine, in which he has made an effort to position himself as a mediator with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Stagnant in the polls and with his image tarnished by his government’s controversial appeal to the American consulting firm McKinsey, the outgoing French head of state adds around 28% in the first round of April 10, compared to 22% of Le Pen , according to the latest survey. In the second round, Macron would win by a narrow margin, 52%, against 48% of the far-right, always according to the polls.
For two hours, the centrist leader took a mass bath in the Paris La Defense Arena before 30,000 supporters and the top staff of his government, as well as members of his family, including his wife, Brigitte Macron.
“In the face of the poison of division, of fracture, there is nothing better than the calm strength of fraternity,” Macron launched, in one of the several messages directed against Le Pen’s far-right, which advocates a drastic reduction in the immigration.
The president warned his affiliates that “the extremist danger has been trivialized in public debate,” so “nothing is impossible.” “They said Brexit was impossible, I don’t want arrogance and I don’t want defeatism: I want general mobilization and action,” he demanded.
At his largest electoral rally, held in what is considered to be the largest pavilion in Europe, Macron used his accumulated experience in the covid crises or the war in Ukraine as assets to face “new threats”.
“These last five years have been hard for all of us. Especially hard and unfair for some. They have been among the most hectic we have experienced in the last 50 years,” he said.
Between the French and European flags brandished by his followers, the outgoing president reaffirmed his pro-European discourse and said he wanted to position the EU as a power in a world polarized by China and the United States.
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“It will not be easy, because there are old powers that want to return to the forefront and large economic groups that want to govern in the place of nations,” he stressed.
“We are not anyone’s vassals,” he added, “we are a European nation with an independent diplomacy that speaks to everyone all the time.”
INCREASE THE RETIREMENT AGE
The candidate for the Elysee, a former minister during the mandate of the socialist Francois Hollande, tried to distance himself from the image of a leader turned to the right with nods to progressivism.
“To curb extremism, our 2022 project will also be solidarity and social progress,” he summarized. Macron expanded on new measures to strengthen health, education, equality between men and women and to combat social inequalities.
In that sense, he assured that he will fight against the “stigma” that certain neighborhoods suffer for the simple fact “not having had the same opportunities” as other areas and considered gender equality as “the great cause” of his next five years.
To do this, he advocated “working more and for more years”, maintaining the project of extending the retirement age by three years, up to 65, “as our neighbors such as Spain, Italy and Germany have done”.
“There is no magic money, nor is there now, nor was there in 2017. There is no social state without a strong productive state,” said Macron, who promised to reduce the high French public debt from 2026.
Antonio Torres del Cerro
(c) EFE Agency