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2022 FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

French presidential election: the most memorable political clashes

As the live televised presidential debate between President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen draws near, we look back on the pivotal battles of this French political tradition.

Published: 17 April 2022 10:20 CEST
French presidential election: the most memorable political clashes
French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen are set to debate on TV for the French presidency in a continuing run-off that polls predict risks being tight. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA and CHARLES PLATIAU / various sources / AFP)

The pair will trade blows from 9pm Paris time on Wednesday in a debate that is set to be watched by millions nationwide ahead of the April 24th run-off election.

Unlike the United States, where Republican and Democratic candidates spar at least twice, France’s frontrunners get just one chance to take each down on live TV.

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

The televised political match is set to be a crucial moment in a tight race for the Élysée.

Here, we take a look at past clashes in what is now a French political tradition, many of which are etched into the memories of the French as turning points in political history.

1974: Hearts and minds

Around 25 million people tuned in for France’s the first ever US-inspired televised presidential debate, pitting Socialist candidate François Mitterrand against centrist finance minister Valery Giscard d’Estaing.

The two were neck-and-neck in the polls but the patrician Mitterrand’s attempts to lecture his reform-minded opponent on wealth redistribution backfired.

“It’s a matter of heart not just intelligence,” Mitterrand argued, to which Giscard retorted: “You don’t have a monopoly on the heart, Mr Mitterrand.”

Giscard won the election.

1981: ‘Man of the past’

Seven years later, the two met again, with Mitterrand itching to take revenge.

This time, the incumbent was the one talking down to his opponent, calling him a “man of the past” and asking him to prove his economic credentials by quoting the franc-deutschmark exchange rate.

“I’m not your student!” Mitterrand objected.

Giscard was voted out after a single term.

READ ALSO: The Macron v Le Pen debate: What happens?

1988: President vs premier

1988 produced the strange spectacle of a president taking on his own prime minister. Mitterrand and centre-right candidate Jacques Chirac were uneasy bedfellows in what the French call a “cohabitation”, where the president and government are from opposite sides of the left-right divide.

Sparks flew when Chirac insisted on calling the incumbent “Mister Mitterrand” instead of “Mister president.”

Former French President Jacques Chirac was a master of the insult. (Photo by SEBASTIEN NOGIER / AFP)

“Tonight I’m not the prime minister and you’re not the president of the republic…We’re two equal candidates,” Chirac said.

“You’re quite right, mister prime minister,” Mitterrand snapped back. Mitterrand got re-elected.

1995: Return of the right

While the first three debates got voters’ blood up, the excessively civil duel between Chirac and former Mitterrand minister Lionel Jospin in 1995 was met with howls of disappointment.

The only memorable line from their exchange was Jospin’s claim that “it’s better to have five years with Jospin (he backed the shift from a seven-year to a five-year presidential mandate) than seven years with Chirac.”

Chirac triumphed nonetheless, winning back the presidency for the right.

2002: No debate with Le Pen

In 2002, France was in shock after far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen overtook Jospin in the first round of the election to tee up a spot in the run-off against the incumbent Chirac.

READ ALSO:

Chirac refused to have a debate with Le Pen saying that “faced with intolerance and hatred, no debate is possible.” Le Pen accused him of “copping out.”

Backed by moderates from both the right and left Chirac trounced Le Pen.

2007: ‘Calm down!’

The first woman to make a presidential run-off, the Socialist Party’s Segolene Royal, went on the attack in 2007 against then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy over support for the disabled.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy casts his ballot for the first round of France's presidential election at a polling station in Paris

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy casts his ballot for the first round of France’s presidential election at a polling station in Paris. (Photo: Julien de Rosa / AFP)

Sarkozy, who has a reputation for irascibility, refused to take the bait. “Calm down!” he told her.

“To be a president, you have to be calm.” Royal refused to concede the point, insisting her anger is “very healthy”.

Sarkozy won.

2012: ‘I, president’

Five years later, the pugnacious Sarkozy badly needed to land a knockout blow on Royal’s former partner François Hollande in order to hang onto the presidency. The taunts flew. Sarkozy called Hollande “a little slanderer” and accused him of lying.

But it was the Socialist Party leader, who had campaigned as a Mr Normal, who delivered the most memorable lines.

In a series of statements starting “I, as president of the republic” he set out plans to clean up the tainted political landscape bequeathed by his rival. Hollande won.

2017: Wipeout

The 2017 debate, pitting nationalist Marine Le Pen – daughter of Jean-Marie who made history when he got into the run-off round in 2002 – against liberal centrist Macron is deemed the most brutal of all.

READ ALSO: Macron talks up green credentials ahead of French election

Le Pen was accused of drawing from Donald Trump’s populist playbook by mocking Macron’s relationship with his wife, Brigitte. Macron for his part accused her of “lies”.

Le Pen got increasingly flummoxed and rummaged through her notes when Macron took her to task on her economic programme, including her plans to bring back the French franc.

Le Pen later admits that she “failed” the test. Macron won.

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ECONOMY

S&P downgrades French credit rating in blow to Macron

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded France's credit score on Friday citing a deterioration in the country's budgetary position, a blow to Emmanuel Macron's government days before EU parliamentary elections.

Published: 1 June 2024 15:44 CEST
S&P downgrades French credit rating in blow to Macron

In a statement, the American credit assessor justified its decision to drop France’s long-term sovereign debt rating from “AA” to “AA-” on concerns over lower-than-expected growth.

It warned that “political fragmentation” would make it difficult for the government to implement planned reforms to balance public finances and forecast the budget deficit would remain above the targeted three percent of GDP in 2027.

The S&P’s first downgrade of France since 2013 puts the EU’s second-largest economy on par with the Czech Republic and Estonia but above Spain and Italy.

The announcement will sting for Macron, who has staked a reputation as an economic reformer capable of restoring France’s accounts after low growth and high spending.

The risk of a ratings downgrade had been looming for several quarters, with the previous “AA” assessment given a “negative outlook”.

The surprise slippage in the public deficit for 2023 to 5.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) instead of the expected 4.9 percent did not play in the government’s favour.

France’s general government debt will increase to about 112 percent of GDP by 2027, up from around 109 percent in 2023, “contrary to our previous expectations”, the agency added.

Responding to the downgrade decision, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire reaffirmed the government’s commitment to slashing the public deficit to below three percent by 2027.

“Our strategy remains the same: reindustrialise, achieve full employment and keep to our trajectory to get back under the three percent deficit in 2027,” he said in an interview with newspaper Le Parisien, insisting that nothing would change in the daily lives of the French.

Le Maire claimed the downgrade was primarily driven by the government’s abundant spending during the Covid pandemic to provide a lifeline to businesses and French households.

The main reason for the downgrade was because “we saved the French economy,” he said.

Government critics offered a different rationale.

“This is where the pitiful management of public finances by the Macron/Le Maire duo gets us!” Eric Ciotti, head of the right-wing Republicans party, wrote on social media platform X.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen called the Macron administration’s handling of public finances “catastrophic” and denounced the government as being “as incompetent as they are arrogant”.

A credit downgrade risks putting off investors and making it more difficult to pay off debt.

Earlier this year, influential ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch spared handing France a lower note.

S&P also maintained its “stable” outlook for France on Friday on “expectations that real economic growth will accelerate and support the government’s budgetary consolidation”, albeit not enough to bring down its high debt-to-GDP ratio.

“S&P’s downgrading of France’s debt simply reflects an imperative that we are already aware of: the need to continue restoring our public finances,” Public Accounts Minister Thomas Cazenave wrote in a statement sent to AFP.

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