It only took a few minutes for the debate on France 2 between the environmentalist and far-right candidates to turn sour with a very aggressive tone on both sides, with radically opposed positions.
To the question "Is Mr. Putin a war criminal?", Mr. Jadot answered "yes" without hesitation, hoping that the Russian president "and his accomplices" will answer for their actions before the International Criminal Court (ICC) .
He accused Eric Zemmour of "serving the soup" for Vladimir Putin.
"All these are words", swept Eric Zemmour.
"Are you going to make war on Russia?"
For Yannick Jadot: the Europe that his adversary carries "is that of Pétain Hitler in Montoire", an interview between the two leaders in 1940, a symbol of collaboration.
In return, Mr. Zemmour recalled that the environmentalist candidate had called him a "service Jew", seeing in him the "face of a racist and an ally of the Islamists", a "collaborator of the Islamo-leftists" .
"It was not the deal", regretted the presenter Léa Salamé while trying to replace the debate on Europe.
Cutting each other off at each argument, the two candidates sent each other their respective convictions, one for undermining the superior interests of the Nation when he was at Greenpeace, the other for incitement to racial hatred.
Mr. Jadot mentioned a hypothetical future conviction of Mr. Zemmour accused by several women in the press of sexual assault.
Eric Zemmour in return threatened to attack him for defamation.
© 2022 AFP