Presidential: Macron "assumes" his attacks on the unvaccinated, Le Pen calls him an "arsonist"

"We can be moved by forms of expression that seem familiar that I fully assume," said Macron, once again setting the pace for the day three days after telling Le Parisien he wanted to "piss off" those who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

However, he did not repeat this familiar term, very unusual in the mouth of a head of state.

Anti-pass mobilized on Saturday

This new presidential outing on the five million unvaccinated comes the day before national anti-pass demonstrations.

The authorities anticipate a rebound in mobilization with 29,000 to 39,000 demonstrators expected throughout France, against 25,500 before Christmas, according to a police source.

Demonstration against the extension of the health pass, July 17, 2021 in Nantes Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS AFP / Archives

The president's controversial remarks on Tuesday had triggered a political storm and increased tensions in the National Assembly for the examination of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass.

Adopted in pain, it will arrive Monday in committee in the Senate.

But this episode also allowed him, according to the majority, to say out loud what many French people think softly, and to push the oppositions, right and extreme right in the lead, to their limits, by forcing them to clarify their position vis-à-vis- vis-à-vis the unvaccinated and the vaccination pass.

In Béziers (Hérault), the city of Robert Ménard who has just granted him his sponsorship, Marine Le Pen once again fired red balls on Emmanuel Macron, described as "arsonist" while "it is in the unity of the country that we resolve crises (…) and not in division ".

Robert Ménard (L) and Marine Le Pen during a press conference in Béziers, January 7, 2022 Pascal GUYOT AFP

"Is Emmanuel Macron using the health crisis to campaign? The answer is yes. Is it useful? The answer is no. Is it effective? The answer is no, ”she hammered.

"Steal" the presidential election

The other far-right candidate, Eric Zemmour, is in Eure-et-Loir, a return to the field also after the holiday break.

For him, Macron "wants to appear as the champion of the vaccinated French and put all his opponents with those who are not vaccinated. It's ridiculous, childish and it's cynical".

Eric Zemmour in Bonneval, January 7, 2022 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

"He wants to steal this election from the French, he wants to derive the campaign on the Covid so that we do not talk about this essential and vital question of the identity of France," he repeated.

On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon sharply denounced the arguments of Emmanuel Macron.

For the LFI candidate, "duties before rights are the feudal monarchy and its subjects. Respect for rights creating duty is the Republic and citizenship".

The leader of the rebels, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, during the debate on the vaccine pass at the National Assembly, January 3, 2022 STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP

The quasi-candidate Christiane Taubira and her environmental rival Yannick Jadot have focused their attacks on the management of the school, where parents of students and teachers are struggling with the health protocol and anti-Covid tests, the first denouncing the "failures" and the second qualifying the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer of "ball".

To take control of the tempo of the campaign, the candidate LR Valérie Pécresse had it, Thursday in Provence, affirmed to want to "bring out the Kärcher" to fight against insecurity, like the Minister of the Interior not yet president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2005, "bring out the Kärcher".

Valérie Pécresse on December 30, 2021 in La Baule LOIC VENANCE AFP / Archives

Emmanuel Macron's answer will come on Monday: he will be in Nice on the same theme.

In the meantime, the poll of the day (BVA for RTL and Orange) gives Valérie Pécresse (16%, -1 point) and Marine Le Pen (17%, +1) neck and neck behind Emmanuel Macron (25%) in the first round of the presidential election, but ahead of Eric Zemmour (12%, -1).

The left, she, fragmented between five candidates (Anne Hidalgo, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot, Fabien Roussel and Arnaud Montebourg), remains suspended at the announcement of a possible candidacy of the former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira, expected next week.

Holding a primary on the left for a single candidacy, Anne Hidalgo (PS), who has her 500 sponsorships but fell to 3.5% in the latest BVA poll, suffers the persistent refusal of the ecologist Yannick Jadot, who can be prevail about 4 points more than her in the polls.

© 2022 AFP