While at least three candidates chose the Lille clearance sale as the start of the campaign, Éric Ciotti made his political comeback in Levens, 40 minutes north of Nice. According to the president of the UDR, 6,000 supporters came to listen to him. During this open-air meeting, he formalized his support for Marine Le Pen for the presidential election. “The UDR-RN pact is simple: unite to win, prepare to govern,” he wrote on X.
Among the proposals of the mayor of Nice, which he intends to see taken up by the RN: a retirement system containing a share of capitalization, a massive reduction in public spending, the elimination of numerous standards, the sanctuarization of private education or even firmness in terms of assimilation of foreign people.
Faced with the probable qualification of Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, the remaining place "will go to the (...) most united camp" hammered Saturday the leader of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, presidential candidate but advocating a rally of the left.
“Everyone must understand that no one will win alone in 2027,” she stressed in a speech to activists on the occasion of the Lille clearance sale, deploring that “left-wing candidates continue to multiply.” Members of the French Communist Party are called upon until Sunday to validate by a vote the candidacy of national secretary Fabien Roussel.
“In 2027, it’s clear, there will be Marine Le Pen in the second round,” said Ms. Tondelier “so there is another place left in the second round and it’s simple: either it’s someone from the right or it’s someone from the left,” and “the place will go to the least divided camp or rather to the most united camp, it’s mathematical.”
Since the Châlons-en-Champagne fair, Raphaël Glucksmann has also been invited to react to one of the controversies of the moment, triggered by Louis Aliot's declarations on Ukraine. The latter indicated that once the RN was in power, he would consider “turning off the tap” to Ukraine. Raphaël Glucksmann described the RN as a “party of submission”. “The RN must not take power in 2027 because that would be Putin’s victory and the defeat of European democracies. We have a party which calls itself sovereignist, patriotic but which acts in the interests of the United States of Trump, of Putin's Russia and of Xi Jinping's China.
Regarding Jordan Bardella's signing of a pact with Nigel Farage on immigration, the left-wing candidate speaks of a “capitulation”. “By signing this text, which fortunately has no legal implications, he relieves the United Kingdom of responsibility for the migration issue. The hallmark of the RN is weakness when it comes to the interests of France.”
Raphaël Glucksmann added that “zero immigration” was, according to him, “the death of the French economy”. “We need work immigration, which we control, which we control. A total withdrawal will lead to the collapse of our economies,” he believes. “If we switch to the Trumpist camp, France will really have changed its nature. If we send police officers to chase away women who wear a kerchief on their heads, France will no longer be the same.”
The president of Reconquest and possible presidential candidate, Éric Zemmour, denounced this morning the memorandum on immigration signed by Jordan Bardella and Nigel Farage in Birmingham. “Jordan Bardella agrees to receive on our soil foreigners that Great Britain does not want. Having allies must NEVER be done at any cost for France, especially not at the cost of the integrity of our borders and our people,” he wrote on It is then up to France to return these migrants to their country of origin.
“I am not a candidate for the presidential election. » Last Saturday, Sébastien Lecornu wanted to clarify his position on his ambitions for 2027. But the Prime Minister is too politically astute to ignore, as Talleyrand said, that “what is believed becomes more important than what is true”. Especially when the person concerned has already played with words regarding their political future and uses the present rather than the future.
No one has forgotten that he assured not to campaign to become prime minister, successor to François Bayrou. It was barely a year ago and, in the political microcosm, everyone remembers that around him the conditions for his arrival at Rue de Varenne were being implemented. No one has forgotten either that he assured, on France 2's "8 p.m.", just after his resignation last October, that he was not "running after the job" of prime minister and considered: "my mission is finished". Less than 48 hours later, he was renamed head of government by Emmanuel Macron.
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Since the Lille clearance sale, the Northerner Marine Tondelier has also been campaigning. “This presidential election will be unlike any other,” she said. “For all people who care about ecology, humanism, progressivism, this will be a real challenge.”
Questioned on the positions taken by the RN which evokes a cessation of financial aid to Ukraine, Marine Tondelier affirms that the party has “revealed its true face”. “For them, a possible victory for Putin in Ukraine is not a problem,” she continued. “They claim to be patriotic, but they are supported by all the imperialists in this world who wish to harm France. When they say 'France first', in reality it is shoddy patriotism. We have enemies of France and Europe as candidates.”
As for the financing of support for Ukraine, the leader of the Ecologists says she understands that this “raises questions”. “It is obviously not the beet growers of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the most vulnerable who must finance this effort. We must tax the richest,” she explains. Among her opponents, the candidate launched a dig at Édouard Philippe, “often presented as the hero who will beat the National Rally”. But according to her, “he will make us regret Emmanuel Macron”. On the left, however, she claims to have “no enemies” and will talk with Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Lille if she meets him.
Aid to Ukraine in the event of the National Rally coming to power will not come "at the cost of France's financial life", said RN deputy Laurent Jacobelli on Saturday, while the party's position has sparked a wave of criticism since Thursday evening.
“At a time when we are asking the French to make efforts on their pensions, on their healthcare, at a time when France is in a situation of near bankruptcy, we cannot endanger the future of our country,” explained the deputy for Moselle on France Info. “We are alongside Ukraine, but not at the cost of France’s financial life,” he added.
Marine Le Pen's party has been forced to clarify its position vis-à-vis Ukraine in recent days, since its vice-president Louis Aliot suggested, Thursday evening, that it would be necessary to "cut off the financial tap" to the country at war with Russia, in the event of the RN coming to power. “Financial aid” must respond to a “pragmatic approach” and not to “empty promises”, otherwise it will be done “at the cost of the debt and taxes of the French”, specified Laurent Jacobelli.
As for material aid, he specified that “defensive military support” would be maintained, as would “humanitarian” and “training” aid. “If a delivery to Ukraine is compatible with the rearmament of France (...) we will continue. When it endangers our stocks and our own defense, obviously not. Our duty as decision-makers and political leaders is to protect France,” he explained.
Gabriel Attal arrived in Lille for the traditional clearance sale. Alongside Violette Spillebout, Ensemble pour la République MP, he shares a coffee in an establishment located near the station and talks with Northerners. Surrounded by microphones and cameras, the candidate jokes: “We feel well surrounded!” Gabriel Attal is also accompanied by his campaign spokespersons, Abdoulaye Kanté, the Paris advisor (“Changer Paris”) and Prisca Thevenot. Before starting their stroll, Violette Spillebout, who gave her colleague a brooch in the shape of a mussel (symbol of the clearance sale, Editor's note), gives some explanations to the Parisian: “The principle of the clearance sale is that you walk around and you buy things that are useless. And you should never pay the price you are told, you have to negotiate!”
“We are here for one of my favorite moments, a moment in contact with the French, in a family and popular atmosphere,” says the candidate, who will be in Toulouse at the end of the day and in Rouen tomorrow. He evokes “the most important election since the start of the Fifth Republic as the stakes are enormous”.
Asked about the recent positions taken by members of the RN, Attal denounced the “submission and unpreparedness” of this party. He cited the case of Louis Aliot who announced yesterday that in the event of a victory for the RN, France would stop helping Ukraine. “If France stops supporting Ukraine, it is potentially a victory for Russia,” he said. The centrist candidate also took offense at Jordan Bardella's signing of a memorandum on immigration with British parliamentarian Nigel Farage. “He agreed to sign an agreement which is a total submission from France since he undertakes that France will welcome all migrants who go to Great Britain. France aims to remain independent, non-aligned,” he asserted. “Between the RN and me, there are two worlds, two diametrically opposed visions.”
The arrival of La France Insoumise boss Jean-Luc Mélenchon, expected around 4 p.m. for a speech on a stage set up for the occasion, sparked criticism from the local right.
The head of the Republican list in the last Lille municipal elections Louis Delemer compared his arrival to a “national political meeting” and a “tribune” for LFI, deploring the establishment of a system “out of all proportion” with the stands usually provided by political parties.
That of the Republicans should also welcome former Prime Minister Michel Barnier. A regular at the Lille clearance sale, Jean-Luc Mélenchon should speak for 45 minutes on the economic and social subjects that are in the news this fall.
Speech by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, wanderings by Gabriel Attal and Marine Tondelier: several candidates for the presidency of the Republic stroll the stands of the Lille flea market on Saturday, the largest of its kind in Europe. The secretary general of Renaissance and presidential candidate Gabriel Attal launches the parade of political figures with a breakfast with his supporters before strolling through the streets of Lille.
Between the 5,000 stands of second-hand dealers and the tables tasting traditional mussels and fries, he could come across the leader of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier. Like every year, the elected official from Pas-de-Calais plans to stroll there before speaking at the end of the morning on her party's stand.
The boss of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon is expected around 4 p.m. for a speech on a stage set up for the occasion. A regular at the Lille clearance sale, he should speak for 45 minutes on the economic and social subjects that are in the news this fall. Jérôme Guedj, deputy for Essonne and candidate in the socialist primary, is also expected on Saturday alongside the city's PS mayor Arnaud Deslandes.
