Economics
Le Pen Tirade Meets Logic of Macron in Brutal French TV Duel
- Macron calls her fear-monger, she brands him global capitalist
- Centrist Macron leads by about 20 points before Sunday runoff
Candidates Clash as French Debate Turns Personal
This article is for subscribers only.
Marine Le Pen unleashed a barrage of attacks on her presidential rival Emmanuel Macron as she tried to close a gap of some 20 percentage points in the only head-to-head debate of the French election campaign.
Le Pen, 48, said her centrist opponent was the candidate of the capitalist elite, and a friend to terrorists, who planned to shut down factories, schools and hospitals. Macron said Le Pen’s broadsides against state bodies meant she was unfit to lead the country as she struggled to defend her plans to leave the euro.