French parties hold debate ahead of snap polls

ANKARA

The leaders of France’s three biggest political groups clashed over several topics Tuesday in their first televised debate ahead of snap elections.

French citizens will head to the polls on June 30 to elect new members of the lower chamber of parliament, the National Assembly, for a five-year term after President Emmanuel Macron on June 9 announced snap elections following the defeat of his centrist bloc and the victory of the far right in European Union parliamentary elections.

Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the national coordinator of the hard-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), Manuel Bompard, were invited for a live debate on broadcaster TF1.

Migration was one of the hot topics, which also included the economy and the much-contested 2023 pension reform.

"Migration is a major topic that turns our identity, security and our public finances upside down…I will drastically reduce the migration flows," Bardella said.

He vowed to end birthright to citizenship in France and free health access for irregular migrants where "one retired person out of three gives up on receiving treatment."

Bompard said that one worker out of 10 is an immigrant who should be "thanked" for filling jobs that are essential for the nation.

"They do not cost money, they bring money," he added.

Attal slammed Bardella’s previous remarks about plans to ban dual nationals from sensitive posts and said those citizens were offended.

Bompard guaranteed that in case of a left-wing victory in the elections, the reform that sparked ire and protests for weeks in the country in 2023 would immediately be abrogated and the retirement age would be brought back to 62 from 64 and he would propose a bill before 2027 -- the next presidential elections -- to take it to 60.

Attal said that in case of victory, his political group would focus more on employment, since retired people’s pensions are paid by the active population.

Bardella described the pension reform as "unjust on the social level and inefficient on the economic level." He said he is planning reform that would be based on the number of years worked.

The elections will be held in two rounds, on June 30 and July 7.