For almost 2 hours and 20 minutes, the head of the Renaissance list, Valérie Hayer and that of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, debated, one month before the European elections.
This is the opportunity or never to reinstate the duel between the majority and the Lepenist party just over a month before the European elections. Jordan Bardella, who has avoided almost all the debates since the start of the campaign, could not resist a face-to-face meeting with the Macronist candidate. The head of the National Rally also wishes to take advantage of the debate scheduled for this Thursday, May 2 at 9 p.m. on BFMTV, to confirm his status as favorite while he is at the top of the polls, with 15 points ahead of his competitor .
For its part, the majority is also banking heavily on this debate to reverse the trend and relaunch the campaign of its head of the list, Valérie Hayer. The MEP is still struggling to make an impression on the French, unlike the much-publicized Jordan Bardella. But if in form the Macronist candidate is struggling in substance, she hopes to blow the whistle on her competitor. “We have to go look for him […], flush him out” on the measures of his program, believes a majority strategist at Politico. The objective is clear: to demonstrate the “incompetence and superficiality” of the RN according to another in Le Parisien.
The majority indicates that they have no shortage of arguments to undermine the seriousness of the frontist. Some have been mentioned since the start of the campaign: absenteeism and weak involvement of the elected representative in the European Parliament with only 21 amendments tabled in five years or the plasticity of the RN's positions on Europe. The party which campaigned for an exit from the European Union has revised its copy and calmed its discourse since 2019. The logic of the positions and the project of the National Rally will also be attacked by the head of the Macronist list, particularly on the favorite subjects of the RN: “How can you be credible when you say you are against immigration but you vote against the migration pact?” or “when you don’t vote for the stimulus plan?” asked an advisor in Le Parisien.
The few failures of the party's flame campaign or the accusations targeting certain of its candidates completed the list of weak or at least attackable points of the RN: the complaint for complicity in crimes against humanity and torture filed against the number 3 on the list, Fabrice Leggeri; the reprimand pronounced against the commissioner and number 7 on the list, Matthieu Valet, by his hierarchy; or the forced exclusion of candidate Saidali Boina Hamissi accused of having made racist and conspiratorial comments.
Knowing he was expected to turn the corner, Jordan Bardella warned the rival camp on the eve of the debate, on the sidelines of a meeting in Perpignan on May 1: “We are ready to debate the substance […] without ready-to-think [and ] without attack below the belt". And for good reason, Marine Le Pen's foal brought together party leaders and several experts to prepare his debate according to the Parisian's indiscretions. “We want to thwart his arguments about the fact that Jordan is not working, to show that he is solid on the merits of his cases” underlined one of the participants in the meeting. However, it will be more difficult to defend your running mates.
Jordan Bardella will have to be convincing to respond to the attacks, but the candidate seems to want to prefer a courteous debate to an offensive against his rival: "She is not irritating, not arrogant. So, there is no point in getting into her. You have to go slowly, staying grounded,” an expert advised him. Does the president of the RN want to reserve his games for his possible debate with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal? What is certain is that in the ranks of the majority, it is estimated that Valérie Hayer has nothing to lose and everything to gain during the debate given her score in the poll results. A few weeks before the election, Macronie wants to believe that "everything is still possible" and that "all it takes is one uppercut that makes Bardella stagger" to come close to victory.
