COPY LINK

For members

2022 FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

EXPLAINED: What are the key policy differences between Macron and Le Pen?

French voters must now decide between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to be the next president of France. Here's where they stand on key issues.

Published: 10 April 2022 20:41 CEST
Updated: 16 April 2022 07:36 CEST

EXPLAINED: What are the key policy differences between Macron and Le Pen?

Folded election leaflets show the faces of French President Emmanuel Macron and his second-round opponent, Marine Le Pen. We take a look at the differences between the two. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

The Economy

Macron has promised to cut taxes for self-employed people for industrial and agricultural production. He said he will remove all tax on inheritance valued at less than €150,000.

He has also pledged to restrict access to certain welfare payments.

Unemployment in France is at its lowest level since 2008 and Macron has set an objective of reaching full-employment in his second term.

He wants to invest €30 billion into high-tech industries, continue to support the ‘French Tech‘ sector, develop 100-percent French supply chains in renewable technologies and continue to position France as one of the EU’s prime countries for foreign direct investment.

Le Pen would like to renegotiate free trade deals, create a sovereign wealth fund and subsidise French businesses to give them a competitive edge on the global market.

She also wants to reduce taxes on young French people to incentivise them to stay in the country; give greater financial support for single mothers; get rid of inheritance tax for poorer families; cut VAT on petrol, gas and electricity; and impose a new wealth tax on the financial sector.

She wants to restrict welfare payments to people who are not French citizens and reduce France’s deficit – not through austerity measures, but rather by investing more money into the economy and vague plans for industrialisation.

Most economists say that her plans do not add up.

Foreign policy and defence

Macron is a devout believer in the European Union project and would like to see the bloc become more integrated – and more autonomous on the global stage, by investing in defence.

Le Pen would like to reform the EU to make it more of an assembly of sovereign nations, rather than a supranational body. Unlike Macron, she would like to withdraw from NATO.

Le Pen’s promise of ‘France-first’ policy that would favour French people ahead of foreigners, including EU nationals, would challenge the foundations of the European Union.

Both candidates are seeking to invest heavily in French defence spending.

Ukraine

Macron’s belief in the importance of a strong European Union has only been strengthened by the invasion of Ukraine.

He has taken a tough stance on Russia and was a key figure in pushing for EU sanctions. He has played a prominent role in attempting to mediate the conflict, speaking regularly to Russian premier Vladimir Putin at the request of Ukrainian leader Volodmyr Zelensky.

Macron’s Government has unveiled a package of measures to insulate the French economy from the war, including ending dependency on Russian oil and gas by 2027.

Le Pen has accused Putin of war crimes in Ukraine, but was once close to the Russian leader, even including a photo of him in her campaign leaflets, which were hastily withdrawn after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the past, her political party, now known as the Rassemblement National, has borrowed tens of millions of euros from Russian banks – loans it is still paying off today.

She has previously argued that “there was no Russian invasion of Crimea”, referring to the 2014 annexation of the region, and has said that Putin could once again become an ally of France and that she saw him as a useful partner in the fight against “Islamist fundamentalism”.

Immigration

Macron has drifted to the right on immigration since winning the 2017 election.

He would like to reform the Schengen zone to make it harder for immigrants to enter Europe, expand France’s border force and expel foreigners who “disturb the public order” – without giving detail on what would qualify as such a disturbance.

Le Pen’s flagship policy is to “stop uncontrolled immigration”.

She wants to end all non-economic immigration and treat asylum requests overseas rather than in France.

Policy towards foreigners already in France

Macron has said that permanent/long-term residency cards (10 years) would only be given to those who have passed a French exam and have a job. Currently, there is no language test required to obtain residency rights in France – these tests are only required for acquiring citizenship.

He also wants to reform the asylum process to “expel more efficiently” those who do not qualify for refugee status.

Le Pen wants to cut off all welfare payments to those without French citizenship; take away visas/residency cards of all foreigners who have been out of work for one year; get rid of jus soli (the right to citizenship through birth in France); and give French people priority in social housing and employment ahead of foreigners including those from the EU.

The Environment

Macron has long touted himself as an environmental defender. If reelected, he has promised to increase the country’s solar energy supply by a factor of ten; invest in green technology development – notably ‘green hydrogen’; continue to energy-saving renovation of French housing; plant 140 million trees by the end of the decade; and build 50 off-shore wind farms.

Le Pen has promised to make ecology one of the “levers of national renewal” but is thin on detail.

She has however pledged to give €5 billion to French households by taking away subsidies used to build and maintain wind farms. She has also promised to progressively dismantle existing wind farm sites.

Both Macron and Le Pen are committed to developing France’s nuclear energy sector.

Security

Macron promises to create 10,000 more police and gendarme jobs, doubling the presence of law enforcement officers in the street and on public transport.

He has pledged to continue closing down “radical mosques”, triple the fine for street harassment and push delinquent youths towards some kind of military training.

Le Pen has promised to make security a priority should she win the election, vowing to introduce tougher sentencing, reintroduce minimum sentences, better protect policemen under the notion of ‘legitimate defence’ and expand the country’s prison capacity.

She says she intends to make it a crime for Muslim women to wear the hijab, or headscarf, in public, punishable by a fine.

Retirement

Macron has made reforming the French pension system a priority, leading to widespread protests during his first term.

He would like to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 for most workers, bringing France in line with many other EU countries. He said that he would ensure that pensioners receive payments of at least €1,100 per month.

Le Pen has said that she would like to lower the age of retirement to 60 for those that have been working since before they were 20. She would like to ensure that pensioners receive a minimum monthly payment of €1,000.

READ ALSO

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.