IPSOS poll shows 40% voters under 35 years likely to abstain from elections. Voters say that candidates do not address their issues. Macron poised to win first round, first phase of polling to be held on 10th April.

Poll: 40% of voters under 35 years likely to abstain from voting in the French election

In France, the first round of voting for the presidential election concluded. Partial results after the first round are putting incumbent president Emmanuel Macron in first place ahead of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

French Presidential Election 2022: Early results put Macron ahead of Le Pen in round one

The French Presidential election is underway and hundreds of people took to the streets of Paris on the eve of election day demanding action policies and issues that are concerned with climate change.

French Elections 2022: Climate activists voice concerns ahead of elections

Voting is underway in the first round of French polls as French voters in the US, and Canada cast their votes. The second round of polling to be held on April 24th. Emmanuel Macron is facing a tough fight in the polls.

French Presidential election 2022: French voters in Canada cast ballots

Polling stations have opened across France for the first round of voting of French presidential election 2022. The second round of voting to be held on April 24th. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen emerge as top candidates.

French Presidential Election 2022: Le Pen's strategy to focus on domestic issues pays off

Macron's election strategy backfires? Did Macron overlook domestic issues?

The voter turnout in the first phase of French Presidential Elections was 25.5 per cent by Midday which is below the 28.5 per cent rate during the 2017 polls. Political Analyst Morgane Fert-Malka in conversation with WION said low voter turnout will benefit Marine Le Penn.

French Election 2022: Emmanuel Macron & Marine Le Pen emerge as top candidates

Voting in France has begun and if the opinion polls are to be believed, Macron is set to become the first leader to win a second term in office. But, the competition is neck and neck between Macron and Le Pen.

France elections: Will Emmanuel Macron get a second term?

Polling stations have opened across France for the first round of voting of French presidential election 2022. The second round of voting to be held on April 24th. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen emerge as top candidates. For more analysis on France elections, we're joined by Lisa Louis, Paris-based freelance journalist.

Emmanuel Macron Vs Marine Le Pen: Two leaders with Two ideologies

Polling stations have opened across France for the phase 1 voting of a French presidential election. The second round of voting to be held on April 24th. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen emerge as top candidates.

French Election 2022: Phase 1 voting begins in France, Le Pen closes in on incumbent Macron

In opinion polls for the French election 2022, Marine Le Pen is closing the gap on Emmanuel Macron, but who is Marine Le Pen? What are her political views? Why is she a controversial figure? Watch this video to know all about Marine Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron vs Marine Le Pen: Why is she a controversial figure?

The French Presidential election is underway and the first round of polling is stated to be held on April 10th. Now, Parisians are worried about abstention.

French Presidential Election 2022: Parisians worried about abstention

Europe's most formidable country is heading to the polls. France is voting to elect its next President. The outcome will determine the future of Europe. Is Emmanuel Macron going to win? Or will the Élysée Palace get a new leader? Palki Sharma Upadhyay decodes.

Gravitas Plus | France Elections: Why you should care

The French Presidential election is underway and the first round of polling is stated to be held on April 10th. Now, Election campaigning has ended in France.

French Presidential election 2022: Election campaigning ends in France ahead of the first round

In France, citizens have started predicting the outcome of the first round of voting and they aren't relying on the usual opinion polls but rather on somewhat more unusual methods.

Can socks and cards predict the outcome of the French election 2022?

The first phase of polling in France is to be held on April 10th. In a recent update on French elections, Le Pen has notched the highest ever score in the opinion polls.

French Presidential election 2022: Macron's lead slips in French polls as Le Pen is closing the gap

The French Presidential election is underway and the first round of polling is stated to be held on April 10th. Now, Macron has targeted the 'far-right' before polls.

French Elections 2022: Emmanuel Macron warns against 'right-wing' extremism

French President Emmanuel&nbsp;Macron&nbsp;voiced regret on Friday for starting campaigning&nbsp;late&nbsp;as opinion polls showed him holding a slender&nbsp;lead over the far-right candidate Marine&nbsp;Le&nbsp;Pen, who he warned would scare investors away from France.

Le&nbsp;Pen&nbsp;has surged in the polls in recent weeks and is expected to face off in the second round against&nbsp;Macron, whose re-election was thought to be a foregone conclusion even a few weeks ago.

Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/france-opens-tax-fraud-probe-over-consultancies-in-government-468999">&nbsp;France opens tax fraud probe over consultancies in government</a>

Macron&nbsp;is still ahead in the polls for the second-round match-up, but his&nbsp;lead is within the margin of error.

"Who could have understood six weeks ago that all of sudden I would start political rallies, that I would focus on domestic issues when the war started in Ukraine,"&nbsp;Macron&nbsp;told RTL radio.

"So it is a fact that I entered (the campaign) even&nbsp;later than I wished,"&nbsp;Macron&nbsp;said, adding that he retained a "spirit of conquest rather than of defeat."

Watch |&nbsp;Gravitas: France Election: Anti-semitism takes centrestage

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-france-election-anti-semitism-takes-centrestage-468946/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

If&nbsp;Le&nbsp;Pen&nbsp;is elected this month, her social programme will drive away international investors,&nbsp;Macron&nbsp;said in an interview with daily&nbsp;Le&nbsp;Parisien.

"Her program will create massive unemployment because it will drive international investors away and it will not hold up budget-wise," he said.

"Her fundamentals have not changed: it is a racist program that aims to divide society and is very brutal."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/macron-and-le-pen-battle-over-pensions-as-french-election-race-tightens-468274">Macron and Le Pen battle over pensions as French election race tightens</a>

Le&nbsp;Pen&nbsp;told France Info radio on Friday: "Emmanuel&nbsp;Macron&nbsp;does not know my program... he must think it is that of (far-left contender) Jean-Luc Melenchon."

French President Emmanuel Macron voiced regret on Friday for starting campaigning late as opinion polls showed him holding a slender lead over the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who he warned would scare investors away from France.

French President Emmanuel Macron voiced regret on Friday for starting campaigning late as opinion polls showed him holding a slender lead over the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who he warned would scare investors away from France. Le Pen has surged in the polls in recent weeks and is expected to face off in the second round against Macron, whose re-election was thought to be a foregone conclusion even a few weeks ago. Also read | France opens tax fraud probe over consultancies in government Macron is still ahead in the polls for the second-round match-up, but his lead is within the margin of error. "Who could have understood six weeks ago that all of sudden I would start political rallies, that I would focus on domestic issues when the war started in Ukraine," Macron told RTL radio. "So it is a fact that I entered (the campaign) even later than I wished," Macron said, adding that he retained a "spirit of conquest rather than of defeat." Watch | Gravitas: France Election: Anti-semitism takes centrestage If Le Pen is elected this month, her social programme will drive away international investors, Macron said in an interview with daily Le Parisien. "Her program will create massive unemployment because it will drive international investors away and it will not hold up budget-wise," he said. "Her fundamentals have not changed: it is a racist program that aims to divide society and is very brutal." Also read | Macron and Le Pen battle over pensions as French election race tightens Le Pen told France Info radio on Friday: "Emmanuel Macron does not know my program... he must think it is that of (far-left contender) Jean-Luc Melenchon."

Macron regrets entering France's presidential race late as Le Pen cuts lead

French Presidential election 2022: Emmanuel Macron targets 'far-right' before polls

In a recent update on French elections, Le Pen has notched the highest ever score in the opinion polls. What are some big issues that will shape elections result?

French Election 2022: Emmanuel Macron's victory within the margin of error?

In France, the death of a Jewish man Jeremy Cohen has turned into a political battle. Macron's rivals Eric Zemmour & Marine Le Pen are accusing him of not doing enough on Anti Semitism. What's the reality? Palki Sharma Upadhyay reports.

Gravitas: France Election: Anti-semitism takes centrestage

French election race tightens: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen battle over pensions

Anti-Semitism debate takes centerstage in the upcoming French Elections. President Emmanuel Macron's political rivals say that he is simply not doing enough to combat Anti-Semitism and the crimes against Jews have increased during his tenure

France Elections 2022: Is Anti-Semitism on the rise in France?

French prosecutors said on Wednesday they have opened a probe into suspected tax fraud by management consultancies whose record contracts with the government has caused problems for President Emmanuel Macron on the campaign trial.

France's financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said in a statement they had on March 31 opened a preliminary inquiry into laundering of tax fraud proceeds after the report by the upper house Senate.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/macron-and-le-pen-battle-over-pensions-as-french-election-race-tightens-468274">Macron and Le Pen battle over pensions as French election race tightens</a>

The Senate investigation concluded this month that public spending on consultants had more than doubled from 2018-2021, reaching more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion) last year, a record.

The investigation, which condemned the "sprawling phenomenon", also slammed US-based giant&nbsp;McKinsey&nbsp;for failing to pay corporation tax for the last 10 years despite declaring sales of 329 million euros in France -- which&nbsp;McKinsey&nbsp;denies.

The PNF statement gave no further details and did not name any entity.

Watch |&nbsp;Gravitas: France Election: Anti-semitism takes centrestage

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-france-election-anti-semitism-takes-centrestage-468946/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

The controversy has proved highly unwelcome for Macron, a former investment banker, derided as a president of the rich by left-wingers throughout his time in office.

It has also erupted at a time he is seeking to find momentum for his campaign ahead of the first round of elections Sunday in the face of a challenge from resurgent far-right leader Marine Le Pen.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/emmanuel-macron-holds-first-rally-as-france-election-race-tightens-467714">Emmanuel Macron holds first rally as France election race tightens</a>

Macron has defended the use of consultants, emphasising that this is standard practice for governments across the world.

He has denied that anything "murky" has been at work and argued that public procurement policies had been strictly followed and additional help had been required during the Covid-19 pandemic when ministries and civil servants were stretched thin.

French prosecutors said on Wednesday they have opened a probe into suspected tax fraud by management consultancies whose record contracts with the government has caused problems for President Emmanuel Macron on the campaign trial.

French prosecutors said on Wednesday they have opened a probe into suspected tax fraud by management consultancies whose record contracts with the government has caused problems for President Emmanuel Macron on the campaign trial. France's financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said in a statement they had on March 31 opened a preliminary inquiry into laundering of tax fraud proceeds after the report by the upper house Senate. Also read | Macron and Le Pen battle over pensions as French election race tightens The Senate investigation concluded this month that public spending on consultants had more than doubled from 2018-2021, reaching more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion) last year, a record. The investigation, which condemned the "sprawling phenomenon", also slammed US-based giant McKinsey for failing to pay corporation tax for the last 10 years despite declaring sales of 329 million euros in France -- which McKinsey denies. The PNF statement gave no further details and did not name any entity. Watch | Gravitas: France Election: Anti-semitism takes centrestage The controversy has proved highly unwelcome for Macron, a former investment banker, derided as a president of the rich by left-wingers throughout his time in office. It has also erupted at a time he is seeking to find momentum for his campaign ahead of the first round of elections Sunday in the face of a challenge from resurgent far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Also read | Emmanuel Macron holds first rally as France election race tightens Macron has defended the use of consultants, emphasising that this is standard practice for governments across the world. He has denied that anything "murky" has been at work and argued that public procurement policies had been strictly followed and additional help had been required during the Covid-19 pandemic when ministries and civil servants were stretched thin.

France opens tax fraud probe over consultancies in government

The presidential race in France is heating up but this is an election that's also taking place at a time when Russia has invaded into Ukraine. The war risks becoming a key issue in in the french electoral politics, here's how!

French President Emmanuel Macron takes a aim at his rival Le Pen ahead of election

French stock markets tanked after new opinion polls showed far-right candidate Marine Le Pen closing the gap with Emmanuel Macron. What explains the rise of this far-right demagogue? Can she spring an upset? Palki Sharma Upadhyay tells you.

Gravitas: French markets spooked by Le Pen's surge

France is all set to go to polls. French President Emmanuel Macron is aiming for a second term. There are 12 presidential candidates with six main contenders. But how does the electoral process work in France? Will Macron secure a second term? What are the big issues in the French Presidential poll?

France's electoral system explained: Will Emmanuel Macron win 2nd term?

6 days are left for the French Election to begin & the tide is turning. Emmanuel Macron is no longer the favourite to win, his challengers are gaining ground. The French President has even warned of a Brexit-style upset. Palki Sharma Upadhyay brings you a report.

Gravitas: France Elections: The tide is turning

<article>
During the last presidential campaign, the troubled Whirlpool factory in the northern city of Amiens became the setting for frantic, dueling appeals for support by Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen.

Macron promised to save the plant — which happens to be in his hometown — and once he was elected, his government poured millions in subsidies toward the factory’s reinvention as a showpiece of his commitment to reviving French industry.

As Macron seeks reelection, he and Le Pen are preparing to square off once again as the front-runners before the first round of voting in presidential elections Sunday. But the fate of the plant has proved much the opposite of what Macron had hoped for.

Today, the plant is an example of the difficulty of rehabilitating ailing French industries and of the president’s challenge in winning the confidence of French workers, who have been gravitating for years to the far-right.

The mammoth plant in Amiens, where weeds have pushed through asphalt and the cafeteria’s menu is frozen on sausage fricassee, is deserted and lifeless, except for three last Whirlpool workers who spend their days huddling around the coffee machines in a few small rooms.

The plant’s new operator was convicted in February of misuse of funds after a year of taking money from the government and Whirlpool and doing precious little with it. Workers say they spent idle days as next to nothing rolled off the assembly line. Instead, they kept busy killing time, taking extended cigarette breaks or lying inside their cars fidgeting on their smartphones.

“Two or three times, when someone important visited, we had to pretend to work or hide,” recalled Mariano Munoz, 49, who was in charge of janitorial services. “The welders welded all sorts of things and hammered away. One or two tinkered with a car. Me, I’d take the street cleaner and I’d sweep the entire parking lot.”

Macron was elected as a change agent five years ago with plans to disrupt the heavily unionized industrial sector that had stagnated, as owners feared the rising cost of French workers who were guaranteed years of ample benefits and were notoriously difficult to fire. For years, unemployment hovered chronically at 8% or more as the industrial sector atrophied.

Initially, Macron attempted to overhaul France’s economy by pushing through business-friendly changes, like cutting taxes, especially for the wealthy. In his first years as president, he took on some of France’s toughest unions, provoking the biggest strikes the country had seen in years as he revamped France’s voluminous labor code, making it easier to hire and fire workers.

But even as the overall economy has bounced back strongly from the pandemic, Macron’s efforts to reindustrialize France have proved decidedly mixed, economists say, as evidenced by the nation’s trade deficit of 84.7 billion euros, about $93 billion, last year — a record — as well as the plant in Amiens, which had made tumble dryers for Whirlpool and did not survive despite nearly 10 million euros in subsidies.

For Macron, the plant’s long, agonizing death has complicated every trip back to his hometown, about 80 miles north of Paris. It reinforced the impression of Macron, a former investment banker, as the president of the rich, someone cut off from ordinary French people — like the nearly 300 workers who lost their jobs when the plant finally did close in 2018.

Many of the laid-off workers went on to join the Yellow Vest movement, whose ranks were filled with working-class French struggling under high taxes and a lack of earning power, ushering in the biggest political crisis of Macron’s presidency.

Burned by the Yellow Vest protests, Macron’s government spent massively to offset the economic shock of the pandemic, and unemployment is now at its lowest in a decade. Still, it is service-sector jobs that have continued to increase, while industrial employment declines.

Thomas Grjebine, an economist at CEPII, a research center in Paris, said that the fate of the Amiens plant was “symptomatic” of the difficulties of reviving the industrial sector. “In fact, the government is somewhat powerless before the closings of plants,” Grjebine said. “But many promises are made during campaigns.”

During Macron’s campaign for the presidency in 2017, 11 days before the final vote, Macron met with union leaders in town, while Le Pen paid a surprise visit to the plant’s parking lot and was greeted warmly by striking employees — forcing a reluctant Macron to follow.

Heckled and jostled by the hostile crowd, Macron tried to catch up with Le Pen, whose party, then called the National Front, had won the department that includes Amiens in the first round of voting that year.

“You think it doesn’t hurt me in the gut that people vote for the National Front on my soil?” Macron said to the crowd. Later, he promised a “real Marshall Plan for the reindustrialization of our economically lost territories.”

Half a year after his election victory, that promise seemed in sight. A prominent local businessman, Nicolas Decayeux, was selected to take over the plant with a project to manufacture refrigerated lockers and small vehicles. He took on 162 of the 282 laid-off Whirlpool workers and received 2.6 million euros in subsidies from the government and 7.4 million euros from Whirlpool.

During a celebratory visit to the plant, Macron was accompanied by Decayeux. In a follow-up letter to Decayeux, the president wrote that the businessman’s “beautiful entrepreneurial project” would “contribute to our industrial recovery.”

“I really had stars in my eyes because here is a young president who wants to reform France,” recalled Decayeux, who named his company WN.

It was a rare piece of good news for Amiens, a picturesque town of more than 130,000 that straddles the Somme River.

Like much of northern France, it had been hit by deindustrialization for two generations as successive national governments considered a shift toward a consumer-driven economy a sign of modernization, witnessed in the Amazon warehouses that have opened in Amiens and elsewhere.

“This drop in social standing, the sentiment of being abandoned and of not mattering, eased the way for extremism,” said Brigitte Fouré, the center-right mayor of Amiens.

In an interview with a French magazine last year, Macron said that growing up in Amiens, he had witnessed the “full force of deindustrialization” in his region. Still, he acknowledged that he himself had enjoyed a sheltered upbringing, living in a “rather happy bubble, and even a bubble in a bubble.”

The son of two medical doctors, Macron grew up in Amiens’s richest neighborhood, Henriville, and attended the city’s most prestigious school, a private Jesuit establishment called La Providence.

“He’s from Henriville, and when you say, ‘Henriville,’ it’s Versailles,” said M’hammed El Hiba, the longtime head of Alco, a community center in Amiens North, an area inhabited by the descendants of North Africans recruited to work in factories in the 1960s and 1970s.

At the former Whirlpool plant, the optimism faded quickly. Former workers said that Decayeux’s plans to build lockers and small vehicles never took off.

“Nothing was happening,” said Christophe Beaugrand, 44, a welder who was hired by Decayeux after being laid off by Whirlpool. “People were in the cafeteria with their phones and chargers. When the prefect visited, we had to make noise or hide.”

Worried about the lack of activity, workers informed their national lawmaker, François Ruffin, and gave him a chicken made of steel as proof of their idleness.

Ruffin said he alerted the government but got no response until it was too late. Macron’s government, he said, appeared to have lost interest in the plant after Decayeux’s company took it over.

“It was as if everything was over on the day of the inauguration,” Ruffin said.

Eventually, the government looked closely at Decayeux’s company, WN, and pulled the plug. Without subsidies, the company shut down in July 2019, about a year after opening to great fanfare.

After an official inquiry and a trial, Decayeux was found guilty in February of awarding himself a 25,000-euro bonus, which he must repay; of using company funds to rent two apartments, one for himself and another for his girlfriend; and of hiring his son as a part-time sales representative.

Decayeux, who has appealed, said that he had become a scapegoat for a government that panicked and fatally cut subsidies before his business could take off. Although he acknowledged that the assembly line lay silent for most of the time, he said that WN had made 15 small vehicles and a few elevator shafts.

“Before the government, I’m nothing,” he said. “They crushed me.”

During his last visit to Amiens, in November, Macron met nine former Whirlpool workers. By then, the news had become even worse. A local furniture maker that had taken over the plant following WN’s collapse had also quickly gone out of business.

Macron described Decayeux as a “hunter of bonuses” and told the workers, “I was duped along with you.”

Some of Whirlpool’s former workers did not buy it.

“It’s all well and good that he did his mea culpa, but behind that, there are still people without jobs,” said Frédéric Chantrelle, 53, one of the last three Whirlpool workers still employed at the plant. A court ruled last year that the company had to rehire them because the factory was not closed for economic reasons.

In the otherwise abandoned 17-hectare facility, they punch in and walk through a labyrinth of dark and cold corridors to reach the few heated rooms where they spend their days.

“It’s like a ghost factory,” Chantrelle said. “It’s awe-inspiring, a big site like this emptied of everything.”
</article>

During the last presidential campaign, the troubled Whirlpool factory in the northern city of Amiens became the setting for frantic, dueling appeals for support by Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen.

During the last presidential campaign, the troubled Whirlpool factory in the northern city of Amiens became the setting for frantic, dueling appeals for support by Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen. Macron promised to save the plant — which happens to be in his hometown — and once he was elected, his government poured millions in subsidies toward the factory’s reinvention as a showpiece of his commitment to reviving French industry. As Macron seeks reelection, he and Le Pen are preparing to square off once again as the front-runners before the first round of voting in presidential elections Sunday. But the fate of the plant has proved much the opposite of what Macron had hoped for. Today, the plant is an example of the difficulty of rehabilitating ailing French industries and of the president’s challenge in winning the confidence of French workers, who have been gravitating for years to the far-right. The mammoth plant in Amiens, where weeds have pushed through asphalt and the cafeteria’s menu is frozen on sausage fricassee, is deserted and lifeless, except for three last Whirlpool workers who spend their days huddling around the coffee machines in a few small rooms. The plant’s new operator was convicted in February of misuse of funds after a year of taking money from the government and Whirlpool and doing precious little with it. Workers say they spent idle days as next to nothing rolled off the assembly line. Instead, they kept busy killing time, taking extended cigarette breaks or lying inside their cars fidgeting on their smartphones. “Two or three times, when someone important visited, we had to pretend to work or hide,” recalled Mariano Munoz, 49, who was in charge of janitorial services. “The welders welded all sorts of things and hammered away. One or two tinkered with a car. Me, I’d take the street cleaner and I’d sweep the entire parking lot.” Macron was elected as a change agent five years ago with plans to disrupt the heavily unionized industrial sector that had stagnated, as owners feared the rising cost of French workers who were guaranteed years of ample benefits and were notoriously difficult to fire. For years, unemployment hovered chronically at 8% or more as the industrial sector atrophied. Initially, Macron attempted to overhaul France’s economy by pushing through business-friendly changes, like cutting taxes, especially for the wealthy. In his first years as president, he took on some of France’s toughest unions, provoking the biggest strikes the country had seen in years as he revamped France’s voluminous labor code, making it easier to hire and fire workers. But even as the overall economy has bounced back strongly from the pandemic, Macron’s efforts to reindustrialize France have proved decidedly mixed, economists say, as evidenced by the nation’s trade deficit of 84.7 billion euros, about $93 billion, last year — a record — as well as the plant in Amiens, which had made tumble dryers for Whirlpool and did not survive despite nearly 10 million euros in subsidies. For Macron, the plant’s long, agonizing death has complicated every trip back to his hometown, about 80 miles north of Paris. It reinforced the impression of Macron, a former investment banker, as the president of the rich, someone cut off from ordinary French people — like the nearly 300 workers who lost their jobs when the plant finally did close in 2018. Many of the laid-off workers went on to join the Yellow Vest movement, whose ranks were filled with working-class French struggling under high taxes and a lack of earning power, ushering in the biggest political crisis of Macron’s presidency. Burned by the Yellow Vest protests, Macron’s government spent massively to offset the economic shock of the pandemic, and unemployment is now at its lowest in a decade. Still, it is service-sector jobs that have continued to increase, while industrial employment declines. Thomas Grjebine, an economist at CEPII, a research center in Paris, said that the fate of the Amiens plant was “symptomatic” of the difficulties of reviving the industrial sector. “In fact, the government is somewhat powerless before the closings of plants,” Grjebine said. “But many promises are made during campaigns.” During Macron’s campaign for the presidency in 2017, 11 days before the final vote, Macron met with union leaders in town, while Le Pen paid a surprise visit to the plant’s parking lot and was greeted warmly by striking employees — forcing a reluctant Macron to follow. Heckled and jostled by the hostile crowd, Macron tried to catch up with Le Pen, whose party, then called the National Front, had won the department that includes Amiens in the first round of voting that year. “You think it doesn’t hurt me in the gut that people vote for the National Front on my soil?” Macron said to the crowd. Later, he promised a “real Marshall Plan for the reindustrialization of our economically lost territories.” Half a year after his election victory, that promise seemed in sight. A prominent local businessman, Nicolas Decayeux, was selected to take over the plant with a project to manufacture refrigerated lockers and small vehicles. He took on 162 of the 282 laid-off Whirlpool workers and received 2.6 million euros in subsidies from the government and 7.4 million euros from Whirlpool. During a celebratory visit to the plant, Macron was accompanied by Decayeux. In a follow-up letter to Decayeux, the president wrote that the businessman’s “beautiful entrepreneurial project” would “contribute to our industrial recovery.” “I really had stars in my eyes because here is a young president who wants to reform France,” recalled Decayeux, who named his company WN. It was a rare piece of good news for Amiens, a picturesque town of more than 130,000 that straddles the Somme River. Like much of northern France, it had been hit by deindustrialization for two generations as successive national governments considered a shift toward a consumer-driven economy a sign of modernization, witnessed in the Amazon warehouses that have opened in Amiens and elsewhere. “This drop in social standing, the sentiment of being abandoned and of not mattering, eased the way for extremism,” said Brigitte Fouré, the center-right mayor of Amiens. In an interview with a French magazine last year, Macron said that growing up in Amiens, he had witnessed the “full force of deindustrialization” in his region. Still, he acknowledged that he himself had enjoyed a sheltered upbringing, living in a “rather happy bubble, and even a bubble in a bubble.” The son of two medical doctors, Macron grew up in Amiens’s richest neighborhood, Henriville, and attended the city’s most prestigious school, a private Jesuit establishment called La Providence. “He’s from Henriville, and when you say, ‘Henriville,’ it’s Versailles,” said M’hammed El Hiba, the longtime head of Alco, a community center in Amiens North, an area inhabited by the descendants of North Africans recruited to work in factories in the 1960s and 1970s. At the former Whirlpool plant, the optimism faded quickly. Former workers said that Decayeux’s plans to build lockers and small vehicles never took off. “Nothing was happening,” said Christophe Beaugrand, 44, a welder who was hired by Decayeux after being laid off by Whirlpool. “People were in the cafeteria with their phones and chargers. When the prefect visited, we had to make noise or hide.” Worried about the lack of activity, workers informed their national lawmaker, François Ruffin, and gave him a chicken made of steel as proof of their idleness. Ruffin said he alerted the government but got no response until it was too late. Macron’s government, he said, appeared to have lost interest in the plant after Decayeux’s company took it over. “It was as if everything was over on the day of the inauguration,” Ruffin said. Eventually, the government looked closely at Decayeux’s company, WN, and pulled the plug. Without subsidies, the company shut down in July 2019, about a year after opening to great fanfare. After an official inquiry and a trial, Decayeux was found guilty in February of awarding himself a 25,000-euro bonus, which he must repay; of using company funds to rent two apartments, one for himself and another for his girlfriend; and of hiring his son as a part-time sales representative. Decayeux, who has appealed, said that he had become a scapegoat for a government that panicked and fatally cut subsidies before his business could take off. Although he acknowledged that the assembly line lay silent for most of the time, he said that WN had made 15 small vehicles and a few elevator shafts. “Before the government, I’m nothing,” he said. “They crushed me.” During his last visit to Amiens, in November, Macron met nine former Whirlpool workers. By then, the news had become even worse. A local furniture maker that had taken over the plant following WN’s collapse had also quickly gone out of business. Macron described Decayeux as a “hunter of bonuses” and told the workers, “I was duped along with you.” Some of Whirlpool’s former workers did not buy it. “It’s all well and good that he did his mea culpa, but behind that, there are still people without jobs,” said Frédéric Chantrelle, 53, one of the last three Whirlpool workers still employed at the plant. A court ruled last year that the company had to rehire them because the factory was not closed for economic reasons. In the otherwise abandoned 17-hectare facility, they punch in and walk through a labyrinth of dark and cold corridors to reach the few heated rooms where they spend their days. “It’s like a ghost factory,” Chantrelle said. “It’s awe-inspiring, a big site like this emptied of everything.”

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France Elections 2022: Macron's poll margin is reducing, will Marine Le Pen turn the tables?

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