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French presidential candidates debate key election issues - live! French presidential candidates debate key election issues - live!
(35 minutes later)
8.25pm GMT
20:25
The first question form the two journalists: what social model for France?
Starting with education.
Fillon says 150,000 French school pupils leave school without knowing the fundamentals. He says discipline is important, and school uniforms – almost unknown in France – would underline equality. Teachers should be better paid and better viewed.
Emmanuel Macron says many 10 and 11 years-olds cannot properly read or write. In priority education areas, he says, he wants extra teaching hours and radically reduced class sizes, and far better vocational training.
Mélenchon says he wants to hire far more teachers, and also laments the closure of 170 technical colleges across France in recent years. Vocational training form 16 years is vital, he says.
8.19pm GMT
20:19
Benoit Hamon asks whether the French want to be “warlike” or “fraternal” – what message do we want to send the world, he asks.
I will be an honest, open and fair president, he says; I will turn the page on the old promises.
Updated
at 8.21pm GMT
8.16pm GMT
20:16
Marine Le Pen says she does not want to be a president running a “vague region of the European Union”, submissive to Angela Merkel.
The president must be the guarantor of national independence, she says, for which millions of French people have fought and died.
That means the right for the French to choose their own path, she says. “The French must defend their interests.”
I will be the president who gives the French back their voice.
Updated
at 8.17pm GMT
8.14pm GMT
20:14
Emmanuel Macron says he has been a civil servant, a banker, and a minister. He has done “useful” things he says, but has also seen what blocks France and stops it advancing.
The country is in a situation in which it has never found itself, he says. It faces new challenges, and the traditional politics cannot face up to the challenge.
8.11pm GMT
20:11
Jean-Luc Melenchon says he will be the last president of the Fifth Republic.
He says he will be a president for ecology and for peace.
8.10pm GMT
20:10
Kicking off is Francois Fillon. He regrets that the six other candidates in the first round are not participating.
He says he would be the president who relieves the French of too much bureaucracy, who protects them, who allows France to become once more a major world power.
I have a project for that, a project I have worked on for many years.
8.01pm GMT
20:01
The candidates have entered the studio and final preparations for the debate are underway – all smiles and handshakes for the ‘family photo’.
“It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be physical,” says one of the TF1 presenters. “Nearly three hours of debate.”
7.58pm GMT
19:58
Observers have said Macron, the independent centrist who classifies himself as “neither left nor right”, could become a target for the other four who may unite to attack him from all sides.
How well he stands up to the threat could be key to his success.Jerome Fourquet, director of polling at leading French pollster Ifop, said the stakes were “incredibly high” for Macron:
He’s the front-runner and his centrist positioning means he will be attacked from both sides. Most French don’t know him well at this stage and they’ll be looking closely at his ability to take punches.
7.55pm GMT
19:55
According to the news magazine Marianne, each candidate will have two minutes to respond to the journalists’ questions, with their rivals able to interrupt after a minute and a half.
Before the debate proper, they will each have 90 seconds to respond to the question “What kind of president would you be?” – with a similar amount of time at the end of debate to sum up.
Updated
at 8.07pm GMT
7.49pm GMT7.49pm GMT
19:4919:49
Answering political journalists Gilles Bouleau and Anne-Claire Coudray from France’s main commercial channel, TF1, the candidates will address three main themes:Answering political journalists Gilles Bouleau and Anne-Claire Coudray from France’s main commercial channel, TF1, the candidates will address three main themes:
– What social model should France adopt (likely to cover the key campaign questions such as security, immigration and national identity)– What social model should France adopt (likely to cover the key campaign questions such as security, immigration and national identity)
– Which economic model should France adopt (likely to address labour laws and France’s stubborn unemployment, social protection, tax and trade)– Which economic model should France adopt (likely to address labour laws and France’s stubborn unemployment, social protection, tax and trade)
– What place should France occupy in the world? (the European Union, control of France’s borders, terrorism)– What place should France occupy in the world? (the European Union, control of France’s borders, terrorism)
7.46pm GMT7.46pm GMT
19:4619:46
So after months of scandal, corruption allegations and infighting, voters will finally get to assess the different policy positions of the leading candidates.So after months of scandal, corruption allegations and infighting, voters will finally get to assess the different policy positions of the leading candidates.
One of the many things that make this campaign intriguing is that neither of the two leading candidates, Le Pen and Macron, both on around 26% in the polls heading into the first round, represent the traditional parties of the centre-right (Les Républicains) and centre left (Parti Socialiste) that have dominated French politics since the war.One of the many things that make this campaign intriguing is that neither of the two leading candidates, Le Pen and Macron, both on around 26% in the polls heading into the first round, represent the traditional parties of the centre-right (Les Républicains) and centre left (Parti Socialiste) that have dominated French politics since the war.
Le Pen is standing on a populist, anti-immigration, anti-EU platform but her economic proposals look left wing. Macron is on the left as far as social issues are concerned, but a pro-business liberal economically. Fillon, who is polling around 17%, and Hamon (13%) are firmly on the right and left wings of their respective parties.Le Pen is standing on a populist, anti-immigration, anti-EU platform but her economic proposals look left wing. Macron is on the left as far as social issues are concerned, but a pro-business liberal economically. Fillon, who is polling around 17%, and Hamon (13%) are firmly on the right and left wings of their respective parties.
Hit by allegations he paid his family to do fake parliamentary jobs, is a conservative Catholic who believes France needs a Thatcherite economic revolution; Hamon’s anti-austerity, pro-Europe programme includes the introduction of a minimum universal income. Hit by allegations he paid his family to do fake parliamentary jobs, Fillon is a conservative Catholic who believes France needs a Thatcherite economic revolution; Hamon’s anti-austerity, pro-Europe programme includes the introduction of a minimum universal income.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate, is on about 10%.Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate, is on about 10%.
Updated
at 8.08pm GMT
7.43pm GMT7.43pm GMT
19:4319:43
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the first televised debate between the leading candidates in France’s presidential election – one of the most keenly watched, and unpredictable, in recent memory.Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the first televised debate between the leading candidates in France’s presidential election – one of the most keenly watched, and unpredictable, in recent memory.
The event is unprecedented: in past elections, the two candidates who make it through to the second-round run-off have faced off against each other in TV debates that have sometimes proved critical to the poll’s outcome.The event is unprecedented: in past elections, the two candidates who make it through to the second-round run-off have faced off against each other in TV debates that have sometimes proved critical to the poll’s outcome.
This is the first time the campaign’s frontrunners have debated before the first round of the elections, due this year on 23 April (the second round follows a fortnight later on 7 May).This is the first time the campaign’s frontrunners have debated before the first round of the elections, due this year on 23 April (the second round follows a fortnight later on 7 May).
Over the next two and a half hours, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, François Fillon of the centre-right Les Républicains, the Socialist party’s Benoît Hamon and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon will outline their platforms for a studio audience of 420 and a TV audience of several million.Over the next two and a half hours, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, François Fillon of the centre-right Les Républicains, the Socialist party’s Benoît Hamon and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon will outline their platforms for a studio audience of 420 and a TV audience of several million.
I’ll be covering the event as it happens. Please feel free to contact me via Twitter @jonhenley or by email: jon.henley@theguardian.com – though I can’t promise to reply straight away.I’ll be covering the event as it happens. Please feel free to contact me via Twitter @jonhenley or by email: jon.henley@theguardian.com – though I can’t promise to reply straight away.