Lhe French presidential campaign caught up with Emmanuel Macron in the Parliament of Strasbourg on Wednesday where his defense of the rule of law within Europe drew strong reactions from the RN and Éric Zemmour, while the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot criticized its “climaticidal” action.
The debate that followed the Head of State’s speech in the hemicycle to mark the start of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union quickly turned into a contest with the French MEPs present.
Especially since the period is now beginning during which Emmanuel Macron, still not a declared candidate, might take the plunge, majority officials having indicated that he would not do so before this highly anticipated speech.
To the MEP and president of the RN Jordan Bardella who accused him of “making Europe the backyard of Washington, the prey of Beijing, the doormat of Erdogan and the hotel of Africa”, Emmanuel Macron retorted that “it is not by saying anything methodically that one can say at the end of the truths”.
“You said that the European Union should not be an electoral stepping stone and I think you are right”, he also launched, ironically, to LFI MEP Manon Aubry.
“Reign of the Arbitrary”
Shortly before, the Head of State had warned once morest attacks on the rule of law, and stressed the need to “everywhere reconvince the peoples who have moved away from it”.
The reaction of the extreme right was not long in coming.
“The rule of law has today become the screen for the government of judges”, counter-attacked the candidate Eric Zemmour, accusing Emmanuel Macron of wanting to “impose the values of Western progressivism” on countries like Poland and France. Hungary.
“The European Union is the biggest failure of political construction of the past century, on a par with the USSR,” said the far-right contender who had to cut short a trip to Calais, disturbed by activists. associations.
After these hiccups, Mr. Zemmour denounced the “collusion between certain journalists and the far left”, informed according to his entourage by “an identified journalist”, once morest whom the candidate intends to file a complaint.
“What bothers” Emmanuel Macron is that these countries “refuse the diktats of Brussels, mass immigration and LGBT activism”, denounced in Strasbourg the European deputy RN Nicolas Bay.
The ecologist Yannick Jadot, the only presidential candidate to sit in Strasbourg, slammed the head of state on the climate field: “You are promoting gas to save a nuclear power plant condemned to bankruptcy” and “you will stay in the ‘History as the President of Climate Inaction’.
In the evening, he continued the campaign at a meeting in the Alsatian capital, as did Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“It will be chaos if we don’t govern!” Thundered the first in front of several hundred people.
“We will disobey all the provisions of the treaties which are contradictory to our program”, explained the second regarding his will to use a clause on the disengagement at the European level in front of 2,500 people.
Montebourg throws in the towel
This European day was, however, for Emmanuel Macron to be the opportunity to get out of the French cauldron, where the management of the health crisis at school turned into controversy on Tuesday with the revelation by Mediapart that the Minister of Education, Jean- Michel Blanquer, had announced the maligned protocol for the return to school in January from his vacation spot in Ibiza.
The minister regrets “the symbolism” and “perhaps a bit of a mistake”, the majority assures that he was completely on his task, but the opposition continues to overwhelm him, the left demanding his resignation.
The case falls to the worst for the executive, following a massive mobilization of teachers, before a new call for strike Thursday and less than three months from the first round of April 10.
On the left, the cantor of the “Remontada” Arnaud Montebourg confirmed his withdrawal from the presidential race, noting his failure to “bring together in a common program” the five other left-wing candidates, at a time when tension is mounting around the popular primary .
The Insoumis firmly asked its organizers on Tuesday evening to no longer involve Jean-Luc Mélenchon in this citizens’ initiative, the vote of which is scheduled for January 27 to 30.
19/01/2022 22:36:26 – Paris (AFP) – © 2022 AFP