This week on Talking France, host Ben McPartland is joined by editor Emma Pearson, our political columnist John Lichfield and Sorbonne economics professor Claudia Senik as we look at the first week of official campaigning in the 2022 French presidential election.

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By now you would normally expect the French newspapers, TV and radio to have wall-to-wall political coverage. Instead, of course, this has been overshadowed by the terrible events in Ukraine.

But the international turmoil is also having a direct effect on French politics.

John Lichfield tells us: “I was already of the persuasion that Macron will win, but now who else can you imagine the French electing? Zemmour or Le Pen who have a long history of supporting Putin? Mélenchon who blames Nato for everything? Pécresse who is sinking in the polls?

“I think the election is in effect over, but that in itself can cause problems. It could mean in the end that Macron’s victory is a hollow one.”

Another effect on daily life in France – and the rest of Europe – is likely to be a big jump in the cost of living, so could this cost Macron votes?

Claudia Senik thinks not, saying: “I think Macron’s recent speech was telling us that there is a price for our values – freedom, peace democracy – and the price is that the economy will suffer.”

And we’re also giving a full run-through of all the candidates – including the one who had to pulp all their election leaflets, the one who ‘forgets’ to pay for their groceries and the one who makes Ben think of The Fonz.

We will be releasing new episodes of this podcast every Tuesday. Click HERE to listen to Talking France on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.