Macron criticised for ‘snubbing’ France in favour of EU
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French conservative right-wing politician Valerie Pecresse is seen tying with President Emmanuel Macron in a second round of the 2022 presidential election, according to a poll on Wednesday by Elabe conducted for BFM TV and L’Express.
The poll put Macron in the lead in the first round of voting, albeit down 3 percentage points from before at 23 percent, though above 17 percent each for Pecresse and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Behind them, Éric Zemmour stagnates at 13 percent.
In the second round, Emmanuel Macron does not manage to widen the gap, quite the contrary.
In the event that he has to face Valérie Pécresse, the two candidates are given 50-50.
Since the victory of the president of the Ile-de-France region at the LR congress last December, they remain neck and neck.
Against Marine Le Pen, Macron also loses a little more ground.
He would win with 54.5 percent of the votes if the second round were held today, against 45.5 percent for his National Rally rival.
The two candidates have never been so close.
Mr Macron won in 2017 with 66.1 percent of the vote.
The poll was developed with a sample of 1,465 people representative of the French population and selected according to the quota method applied to the following variables: gender, age and profession of the interviewee after stratification by region and category of urban area.
The survey was carried out online on 10 and 11 January 2022.
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The French President prompted howls of condemnation from opposition rivals less than four months before the next presidential election.
Speaking to French daily Le Parisien, Mr Macron said: “The unvaccinated, I really want to p*** them off.
“And so, we’re going to continue doing so, until the end. That’s the strategy.”
France last year put in place a health pass that prevents people without a PCR test or proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, cafes and other venues.
The government wants to turn it into a vaccine passport that means only the vaccinated can have a health pass.
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Mr Macron continued: “I won’t send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I won’t vaccinate by force.
“So we need to tell them, from January 15, you won’t be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won’t be able to down one, won’t be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema…”
The expression “emmerder”, from “merde”, that can also be translated as “to get on their nerves”, is considered “very informal” by French dictionary Larousse and prompted immediate criticism by rivals on social media.
The French President has been criticised in the past for off-the-cuff remarks which many French people said came across as arrogant, cutting or scornful.
He has later expressed contrition on several occasions.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Twitter: “A president shouldn’t say that.
“Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.”
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega
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