European elections 2024: what to remember from the debate between Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella

The competitors of the majority and the RN showed their wrath over the holding of this two-person debate. SCREENSHOT

Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella crossed swords during a lively debate this Thursday, May 23, 2024 on France 2, two weeks before the European elections for which the RN is the big favorite.

"It is not enough to be young to embody hope", asserts the Prime Minister.

For approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, the head of government and the president of the RN, head of the far-right party list, debated in prime time, sharing nothing except a resolutely offensive tone, the polite debates of the first minutes quickly giving way to more acerbic exchanges.

The presidential camp has great hopes for this debate, while the list led by Valérie Hayer is significantly behind in the polls compared to that of the RN and finds itself closely followed by that of Raphaël Glucksmann (PS-Place Public).

"I'm not like you, I change my mind about everything"

This face-to-face also somewhat symbolizes the emergence of a new generation of political leaders in France, the youngest Prime Minister (35 years old) facing a leader of ;opposition to growing popularity, just 28 years old.

"I'm not like you, I change my mind about everything. Not to assume past statements. To say "we want to get out of Europe" then "finally we want to stay in it", "we want to get out of the ’euro& quot;, "finally we want to stay in"", attacked the Prime Minister.

"That there are questions about the project we are carrying out for the country that we want to implement is a fact. On the other hand, there is no doubt about your record", replied Mr. Bardella.

A "moral contract" with Russia

The themes covered – – single market, customs duties, electric vehicles, immigration, defense– have unsurprisingly revealed fairly clear fault lines between the two camps.

One of the most lively exchanges focused on Russia. "Your party, that of Ms. Le Pen and Jean-Marie Le Pen, needed money. Russia needed a party in Europe precisely to weaken Europe from within". And "you may have repaid your debt, you have a moral contract with them", in the European Parliament, attacked Mr. Attal.

"It’is not at the level of the Prime Minister of France to have arguments so under his belt", replied the RN MEP.

Immigration at the center of the debate

On national preference, the totem of the RN program, Mr. Attal wanted to be interrogative: "how do you do& ;nbsp;? You are going to cut off the legs of our companies".

"I assume I want to put an end to naivety", retorted Jordan Bardella.

Same screening on the concept of "double frontier" defended by the RN: "how do you do ?", questioned the Prime Minister, denouncing a "smoky" idea. "Obviously we are not going to control everyone", assured Mr. Bardella, referring to "facilitation mechanisms" for "border workers".

The two debaters focused on the theme of immigration. With "the presentation that you make of the subject, one has the feeling while listening to you that behind each foreigner, each immigrant, there is a delinquent and a potential terrorist, and I find it revolting", launched Mr. Attal.

"It’s the opposite: I think that almost all delinquency and criminality is linked to disability to control our migratory flows", replied Mr. Bardella.

"You seem to live in a world where oil doesn't pollute"

The president of the RN also mocked the "unrealistic environmental ambitions" of the government and the majority, with the ban on thermal vehicles in 2035. "New vehicles", specified Gabriel Attal .

"You seem to live in a world where we have oil in France […] and where oil does not pollute ", added the head of government.

The debate was also broadcast on the YouTube news channel Hugodecrypte, which has 2.66 million subscribers, as well as on the YouTube channel "C quoi l’info ?" of France Télévisions, with the aim of attracting a younger audience.

EN DIRECT | Je débats face à Jordan Bardella sur France 2. https://t.co/0e52JlrJ8v

— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) May 23, 2024

The competitors of the majority and the RN showed their wrath over the holding of this two-person debate. The first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure and the president of the Republicans (LR) Eric Ciotti wrote to Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, to ask it to ’impose" to France Télévisions "equal treatment".