PARIS — The marquee event at Roland Garros Thursday night did not begin love all.
Likely contenders for the next French presidential election — including Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally; Gabriel Attal, the former premier who now leads President Emmanuel Macron’s party, Renaissance; Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, the head of the center-right Les Républicains; Marine Tondelier of the Greens; Fabien Roussel of the Communists; and Manuel Bompard of the far-left France Unbowed — squared off on center court for a heated debate just days before a high-stakes confidence vote that seems all but certain to torpedo Prime Minister François Bayrou’s minority government.
Members of the opposition skewered Bayrou for calling on them to support the government’s budget plans or face chaos, leaving little hope he could convince them to back his unpopular €43.8 billion budget squeeze.
The debate closed out a two-day conference organized by France’s largest employers’ association, MEDEF, at which Bayrou spoke earlier in the day.
Bardella accused various governments under Macron of bringing France to the precipice of “bankruptcy,” while Bompard maintained the only way to “stop the chaos” was to bring down Bayrou’s government.
Even Attal and Retailleau, whose parties both back Bayrou’s government, distanced themselves from the prime minister. Retailleau, who has been rising in the polls in recent months, said France needed “a frank break” from the status quo. Attal said Bayrou’s budget plans weren’t “stunning” but necessary.
The exchanges became so heated, and the boos and cheers from the spectators so loud, that MEDEF head Patrick Martin had to ask the audience, composed mainly of business leaders, to calm down and “respect the participants.”
The potential presidential candidates quickly turned on each other, as many already have their eyes on possible snap parliamentary elections and the presidential vote in 2027.
The centrist Attal accused the far-right Bardella of contradicting himself on his support for a wealth tax, while Bardella hit back at Attal with repeated questions about whether he was “happy with the economic situation” his party had helped create. Bardella and Retailleau, both courting similar electorates, sparred over the European Green Deal.
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