Macron says he would debate with far-right's Le Pen ahead of EU vote

Macron says he would debate with far-right's Le Pen ahead of EU vote

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that he was willing to debate with far-right leader Marine Le Pen ahead of the June 9 European Parliament election, saying part of France's destiny was at stake in that ballot.

Le Pen's eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party leads opinion polls by a huge margin, with as much as 33% of the vote, or about twice as much as what is forecast for Macron's, centrist, pro-EU party.

"My dear compatriots, wake up, look closely at who they are!," Macron told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview, speaking of the RN.

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"I'm willing to debate with Mrs Le Pen," Macron said. "The ball is in her camp."

Le Pen immediately said on social media platform X that she was willing to debate, but only on the condition that Macron agreed to resign or call snap parliamentary elections if his party loses on June 9 - which he would have no reason to agree to.

Macron beat Le Pen in two presidential election runoffs, in 2017 and 2022, but her popularity has kept growing since. Macron cannot run for a third mandate and the EU election is seen partly as a barometer of the parties' popularity.