Macron, Le Pen clash in presidential debate

Bloomberg

Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen struggled to land a knockout blow during their one-and-only debate, an encounter that left the French president in the box seat four days before the final round of the presidential election.
Some 15.6 million viewers watched the long and rather technical head-to-head during which both candidates confirmed their positions on key issues, from tech startups to the EU. Both were careful to avoid reaching the hostility of their previous encounter in 2017.
During one of the more tense moments of the night, Macron lashed out at his rival for conflating security and terrorism and said her plans to ban the veil in all public spaces would trigger violent unrest. “What you propose is a betrayal of the French spirit,” he said.
There were no big surprises and the debate appeared unlikely to change a trend that has seen the president’s advantage in polls steadily widen to nearly 12 points over Le Pen. Overall, it was seen as reassuring for markets. “Macron pointed out a lot of errors and scored some points,” Nicholas Dungan, a non resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Bloomberg TV. “He might not get any votes, but he probably didn’t lose any.”
Macron, 44, said the vote will be a referendum on the European Union, French-German relations and climate policies.