France is heading
for one of the most fraught and significant elections of the times that is
going to impact the West’s vision of the world and none of the two candidates
in fray – incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le
Pen – are willing to concede an inch. Macron and Le Pen went head-to-head at
their only structured presidential debate on Wednesday where the two leaders spoke
primarily on the French economy and the crisis in Ukraine.

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For now, all the
polls show Macron leading by nearly 10% of the vote. Le Pen, on the other hand,
will depend a lot on the public perception of the debate in a bid to close the
gap. Heading into the debate, Le Pen said she was “relaxed” while Macron said
he was “focused, ready for a debate that will allow each of us to explain our
ideas for France.”

The French
economy, one of the primary issues in the presidential polls, was the primary
crux of the debate. Le Pen, in course of her campaign, has promised wage
increases to boost the economy. “In real life, when you ask a bank for a loan,
they ask about your salary, they laugh at your grants. I propose to increase
wages,” she said.

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Addressing Macron,
Le Pen said, “All you do is hand out cheques…my priority is to give French
people their money back.” Macron, however warned, “I don’t want people
listening to us to think their salaries will rise by 10%.”

The debate saw Le
Pen temper her views to a great extent. The 53-year-old National Rally leader
had once called for France to get out of the European Union. Now, she says
France should not function within the “European straitjacket” and seeks to
reform the EU from inside. Macron is steadfastly pro-EU.

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The debate also
saw Macron slam Marine Le Pen on her views on the Ukraine war and Russian
President Vladimir Putin. Le Pen, who has often expressed the desire to keep
Russia close, expressed her solidarity with Ukrainians on Wednesday’s debate.

“The only
sanctions I disagree with is the blocking of Russian oil and gas imports. Why
do I disagree? Because in reality it will do no harm to Russia and do enormous
harm to our people,” she said.

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However, Macron
maintained that Le Pen was beholden to Russian money. “You are dependent on the
Russian government and you are dependent on Mr Putin,” he said talking about a
loan that was agreed upon between Le Pen’s party and a Czech-Russian bank
believed to have close ties with Putin.