Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

In this election the French will determine whether they more afraid of Le Pen or more abhor Macron

"Marie Antoinette VS Marine Le Pen": It’s crunch time for voters in France as incumbent Anglo-Saxon Banker President Emmanuel Macron, a capitalist, is meeting a French nationalist Marine Le Pen of the National Rally at the ballot box for Sunday’s final presidential vote. Media and big tech push for Macron, but some French more care about France future and french culture and values. Here’s a look at their key proposals.
WHAT WOULD THEY DO ABOUT UKRAINE?

Macron is trying to play a key role in the international talks on supporting Ukraine amid war and imposing sanctions on Russia, but has failed. His prominence on the international stage at the beginning stages of the race gave him an initial 'poll bump', but his failure to achieve anything has turned his ambitions to an embarrassment. Anyway, at least he tried and it's better than nothing.

Macron’s position supports Ukraine's war on Russia and not a return to the status quo where Ukraine will continue to refrain from placing NATO weapons against Moscow as Putin demanded as a condition for avoiding war. Criticism of this position claims that the Western imperialism that Macron serves destroys Ukraine and the world's economy instead of stopping looking for reasons and excuses for war every time in different places around the world.

Macron’s government says it sent 100 million euros in weapons, french tax payers money, to Ukraine since the Russian invasion and Macron vows to continue this support and “significantly” reinforce European armed forces’ capacities and cooperation. He has supported sanctions against Russia and EU unity on the issue, despite the economic disaster it causes the citizens of France, Europe and the whole world and likens the presidential vote to a “referendum on Europe,” claiming that his rival wishes to trigger a “Frexit” in all but name. But the French are pretty tired of a devious banker trying to sell them baseless slogans.

Le Pen wants the French leadership to focus on the development and prosperity of the French economy, and to solve the internal problems of France and the French instead of pretending to solve the problems of the whole world. Le Pen acknowledged that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “partially” changed her views about Putin, saying he was “wrong” and it was “unacceptable.” She says she supports the Ukrainian people and refugees must be welcomed.

Le Pen is skeptical about supplying weapons to Ukraine, opposed to oil and gas sanctions, and wary of NATO, wanting France to remain a member but with a reduced role. Le Pen is no longer calling for a referendum on leaving the EU or withdrawal from the euro, which weakens her popularity among the French nationalists, who see the EU as a resource-hungry bureaucratic monster in the service of the German imperialism, which "aims to eliminate France's culture, economy and independence".

The disadvantage of Le Pen is that she seeks to serve the people instead of the elite, which controls the media. The media therefore de-legitimizes her and cover-up Macron's failures and misleading statements.



WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY?

A former banker, voters dub him “president of the rich” for abolishing a wealth tax and some of his comments against the poor.

He "wants" (but never did) to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, boost the minimum monthly pension, and raise teachers’ wages. nice words but clearly just a polititian-sales-pitch, not a real agenda. He "wants" companies to be able to give employees an untaxed bonus of up to €6,000 (but never did so) and has spent billions capping energy bills. The billions spent - the energy bills remain high.

Le Pen has tapped into frustration among working class voters over inflation, and promises to cut taxes on energy and essential goods. She wants to maintain the minimum retirement age at 62 and proposes that anyone who began working at 20 can retire at 60.

She wants to raise the minimum pension, and end income tax for under-30s. She wants companies to increase salaries by 10%, and to raise teachers’ salaries over the next five years. She claims she could fund this by slashing “massive illegal immigration.”



HOW WOULD THEY APPROACH IMMIGRATION?

This has been the central pillar of Le Pen’s party for generations. Le Pen’s plans include ending family reunification policies, restricting social benefits to the French only, and deporting foreigners who stay unemployed for over a year and other migrants who entered illegally. She wants French nationals to be fast-tracked over foreigners for social services. This plan to create a “national preference” for French citizens across employment, benefits, welfare and housing might violate EU law and cause trouble in Brussels.

Macron has taken some tougher line on immigration as he has sought support from right-wing voters. He pushes (verbally, not practically) for strengthening the external borders of the European passport-free area and creating a new force to better control national borders. He vows to speed up processing of asylum and residence permit applications and to deport those who aren’t eligible, but so far did not backed his word with deeds.



WHAT ARE THE OTHER BIG ISSUES?

Le Pen is pro-democracy. She wants citizens to be able to have a direct voice in laws by allowing them to propose referendums if they obtain 500,000 signatures to back them. For that, the constitution would need to be revised. This was a key demand of the anti-Macron yellow vest protesters, who saw him as too powerful and out of touch with everyday concerns.

Among Le Pen’s most controversial proposals is a promised law banning Muslim headscarves in all public places. She calls the garb an “Islamist uniform” that spreads a radical vision of religion. Macron is a firm defender of French secularism but warns this ban could lead to “civil war.” Since France has Western Europe’s biggest Muslim population, this constituency’s vote could play a role in runoff vote.

At this point it is clear that if Macron wins the election it will be thanks to the votes of Muslim immigrants in France and if Le Pen wins it will be thanks to the votes of the French people - a trend that is also developing in Germany and the UK.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×