Alexandre Chauveau edited by Wassila Belhacine 11:05 a.m., March 14, 2022

Eight candidates for the presidential election, including outgoing President Emmanuel Macron, will participate this Monday in a major political evening entitled "France facing war".

However, they will not be gathered to debate.

A configuration, imposed by Emmanuel Macron, which irritates his opponents.

Less than a month from the first round, the eight main candidates will be reunited on TF1 this evening for a special program on the war in Ukraine.

And, despite the strong requests of certain candidates, Emmanuel Macron won his case: there will be no debate but a succession of interviews conducted by journalists from the first channel. 

“We need debates worthy of the name”

It is a victory for candidate-president Emmanuel Macron.

The other candidates reproach him for this, but they finally all accepted the concept of the show: a one-minute presentation, a fifteen-minute interview and a two-minute conclusion. 

There will therefore be no exchange between the candidates, to the great regret of Othman Nasrou, spokesperson for the candidate "Les Républicains" Valérie Pécresse: "We regret once again that Emmanuel Macron is trying to dodge the debate on its balance sheet. We will do with this format even if, once again, we continue to think that we need debates worthy of the name so that the French are enlightened.

A contempt for the democratic game?

Emmanuel Macron wants to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, de Gaulle, Chirac or Sarkozy.

All were candidates for their re-elections and they did not debate during the first round.

A position criticized by his opponents like Julien Bayou, president of EELV and support of Yannick Jadot: "President Macron takes refuge behind the classic codes but it seemed to me that he had come to upset them. He was talking about start-ups but there he plays it annuitant", he explains.

"There is a form of contempt not so much for the candidates but for the democratic game and the French and French," he adds.

The position of the Head of State irritates his opponents to the highest degree.

"It's scandalous" declares an adviser very close to one of the candidates, forcing him to undergo the constraints imposed by Emmanuel Macron.