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00:00What we've been seeing over the past few hours, really,
00:03because it was only Sunday that this dissolution was announced,
00:05well, is a complete reshuffle of the political landscape here in France,
00:09with, on the one hand, on the left wing,
00:12the creation of what is called now the Front Populaire,
00:14the Popular Front, if you will,
00:16where, in fact, all the political left-wing forces
00:20are coalescing around France unbowed
00:22and the Socialist Party that had very good results in these European elections.
00:26And on the right, well, as we know,
00:27the National Rally got the biggest result when it comes to the EU elections.
00:32And there, well, yesterday, the leader of Les Républicains
00:36announced that he would promote an alliance with the National Rally,
00:40which put all the left wing, if you like, of this right-wing party up in arms,
00:46saying that they would never, ever want to have an alliance with the National Rally.
00:50Now, what Emmanuel Macron's been doing today in this press conference
00:52is clearly saying, right, you know, you have a choice.
00:55There are three possibilities.
00:55Either you go with the extreme left wing,
00:58or you go with the extreme right wing,
01:01or else you come with us, because we are a party of government.
01:03You've seen what we can do.
01:04He said, basically, trying to place himself as the safe pair of hands
01:09in this new, renewed political landscape,
01:11and, indeed, trying to convince also the members of the centrist party,
01:17you know, the centre-left, centre-right, to join him.
01:19All those, he says, who are democrats
01:22and who refuse alliances with extreme-wing politicians.
01:27Now, in order to do this and to convince the French people as well
01:30that they needed to vote at the centre,
01:32he did also emphasise, obviously, the divisions within these two new blocs,
01:38and also very clearly addressed the French,
01:40saying that they would be the losers if they did vote for the National Rally.
01:44This is what he had to say.
01:48If the National Rally came to power, what would happen to your pensions?
01:52They wouldn't know how to finance them, so they'd drop.
01:55If the National Front came to power, what would happen to your housing interest rates?
01:59They'd skyrocket because the rates would spike.
02:02If the National Front came to power, you wouldn't have to ask about public broadcasting
02:06because they'd want to kill it.
02:08What would happen to our values, to fellow citizens, to dual nationals,
02:12people from diverse backgrounds and multi-ethnic neighbourhoods?
02:15The answer to that is not to each his own.
02:18The answer is the Republic and its universalism.
02:21That is the question right now.
02:23It's not what's going to happen when everything falls apart.
02:26No to this defeatist attitude.
02:29Yes to waking up, to standing up for the Republic's values.
02:33Our fellow citizens are of the Republic, men and women who are willing.
02:36France has always stood for this.
02:39And James Andre is still with me.
02:41James, look, this election is in just three weeks' time,
02:45so how is the President now going to convince MPs from the centre-left
02:50and from the centre-right to join him in this sort of centrist coalition?
02:59Well, you're right, it's only three weeks away
03:01and that, of course, is very little time to forge alliances
03:04and to devise a common programme.
03:06But what the President is saying is right.
03:08Look, I am the President of France.
03:10I'm not going to campaign in this campaign.
03:13I will let Prime Minister Gabriel Attal lead my coalition towards these elections.
03:18But what I'm saying is right.
03:20I want to be the captain of the ship, if you will.
03:22He says, right, I'm giving five broad-stroke directions.
03:26I want to see the country go in and the government go in and the parliament go in.
03:30And he says, right, from there on, you build on it.
03:32You must co-build together.
03:34Something that will speak to all the French people.
03:37The President also saying that he had, obviously, a part of responsibility
03:41to explain what had happened during these EU elections,
03:43saying that he said that some people, of course, were angry at what had happened in France.
03:47And he said, yes, we may have not delivered enough, not quick enough,
03:50not explained what we were doing enough,
03:52but still we are the safest bet for the French people
03:55and we want the interest of France.
03:57This is very much his message saying, right,
03:59to all those who do not want to coalesce with extreme parties,
04:04well, join me, that's his words, of course,
04:08and let's build something that can serve the whole of the French public.
04:11So, a message very much in rejection of these two new blocs that have been created
04:17and a message of opening towards politicians who would like to rally him.
04:22Obviously, he is hoping and hinting at the fact that some of the members of Les Républicains,
04:27the centre-right party or right-democratic party,
04:30and on the left might come and join him.