President Macron has depicted Marine Le Pen as a pro-Russian champion of antisemitism as he mounts a counterattack on the right-wing populist who is threatening his prospects of re-election, reports The Times.
After a lacklustre opening of his campaign, Macron has turned his fire on Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, casting her as a potential disaster for France and urging his team to expose her manifesto as dangerous and incoherent.
Without naming her, in keeping with his practice, Macron told Le Figaro that Le Pen, 53, remained heir to an unchanged far-right despite a softer image that has helped her rise to striking distance of him if they both go through to the April 24th run-off election.
“The fundamentals of the far right are always the same: attacks on and rejection of the Republic, a base of antisemitism — if not overt, at least cultivated — very clear xenophobia and an ultraconservative drive,” he said.
Macron, 44, who has lost his longstanding position of clear favourite, is implicitly fighting the second round in the assumption that Le Pen will emerge ahead of the ten other challengers on Sunday to face him in a repeat of their 2017 run-off. Macron leads the first round field with about 27 per cent of the vote while Le Pen has about 23 per cent, according to polls.
The president told his cabinet yesterday to avoid demonising Le Pen and focus on demolishing her manifesto. “We shouldn’t be in the moral register saying we’re heading for chaos if she’s elected. That’s not enough. We have to give priority to facts,” he said.