Jordan Bardella will not participate in a debate organized on April 10 by the France24 channel and RFI radio with a view to the European elections, after having already skipped the first one in mid-March on Public Senate, reported Agence France-Presse.
The president and head of the National Rally list will be replaced by the former boss of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, Agence France-Presse learned Tuesday from the far-right party, confirming information from Le Parisien.
“The problem with debates is that there are opponents. Bardella has this in common with Macron, he prefers monologues”, reacted on X the First Secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure.
In addition to Fabrice Leggeri, seven candidates must participate in the discussions: Manon Aubry (La France insoumise), François-Xavier Bellamy (Les Républicains), Léon Deffontaines (French Communist Party), Raphaël Glucksmann (Socialist Party), Valérie Hayer (Renaissance), Marion Maréchal (Reconquest) and Marie Toussaint (Les Ecologists).
Jordan Bardella had already not come to the first televised European debate organized on March 14 by Public Senate. The RN was the only one not to send its head of list, notes Agence France-Presse.
He was represented by RN MEP Thierry Mariani. Known to be close to Moscow, the latter had been the target of left-wing candidates, accused in particular of being the “little telegraph operator of the Kremlin” by Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the list of Place Publique and the PS.
Participants in the debate on April 10 will be questioned on their “vision of European diplomacy, questions of migration, defense and globalization” as well as on the European Green Deal, social Europe, the energy, agricultural and economic crisis, according to the organizers.
This article is originally published on ouest-france.fr
