The French Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, and Valérie Hayer, head of the list of President Emmanuel Macron's party, Renaissance, launched the campaign for the European elections on Saturday, March 9, targeting the extreme right, which they accused of being complacent. with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Attal also accused Marine Le Pen's party of proposing a camouflaged French exit from the EU.
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Before 4,000 militants gathered in Lille (north), the French Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, intervened at the launch of the campaign of President Emmanuel Macron's party, Renaissance, whose head of the list for the European elections on June 9 is the MEP Valérie Hayer, daughter of farmers in northwestern France.
In this framework, Macron's allies tried this Saturday, March 9, to present the country's far-right forces as complacent with the Kremlin, at the launch of their campaign for the elections to the European Parliament.
Attal, 34, attacked the far-right National Rally (RN) and accused them of betraying the interests of France and Europe.
“They have always said 'no' to Europe,” said the prime minister youngest in the history of France.
“The only difference now is that they are hiding it a little bit and the 'no' has become a 'nyet,'” Attal said, accusing Marine Le Pen's party of flirting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“The words change, but the ideas do not. When they (the extreme right) say that they are not going to pay the contribution to the EU that they owe, that they are not going to respect the group's rules. That looks, that smells, that tastes like a 'Frexit',” Attal warned.
“The first victims of his hidden plan to leave Europe would be the middle-class French,” he added.
Si le Rassemblement national ne fait plus peur, il fait toujours aussi mal.
Les premières victimes de son projet cache de sortie de l'Europe seraient les Français de la classe moyenne. pic.twitter.com/kULhEbxym2
— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) March 9, 2024
Edouard Philippe, Macron's former prime minister and leader of the Horizons party, warned about the risks of appeasement, quoting British statesman Winston Churchill about punishing those who are feeding “a crocodile” in the hope that it will eat them “in the end.” .
Macron, who plans to join the campaign at a later stage, has called on his ministers to fight the RN “every step of the way” as he tries to stop the rapid rise of the far right.
In France's polarized political landscape, Russia's war against Ukraine has become a hot topic.
Macron has been trying to stress the importance of greater support for Ukraine and recently caused a stir by refusing to rule out sending Western ground troops to that war.
In an apparent response to Macron, Putin warned of a “real” risk of nuclear war.
The European elections are seen as a key milestone ahead of France's next presidential election in 2027, when Le Pen is expected to make a fourth bid for the top job and Macron cannot run again due to term limits.
'Act or suffer'
Macron chose Valerie Hayer, 37, head of the Renew group in the European Parliament, to lead his side in the European elections.
The daughter of French farmers, Hayer is relatively unknown to the public.
“I am a woman who has grown up on a family farm and who knows what the EU gives to our farmers,” said Hayer, in a nod to the country's peasant sector, a month after she organized a revolt that put the Government in check. galo for two weeks
Speaking in Lille, he also attacked the RN and said his side's responsibility was to thwart that situation.
“In this campaign we will be the only ones who will defend Europe,” he said.
“In three months we will face a choice: act or suffer, strengthen our Europe or surrender to those who want to tear it down,” Hayer added.
The National Rally's top candidate for the European elections is 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, a rising star in far-right French politics.
![French far-right National Rally (RN) party president and electoral list leader Jordan Bardella applauds as he delivers a speech during a meeting to launch the RN's campaign for the upcoming European elections, in Marseille, southeastern France , on March 3, 2024.](https://s.france24.com/media/display/b138273e-de55-11ee-96fb-005056bfb2b6/000_34KP94G.jpg)
Hayer is at least 10 points away from Bardella, who would win the European elections by an enormous margin with 29% of voting intentions, according to the latest polls.
Very little known among the general French public, the young politician spoke of her lack of notoriety.
“They say that I am here because no one else wanted to. I hope they don't say that because I am a woman, a young woman. I intend to continue where I am,” said Hayer, who since January has chaired the European group of centrists Renew, after the promotion from Stéphane Séjourné to Foreign Minister of France.
Last weekend, Bardella addressed the far-right's central issue: immigration, when the party launched its election campaign in the southern port of Marseille.
Opposition members have accused the president of using the conflict to improve his coalition's position ahead of the European elections.
Earlier this week, Bardella described Macron's stance on Ukraine as “without limits or red lines.”
He said he had begged the French leader “not to go to war with Russia.”
Some in Macron's camp have questioned the focus on Ukraine and the far right.
With AFP and EFE
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