A new refusal that does not pass. Unlike the eleven other candidates for the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron refused to participate in the program “Elysée 2022” on France 2.
The candidate president was to be questioned on the public channel, Tuesday April 5, with Eric Zemmour, Valérie Pécresse, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot and Philippe Poutou, each in turn. The other six candidates had taken part in the previous issue, on March 31. But the entourage of the head of state announced Monday that he would not participate. Traveling to Spézet, in Finistère, Emmanuel Macron returned to this refusal to participate in the France 2 broadcast. “I went on public service several times. I will go to France 2, I assure you. Either before the first round or between the two rounds”he said, explaining that he is “a bit forced to organize [s]on time. [Il a] less time available for the campaign than [s]are competitors”.
But this refusal angered the other candidates. Especially since France 2, being subject to respect for equal speaking time between all the candidates, will retransmit after the broadcast extracts from the speech delivered by Emmanuel Macron during his meeting at La Défense, Saturday April 2.
“Dodge”
On her return from an express trip to Guadeloupe, the candidate of the Republicans, Valérie Pécresse, thus judged “scandalous” l’absence d’Emmanuel Macron. “It is scandalous, this new evasion of the President of the Republic a few days before the ballot”told journalists the candidate LR, Tuesday, when she got off the plane which brought her back from Guadeloupe.
“While finally the French are interested in this campaign, not coming to be questioned by public service journalists seems to me an absolutely unacceptable evasion”she added. “We finally want to debate his calamitous record, his zigzag political line, his project for France” and “the public service channel must demand this debate”she said, believing that “the public service cannot be complicit in this evasion”.
Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo also criticized Mr Macron for refusing “to come on the public service, on France Télévisions” and to want to be “replaced by images of his meeting”. “Do you think it’s normal, do you think the French can accept that our democracy has deteriorated to this point? », notably criticized on Franceinfo the mayor of Paris. Guest of BFM-TV this Tuesday morning, the environmental candidate, Yannick Jadot, for his part denounced « a President of the Republic who refuses the debate, it is incredible”. « It’s serious, in these moments of worry and anger of the French men and women who wonder about the world “, he estimated.
Abolition of the TV license fee
In addition to the candidates, the Society of Journalists of France 2 also “deplored” this choice in a press release published on Monday afternoon. “Six days before the first round, you refuse for the moment all the invitations from France 2. You have nevertheless visited our colleagues from several other private and public antennas”regrets the union.
“Why don’t France 2 viewers have the opportunity to hear you on their channel? You who plan to abolish the license fee, and therefore to deprive public broadcasting of its main means of subsistence and independence, why don’t you come and answer the questions of the journalists of France 2? »then asks the union in its press release.
During his first candidate trip on March 7 to Poissy (Yvelines), Mr. Macron announced that he wanted to abolish the audiovisual license fee, if he was re-elected. “We must continue this work so that work pays better. How? ‘Or’ What ? We will remove taxes that remain: the TV license fee is one of them. It is around 137 euros on average. This is consistent with the abolition of the housing tax. We have to go to the end”he had promised.