00:00French President Emmanuel Macron has been slammed for saying a far-right or hard-left
00:05win in his snap election could spark a, quote, civil war.
00:09France is preparing to vote Sunday in the country's most polarizing ballot in decades.
00:14Macron called the parliamentary polls after the far-right national rally scored a runaway
00:18victory in European parliamentary elections earlier this month.
00:22His opponents are now urging him not to scare the public.
00:26The president's comments coming ahead of a key TV debate tonight that will pit Macron's
00:29centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal against far-right RN party leader Jordan Bardella
00:35and Emmanuel Bonpare of the left-wing New Popular Front.
00:38We're going to talk about this more now with Clovis Casali, who joins me on set for more.
00:42Clovis, let's get back to those comments first that Macron made on this podcast Monday about
00:46France possibly heading toward a civil war.
00:48Those are very strong words.
00:50What more did he have to say?
00:51Civil war, very unusual words in the mouth of the French president.
00:55So what is he saying exactly?
00:57Is he exaggerating?
00:59Emmanuel Macron is saying that the far-right bloc led by the national rally, Le Pen, Bardella,
01:05as well as the left-wing bloc, which has a component, a radical left component, and some
01:12very minor far-left parties making up that alliance, well, he says that they're both
01:17very dangerous for France.
01:19And if they get into government, if they get into power, then it could spark a civil war.
01:24Before we elaborate a bit more on this, let's take a listen to what Emmanuel Macron, the
01:29French president, actually said to this podcast.
01:32It was yesterday.
01:35If we take your reasoning to its logical conclusion, either the country explodes or a civil war
01:40breaks out.
01:41And that's where I disagree with both extremes and those who follow them.
01:44And it's also what I'd like to alert people to.
01:46A lot of our compatriots go to the extremes because they often have anger or something
01:50that isn't being addressed.
01:51And there are a lot of people who vote for the extreme right because there's insecurity
01:55in their daily lives, because there's an immigration that they consider is not being dealt with.
02:00And they say to themselves, we haven't tried these parties out yet.
02:03And this party has been here for seven years.
02:05So we're going to try something else.
02:07And my response to those people, I've taken in your message, I think we need to go much
02:11faster and much harder on security.
02:14It's not the first time that Emmanuel Macron presents both the far-right and the left-wing
02:19bloc as dangerous and extremist.
02:22Ever since the campaign really began, Emmanuel Macron has been trying to say, listen, I
02:28have this centrist bloc with the ruling party and its allies, centrist parties, that are
02:33the only reasonable bloc parties fit to govern.
02:39And you have to pick our parties.
02:41Otherwise, you're going to have the far-left or the far-right in power.
02:46And it's interesting to see that he's been targeting a lot the left-wing bloc in recent
02:50days because he sees that bloc rise in the polls and even in front of his own centrist
02:57bloc in the polls.
02:58And it seems that the far-right is so far ahead from everyone else, than everyone else,
03:04that it's difficult for him to actually target this far-right bloc with Jordan Bardella.
03:10And why is he saying this?
03:12Because he's saying that these two blocs are fracturing society, stigmatizing communities,
03:19the far-left accused of not doing enough against anti-Semitism, and on the other hand, the
03:24far-right targeting Muslims and Islam, way too much for the French president.
03:30Of course, our viewers can all have their own point of view on the situation.
03:35But clearly, Emmanuel Macron trying to mobilize the French electorate and say, listen, you
03:40can't vote for any extreme party.
03:42Now, of course, all of these issues are going to be debated tonight, the first debate in
03:46this election.
03:47We're going to see the far-right leader, Jordan Bardella, Gabriel Attal, the current centrist
03:51prime minister, but not a key leftist figure, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
03:54Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
03:55Why isn't he here?
03:56It's a bit complicated, but let's say that Gabriel Attal is the clear favorite to be
04:02the prime minister if the centrist bloc of Emmanuel Macron wins.
04:07Jordan Bardella, very clear.
04:09If the right wing triumphs, he will be the prime minister.
04:12On the left, it's very complicated because you've got all these parties that come together.
04:16Communists, Greens, socialists, radical left, France en bas, and people in that bloc, especially
04:22the socialists and the Greens and even the communists, hate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a divisive
04:26figure, even though he was the candidate for the left that got the most votes in the last
04:31presidential election.
04:33Even though he and the France en bas movement party did rather well, better than the rest
04:39of the left in the past parliamentary elections.
04:43They just don't want him.
04:44He's too divisive.
04:45He's too outspoken.
04:46So they're trying to keep him aside.
04:48And they've already said a lot of those left wing leaders, he won't be our prime minister.
04:53That's why they're not putting him forward for this debate.
04:56Interesting, yesterday I was at the press conference of Jordan Bardella, and he was
05:00saying, give us Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
05:02We want to debate with him.
05:03He's the real leader.
05:05Don't bring anyone else.
05:07He is the person who is your prime minister.
05:10And he's doing that because he wants to stigmatise the left wing.
05:14Anyway, we're talking about the far right ahead in the polls.
05:17Marine Le Pen, who's the real boss of the party, was this morning on RTL, and she spoke
05:23about the elections and how she's convinced they will get an outright majority, an absolute
05:29majority in these parliamentary elections, and therefore be able to govern freely, pass
05:33laws in parliament.
05:34Here's Marine Le Pen.
05:38I think we're going to have an absolute majority and we will be able to govern.
05:42We will have a power sharing set up with the president until 2027.
05:47That's not a problem.
05:48The constitution is very clear.
05:50It's the prime minister who decides and implements the nation's politics.
05:55Just to remind our viewers, until now you had what we call a Republican front.
05:59That is, every party getting together in the parliamentary elections in the second round
06:04to prevent the far right from winning.
06:08It's not really happening this time.
06:09And there's an open letter in Le Monde, the big French newspaper, with left wing figures
06:14calling for this Republican front.
06:17They're mostly socialist left wing figures, but there are also a few of Emmanuel Macron's
06:24former ministers.
06:26They're all calling to prevent, by all means, the far right of getting into power.
06:31Let's just very briefly explain how it's going to work this election.
06:34First round, you can pick whatever candidate.
06:37Second round, if a candidate gets more than 12.5 percent of the votes, they can decide
06:43to stand in the second round.
06:45They can also decide to step down and basically call to vote for such or such candidates.
06:51So basically regroup electorate, regroup voting and prevent the far right, for instance,
06:57from passing.
06:58This is what these people are calling for in an open letter.
07:02We'll have to wait and see if a lot of people really back this letter and not just left
07:07wing figures.
07:08You need centrists and even the regular conservatives in order to do that and be able to really
07:13create that popular, that Republican front.
07:15Thanks so much for that, Clovis.
07:16It's all about that first round vote with your heart, the second round vote with your
07:19head, as they say here in France.
07:21Thank you so much for breaking it all down for us.
07:22It's always so.
Comments