France’s Big Decision

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

When they go to the polls on Sunday, voters in France will be faced with the same two presidential candidates as 2017: Emmanuel Macron, the president and a polished centrist, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party. Yet the context is different. There is a war in Europe, and the contest is tight. What are the stakes in the runoff election, and how has the race become so close? Guest: Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief for The New York Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow.
0:04.3	This is Adelaide.
0:13.5	On Sunday, French voters will choose between two candidates for president, with profoundly
0:19.5	different visions for the direction of France, its relationship with a newly-aggressive Russia,
0:26.7	and its role in defending Europe.
0:30.2	I spoke with my colleague, Paris Bureau Chief Roger Cohen, about why the race has become
0:36.4	so close and its stakes so high.
0:43.8	It's Friday, April 22nd.
0:51.8	Roger, the last time we covered a presidential election in France was 2017.
0:56.6	And while our guest on the show was different, not better, just different, the candidates
1:03.8	were exactly the same as they are this year.
1:06.0	Emmanuel Macron, Emory and the Penn.
1:07.9	So tell us what we need to know this time around.
1:12.0	Well, in 2017, Michael, at the last election,
1:15.9	Michelle Amie, thank you.
1:20.0	Emmanuel Macron was a young, come from nowhere candidate, the head of a new party that he
1:27.2	created.
1:28.3	It's the noise of a page of the political life that is in the back of this tournament.
1:35.1	Who promised to change France to install a start-up culture to revitalize the economy?
1:42.5	The better the left, the better the right, and even the better the center.
1:50.2	And to break the old divisions have left and right.
1:53.2	And so he just burst on the scene from nowhere and rode a tide of enthusiasm to victory.
	...

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