Macron warns of 'real face of the extreme right' in television interview
Back on the campaign trail, President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated his position on number of key issues such as the environment and cost of living during a television interview on Wednesday. He also issued a warning about attempts to undermine the Constitution.
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Facing a tougher-than expected fight for reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron has hit the campaign trail with visits to the east of France, and a great deal of media time.
Interviewed on "4 Vérités", on France 2 television on Wednesday morning, the president said he was glad to have the support of former president Nicolas Sarkozy along with that of former prime minister Lionel Jospin, all the while affirming that no "deals" had been made behind the scenes.
One of the issues he discussed was his position on the length of the presidential mandate, which was reduced to five years from seven in 2002.
He said he would not suggest changing it for the next mandate, but in the future, believed that a "seven year mandate is a good length for a president" and "good timing" with regards to the organisation of legislative elections.
When asked whether he felt there should be a proportional representation for legislatives, he said he was in favour of it.
Constitution
"The divisions across the country means that I need to seek not only a majority in the parliament, but also find a way to bring together different political parties who don't think like me on all subjects, but would be willing to work together on a series of reforms."
He suggested putting in place a commission with voices from across the political spectrum to put forward a proposal for "renovating" the Constitution.
However, he lashed out at his rival, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, describing her wish to "change the Constitution without changing the rules" as "crazy".
"When you have a Constitution, you need to respect the rules"
"Despite all our efforts, the true face of the extreme right is being revealed. It's one that doesn't respect freedom, the constitutional framework, independence of the press, fundamental freedoms, these rights that have been hard-won and are at the heart of our values, like the abolition of the death penalty," Macron said.
Pensions, cost of living
On Monday, Macron went to an economically depressed region in northern France that is considered Le Pen’s stronghold. The next day, he visited the eastern cities of Mulhouse and Strasbourg, where far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third Sunday, got a majority of the first-round vote.
In his interview with France 2 he said he wished to readjust pensions with regards to inflation, as soon as July.
He also said he would "continue to lower income tax" if he is reelected and he intended to "lower the debt from 2026".
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However, he also said that "reducing the goods and services tax (TVA) from 5.5 percent to zero percent on prices that already had a reduced tax was "taking people for fools, because that doesn't actually lower the prices".
He stated that it would be wiser to "accompany households who need it with food coupons".
Macron said his reform of the pension funds was because he "wants to see social progress...".
Macron has previously said he wants to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65, which he argues is needed so France can keep financing the pensions, but he appeared to soften this view on Tuesday, stating that "65 years old is not a dogma".
Environment
On the environmental front, Macron said he was willing to take on board ideas such as the "ecological planning" of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and "circular economy" from Green leader Yannick Jadot.
He reiterated, however, that his project was the "only one that could get us away from the dependence on fossil fuels, in particular those coming from Russia or other countries where there could be a geopolitical risk."
But he said he wished to "intensify" the pace on the energy front by renovating housing and leasing electric vehicles to low-income families, all while focusing on renewable energy and the nuclear development programme.
"I believe in ecology that grows, not one based on scaling back," he said, adding "I'm not going to say it's the end of nuclear [like Mélenchon], because this is not good for our country".
"We must invest more across the board on these subjects".
Ukraine crisis
Finally, when it came to evoking the Ukraine crisis, Emmanuel Macron expressed a desire to be "careful" with the terms used, warning of the danger of "verbal escalation". This came on the heels of US president Joe Biden's qualification of Russia's actions in Ukraine as "genocide".
"These people are brothers. Genocide has a meaning. The Ukrainian people and Russian people are brothers."
"Russia unilaterally declared a brutal war. It has now been established that war crimes have been committed by the Russian army and now those responsible must be brought to justice," he concluded.
Macron is to be interviewed on the TF1 television channel at 8pm local time on Wednesday.
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