"We are with you, Ukrainian people!": From the start of her speech, the Socialist candidate, in great difficulty according to the polls, set the tone, evoking the "exceptional gravity" of this meeting.

While the latter was initially to have a much more festive side, with the retransmission at the start of the afternoon of the Scotland-France rugby match -won by France-, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia upset the given.

“We completely changed the speech” on Friday, explains his entourage.

"We had to use this moment to support the Ukrainians and to express our opposition to Putin", justified Anne Hidalgo to AFP.

"The presidential election is a serious moment, a moment when we are concerned about democracy."

The candidate, who also participated in the afternoon in Bordeaux in the demonstration of support for Ukraine, entered the meeting room accompanied by a young Ukrainian, Maryna Kumeda.

The latter, visibly very moved, told how her family in Ukraine was currently living "in the cellar of the family dacha" under Russian bombardment.

"We need weapons," she said.

The audience, attentive and almost contemplative, applauded.

In the public, mostly made up of older people, many say they are touched by what Ukraine is going through.

"I have my head and my heart in Ukraine right now, it was essential that our candidate talk about what is happening there," said Christine Ewans, 65, elected from Mérignac.

"I live the stress of a friend whose wife is Ukrainian", says Jean-Louis Bargain, 68, an activist from Charente, convinced "that she could not change her speech. All of Europe is concerned".

In front of a thousand people, including the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, the candidate posed as a defender of Ukraine and Europe against "nationalism" and Vladimir Putin.

She promised that "the French Republican and European left would do everything possible" to help the Ukrainian people.

Difficult time"

She proposed that "an accelerated procedure for Ukraine's accession to the European Union" be launched.

"We, the European, republican, social left, we are always with the attacked, the oppressed, with the right of a people to decide their destiny", insisted the candidate, credited around 2% in the polls.

She repeated, as she had done in the morning, her desire for strong sanctions against Vladimir Putin, "far beyond those undertaken by the EU".

According to her, it is necessary to "hit the wallet" and go as far as blocking the access of Russian banks to the Swift system of interbank transactions.

She also called for arming Ukraine, as requested by Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.

PS presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo (C) at a meeting in Bordeaux on February 26, 2022 Philippe LOPEZ AFP

"It's a difficult time to campaign, but necessary, because democracy must not give in to war," said Landes MP Boris Vallaud, welcoming "a clear candidate on values".

For Alexandre Alonzo, a 38-year-old activist from Lot-et-Garonne, "she has international stature, she knows the situation, she is mayor of Paris, she has the cards in hand".

Joseph Aubineau, a member of the PS since 1980, is satisfied that she insisted on supporting the Ukrainians.

"We will even have to welcome some in France".

His friend Jean-Louis Bargain said he was saddened by Jean-Luc Melenchon, "who supports the dictator Putin".

"The left is never on the side of dictators, in Venezuela, Syria or Ukraine!" Tackled Anne Hidalgo, denouncing far-right candidates, who "call themselves sovereignists, patriots", but "have played consciously playing the game of the enemy of our nation".

© 2022 AFP