The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, does not wish to wait until after 9 June to debate with Marine Le Pen, as the latter had envisaged. In an interview with Le Parisien published on Saturday 25 May, Macron said he was ‘ready to debate right now’ with Le Pen, stressing the importance of the European elections on 9 June for France’s destiny

Marine Le Pen had initially proposed a debate after the European elections. However, in response to Macron’s proposal, she opened the door to a debate before 9 June, but with certain conditions, notably the possibility for Macron to put on the table his resignation or the dissolution of the National Assembly in the event of the failure of the Renaissance list.

This planned debate between the two main candidates has not gone unnoticed. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on X, also reacted by challenging Macron, pointing out that a debate with him would be a completely different matter, with a real political difference.

With just a few weeks to go before the elections, polls show Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National leading in voting intentions, followed by the Macronist majority and Raphaël Glucksmann’s PS-Place Publique list.