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00:00So the warning then that some of the policies of France's political parties fighting for power
00:05in the upcoming legislative elections are incompatible with business competitiveness,
00:11incompatible as well with prosperity, and that such proposals would inevitably lead to further
00:16deterioration of public finances. That comes from France's main employers federation, MEDEF,
00:21as today it interviews one by one some of the top figures from each major political party.
00:26The warning from MEDEF that does not name any specific party, right, as France has already
00:32been given a stinging rebuke by the European Union's executive arm for running up excessive
00:38debt. Well, we're going to cross then to MEDEF's headquarters, speak to our reporter there,
00:41Clovis Casali. Clovis, just tell us then what's been happening there, because these interviews,
00:46they've already kicked off, haven't they? They've been going on for an hour or so already.
00:51Absolutely, and this event is important for the candidates, because of course in an election
00:55you try to convince voters, but you also try to convince the business world,
00:59and this is exactly what the candidates are doing this morning with bosses' unions,
01:04various unions here asking questions to all the main candidates, or at least the heads of the
01:12parties involved in these legislative elections. First to appear on stage, Edouard Philippe,
01:18the former prime minister, of course an ally of Emmanuel Macron, who's slowly, slowly taking his
01:24distances, and clearly when he was on stage you could hear that his measures, the measures he was
01:31suggesting, the vision he was outlining, was that of a candidate for the next presidential election,
01:37even though for the time being, of course, it's first the parliamentary elections.
01:41What did Edouard Philippe, the former PM, say? Basically he called for less EU regulation,
01:46less French regulation, and especially more help for the bosses, anything that can help
01:54improve growth. He said very clearly that growth is the only way to create jobs,
02:00and he also said that it was essential to help the middle classes,
02:06by necessity in a way, because if you don't help the middle classes, well,
02:11democracy will be unstable, there will be democratic issues in the country, and that
02:16was for him a way of explaining the rise of the far left and the far right in the country.
02:22Edouard Philippe basically also saying that we were at a critical time in the country with these
02:27elections, with the possibility of seeing the far right or the far left in power, and that would be
02:34dangerous for the finances of the country, and only increased deficits, which was for Edouard
02:41Philippe a major issue. Yeah, as I mentioned at the top there, it comes, doesn't it, at those
02:45bosses have been pretty critical of the programmes, we assume anyway, they've been talking about the
02:50far right and the far left programmes here. Indeed, as we were talking about Edouard Philippe, all of
02:56what he was saying was sweet music to the ears of the bosses. I can tell you what the left wing
03:02is saying as we are talking now, because they are in the venue addressing the bosses, while it's not
03:08pleasing many of those bosses that were sitting near us. We could hear some of the bosses
03:14criticising openly the left wing figures on stage as they were talking. Who's representing
03:20the left wing bloc? Not one person, but two people. Eric Coquerel for François Bauer, the radical left
03:27movement, and Boris Vallaud for the socialists. They're both of course members of the new popular
03:34front, this newly created left wing bloc that hasn't chosen yet a clear leader, and that's why
03:41you've got those two figures on stage. And Boris Vallaud for the socialists told the bosses
03:48this morning, or a few minutes ago actually, he was saying, did you do enough to help reinforce
03:54public services? Did you do enough to help reduce deficits? Did you do enough to raise salaries in
04:00your companies? Did you do enough to prevent the fracture of the country that we're witnessing
04:06today with the rise of the far right? The far right will be represented a bit later this morning
04:12by Jordan Bardella, of course the president of the national rally, and the rumour is Jordan Bardella
04:18could be on stage also with Eric Ciotti. Eric Ciotti, the boss or former boss of Les RĂ©publicains,
04:26what was until now a mainstream conservative party, the party that once had
04:33Nicolas Sarkozy as president representing it, and a former party in power. And Eric Ciotti who's now
04:41broken away, who's now more or less left Les RĂ©publicains, who is trying to break away from Les
04:46RĂ©publicains and move closer to the far right, well basically he should be on stage with Jordan Bardella.