France’s Macron Faces Angry Voters as He Fights for 2nd Term

France's President and French liberal party La Republique en Marche (LREM) candidate to his succession Emmanuel Macron (C,R) listens to Chatenois' mayor Luc Adoneth (C,L) during a one-day campaign visit in the Grand-Est region, in Chatenois, eastern France, on April 12, 2022. (AFP)
France's President and French liberal party La Republique en Marche (LREM) candidate to his succession Emmanuel Macron (C,R) listens to Chatenois' mayor Luc Adoneth (C,L) during a one-day campaign visit in the Grand-Est region, in Chatenois, eastern France, on April 12, 2022. (AFP)
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France’s Macron Faces Angry Voters as He Fights for 2nd Term

France's President and French liberal party La Republique en Marche (LREM) candidate to his succession Emmanuel Macron (C,R) listens to Chatenois' mayor Luc Adoneth (C,L) during a one-day campaign visit in the Grand-Est region, in Chatenois, eastern France, on April 12, 2022. (AFP)
France's President and French liberal party La Republique en Marche (LREM) candidate to his succession Emmanuel Macron (C,R) listens to Chatenois' mayor Luc Adoneth (C,L) during a one-day campaign visit in the Grand-Est region, in Chatenois, eastern France, on April 12, 2022. (AFP)

Facing a tougher-than expected fight for reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron has hit the campaign trail at last - and it isn't always proving welcoming.

But he's not shying away from angry voters, instead engaging in lively, sometimes confrontational debates. Since he and far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen qualified Sunday for France's April 24 presidential runoff, Macron has seemed eager to go in the field to explain his policies and try to convince people to hand him a second term.

On Tuesday, he was asked hard questions during a visit to the eastern city of Mulhouse.

"Why didn’t you help the poorest?"

"Why do hospitals suffer from shortages of beds and shortages of health workers?”

"How can you propose to push back retirement age from 62 to 65 when so many people are jobless?”

The 44-year-old leader appeared determined to explain his policies at length - but sometimes grew impatient when people kept contradicting him.

Before Sunday's first round presidential vote which had 12 candidates, Macron skipped most campaign activities, focusing his time at the Elysee Presidential Palace on diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Domestic critics decried the perceived lack of debate in France's presidential campaign.

Now the role of candidate has taken over. Macron is considered the favorite by the polls, but Le Pen appears to have significantly narrowed the gap from 2017, when he trounced her in the same presidential runoff.

On Monday, Macron went to an economically depressed region in northern France that is considered Le Pen’s stronghold. The next day, he visited the eastern cities of Mulhouse and Strasbourg, where far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third Sunday, got a majority of the first-round vote.

Upon his arrival in Mulhouse, Macron literally ran toward the small crowd waiting for him. He met some supporters, but also angry, discouraged workers from a nearby public hospital who came to challenge him.

"We are exhausted,” some nurses told him. "Improve our working conditions!”

A 61-year-old health care worker said he worked for 30 years and but is earning only 1,885 euros ($2,051) a month.

"I am not thinking about myself. I am thinking of my children, my grandchildren," he said, explaining his vote.

Macron mentioned changes his government had made amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including a small salary increase for hospital workers.

"Have your earnings been increased?” he asked.

"We don’t feel the impact of it,” the man answered.

Another health care worker asked him about hospitals "losing beds” as the pandemic is still going on.

"I know, that is the challenge we are facing,” Macron acknowledged, explaining that the issue is about a lack of trained hospital staff, a situation amplified in a region where many French seek work in neighboring Germany and Switzerland where wages are higher.

"Two years ago, I made commitments… and the salaries were increased. And 183 euros ($199) per month, you can’t say that’s nothing,” Macron insisted.

Another big obstacle repeatedly came Macron’s way: his planned pension changes. Macron wants to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65, which he argues is needed so France can keep financing the pensions. Le Pen says she would maintain the retirement age at 62. The issue prompted major street protests in late 2019, and Macron then had to postpone his plans amid the COVID-19 crisis.

"We must work longer,” Macron said. "It’s not true we can keep financing our social model if we don’t push back (the retirement age).”

He kept repeating that the retirement changes would be implemented very gradually through 2031 and opened the door to softening the reform, as he seeks to attract voters who chose other candidates in the first round.

Le Pen's supporters credit her months of campaigning in France's provinces for her strong first-round showing. But as Macron joined the fray at last, he sought to make a distinction between their campaigns, criticizing those candidates "who never go to meet opponents."

"I'm not going to meet only people who like me,” he said.



IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
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IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran's parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the IAEA said on X.

According to Reuters, diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors' safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

IAEA WANTS TALKS

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"(Grossi) reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible," the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries' declarations. But the bombing of Iran's facilities has now muddied the waters.

"We cannot afford that .... the inspection regime is interrupted," Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.