Macron vs Le Pen, in brief

What are the candidates' programs?

For the first round of the 2022 presidential election, voters have chosen to qualify former president Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen for the second round.

On Sunday, April 24th, 2022, voters will designate the next President of the Republic.

In the meantime, French people must assess each of their programs carefully before making a final decision. Let’s take a closer look at the essentials…

Immigration

Macron

Macron would like to make the procedure for asylum applications simpler.

This will allow him to decide who is eligible quicker and expel those who are not more effectively. Residence permits, however, will only be given to those who pass a French exam and integrate professionally. If foreigners disturb public order, they will be immediately expelled.

Le Pen

Marine Le Pen wants to pass a bill on immigration and include it in the Constitution by way of referendum. In addition, she plans to remove the “droit du sol”. This law allows people born in France with foreign parents to acquire French nationality at the age of 18 on simple request. She also wants to put an end to family reunification; foreigners with a residence permit will therefore not be able to be joined by their families anymore. Finally, she wants to reserve social aid to the French, and give them priority access to social housing and employment

Economy

Macron

Macron plans to have no inheritance tax up to €150,000 per child and no tax up to €100,000 passed on to other family members. In order to be able to work less at certain times than at others, Macron would like to create a universal time saving account . This will give French people the opportunity to either monetize their RTT or to put them aside for themselves later on. Furthermore, he also wants to gradually raise the legal retirement age to 65 years old instead of 62 years old.

Le Pen

Marine Le Pen wants to reduce VAT from 20% to 5.5% on energy products such as fuel, gas and electricity. In addition, she plans to abolish inheritance taxes for low-income and middle-class families. Finally, she also promises to privatize motorways as well as public broadcasting.

Security

Macron

With Macron, French people will be able to file complaints online for many offenses (credit card hacking, theft, etc.) without having to go to the police station. In addition, Macron wants to double the presence of law enforcement in transports at critical times and triple the fine against street harassment, for the safety of women.

Le Pen

Marine Le Pen wishes to make safety everywhere and for everyone a priority for the five-year term. The candidate therefore plans to reinstate minimum sentences and remove any possibility of reduction and adjustments. She also wants to establish a real life prison sentence. Indeed, the maximum sentence in France is 30 years.

Ecology

Macron

Macron wants to continue the construction of the first 6 new generation nuclear power plants, multiply by 10 the solar power of France and implement 50 wind farms at sea by 2050; He also wishes to act for nature and animals by protecting coasts, mountains, forests and natural areas even better while ensuring the collection of abandoned pets.

Le Pen

In order to ensure the energy independence of France, Le Pen wants to continue building the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor), a 1,600 MW pressurized water reactor. However, unlike Macron, she wants to dismantle and remove all the wind turbines on earth and sea.

Education

Macron

Macron plans to increase the hours of French and mathematics in primary and 6th grade and put mathematics in the common core of high school. In addition, with Macron, all children will discover, from 5th to 3rd, several jobs, including technical and manual ones. Moreover, for young people, the current president wishes to deploy universal national service. For those who fully commit to it, the driving license will be funded.

Le Pen

Le Pen wishes to put the teaching programs of French, mathematics and history back at the heart of education. In addition, she plans to implant uniforms in elementary schools.