French presidential election | How Macron and Le Pen differ on Russia, EU and NATO

The outcome of the French presidential election will potentially affect the country’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European Union, and NATO as well.

The story so far: French President Emmanuel Macron will face off against far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in the second round of voting in the country’s presidential election on April 24. Mr. Macron secured 27.8% votes while Ms. Le Pen was slightly behind him with 23.1% votes in the first round of polls held on April 10.

In 2017, Mr. Macron defeated Ms. Le Pen in the presidential election by a margin of over 30 percentage points.

The French presidential election will also be significant in deciding how the Russia-Ukraine crisis affects the country’s policies further, since both Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen have differing views on factors related to the war.

Mr. Macron has rallied behind the strict restrictions placed on Russia by the European Union (EU) since Russian President Vladimir Putin declared his “military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022. His opponent Ms. Le Pen, on the other hand, talks of the impact of the sanctions on the lives of the French people and wants to alleviate the growing inflation, food shortage, and fuel price rise.

Days before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, Mr. Macron met Mr. Putin in Moscow where the two discussed a then-potential rise in conflict. On February 20, the two Presidents spoke for 105 minutes on a phone call and agreed to work towards a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Macron attempted to function as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine crisis even as French officials were sceptical of the outcome of the exercise due to warnings of an imminent Russian attack sounded by intelligence agencies of the U.S., the U.K., and other countries.

Ms. Le Pen has connected with the French population by focussing her campaign on issues like inflation, and food and fuel shortages in the country which have been aggravated due to the EU sanctions on Russia amid the crisis in Ukraine. She has also called for measures like slashing taxes on energy bills from 20% to 5.5% to compensate for the rising prices. Ms. Le Pen has promised to restore family budgets in the country if she wins the election. France is currently the second-largest economy in the EU.

Europe is currently going through one of its worst energy crises ever. Fuel prices have increased exorbitantly since the second half of 2021. The situation has only been worsened by the Russia-Ukraine crisis since Russia provides around 40% of Europe’s natural gas.