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In what amounted to a campaign speech just days after his shock
call for an election, Macron acknowledged making mistakes,
saying the French had expressed their indignation but felt they
were not being heard.
The election would provide clarity, Macron said.
He called on "many of our compatriots and political leaders who
do not recognize themselves in the extremist fever" to "build a
new project ... a coalition to govern, a coalition to act in the
service of the French and for the republic".
He pledged to take a firmer hand in questions of immigration,
security and justice, arguing that a far left prone to
anti-Semitism would be too "lax," while the extreme right would
bulldoze France's constitutional rule of law.
In a dig at the leader of the conservative Republicans party,
Macron decried political horsetrading over the last few days,
saying "the mask has come off" some parties seeking to forge
"unnatural alliances."
Republicans party chief Eric Ciotti's appeal for an alliance
between his party's candidates and the RN in a snap
parliamentary election has poleaxed the conservative party.
(Reporting by Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by
Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Richard Lough, Hugh Lawson and
Angus MacSwan)
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