Emmanuel Macron has yet to reveal who will lead his coalition's campaign in the European elections on June 9. But he took advantage of his press conference at the Elysée Palace on January 16 to outline a political roadmap himself. His main challenger in this summer's vote, Jordan Bardella of the Rassemblement National (RN, far-right), is far ahead in the opinion polls. Macron and his representatives have to avoid, if not defeat, a record setback in the last national election of his presidency.
Macron stressed that "the Europe of the Rassemblement National is not the one that (...) will provide vaccines," referring to the European Union's joint procurement of vaccines during Covid-19 pandemic. It was "because there was Europe" that economies were supported by a European stimulus plan, Macron said. "Today, we can weigh up against China and the United States because there is a Europe that bears our values," Macron said defending a "central bloc that brings together the democrats, the republicans, the environmentalists, who believe in Europe."
"I will fight until the last 15 minutes of my presidency" against the far right, he repeated, preferring not to dwell on the hypothesis of a handover of power to Marine Le Pen in 2027, which he dismissed as "political fiction."
To curb the RN's momentum, Macron warned against the temptation of "moral lessons." In May 2023, he had scolded then-prime minister Elisabeth Borne denouncing "postures" after she described the RN as the "heir to Pétain," referring to the leader of the Nazi-collaborationist government in the Second World War.
The president instead called for "efficiency" and "common sense" to resolve the multiple crises French public services face and to reduce feelings of "dispossession" he associated with "France's blind spots."
He urged attacks against the "incoherence" of the RN's project, likening it to that of the "extreme left" and mocking its versatility and economic credibility. Macron revisited some of Marine Le Pen's promises to criticize what he called the "party of collective impoverishment": "It's the party that tells you that you have to raise the minimum wage without explaining how that won't deindustrialize the country," he warned. His opponent had proposed, in 2022, to waive employers' social contributions on raises of at least 10%.
Macron reminded the French public of the RN's major U-turns during the past two presidential elections in which he defeated Le Pen, in 2017 and 2022. From returning the retirement age to 60, then 62, to leaving, then remaining, in the European Union, Macron emphasized that the "party of transformism" is a champion of a "hidden Frexit" that needs to be exposed.
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