“I’m like the Phoenix rising from the ashes,” Ms Lepen said last week. Ahead of the rally, Macron MP Frédéric Descrozaille told the Telegraph that Le Pen had led “an absolutely flawless campaign”. “Its program would be a disaster, especially internationally. All the effort we have made over the last five years to restore France’s credibility to attract investors with both our partners and allies and in terms of leadership would go well. “he would have smoked if he had been elected,” he said. At the rally, Macron supporters who hoped to disapprove of his far-right opponent were shut down by the president: “You know my rules: we never whistle anyone here.” But in the final moments of his two-and-a-half-hour speech, he targeted both Le Pen and her far-right opponent, Eric Zemour. “We are used to the extremists’ words,” he warned, adding that “hatred and alternative truths have been degraded.” “They can decide to leave the euro in the morning and return to Europe at night without anyone noticing the inconsistency,” he added, referring to Ms Lepen’s turn to leave the euro and the EU. “Do not make fun of them, fight them with ideas with respect,” he said. “Their program would destroy the modest savers, collapse their purchasing power and lead to the bankruptcy of their pensions, but no one is working. We are used to it.”
