Seven candidates vying to succeed President Emmanuel Macron squared off in France's first presidential debate on Thursday, held at the Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris — better known for hosting major tennis tournaments than political sparring matches. The event, organised by MEDEF, France's main employers' federation, brought together a broad ideological spectrum, from the hard left to the far right, in what amounted to an opening salvo of a campaign growing increasingly crowded and competitive.

All seven candidates acknowledged that France faces serious economic difficulties, but their prescriptions diverged sharply. Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Rally (RN) leader making her fourth bid for the presidency and currently leading in polls, pledged a 125-billion-euro ($146 billion) cost-cutting plan while also defending a lower retirement age of 62 or even 60. Hard-left La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon — also running for a fourth time — called on business leaders to raise wages to stave off recession and proposed cancelling public debt, drawing a sharp rebuke from centrist candidate Édouard Philippe, a former prime minister, who warned that such a move would result in France being effectively "banned from the banking system." Philippe and fellow former prime minister Gabriel Attal both advocated fiscal discipline and longer working hours, platforms that drew criticism from centre-left MEP Raphaël Glucksmann and the Greens' Marine Tondelier, who accused them of presiding over social and environmental setbacks during their time in office. Also participating was Bruno Retailleau of the conservative Republicans (LR), whose liberal economic message drew some applause from the business audience.

The business leaders present were largely left underwhelmed. Several executives noted that the debate produced broad principles rather than concrete proposals. "I heard candidates for prime minister rather than candidates for the presidency," said François Xavier Huard, head of the dairy industry federation. Among those who made a more favourable impression on the audience, Attal appeared to receive the strongest applause from the business community, with Retailleau also drawing positive responses.

The debate reflects the complex arithmetic facing French voters. Under France's two-round presidential system, a fragmented moderate vote in the first round risks sending Le Pen and Mélenchon into a run-off that would exclude more centrist parties entirely — a prospect that has alarmed many establishment figures. A new Ifop-Fiducial poll this week suggested exactly such a scenario is plausible. On the centre-left, Glucksmann — a former political commentator turned MEP — is planning to compete in a Socialist Party primary in October to consolidate the left-wing vote.

The election is scheduled for April 2027, when Macron will have completed the maximum two consecutive terms allowed under the French constitution. With months still to go, Thursday's debate offered an early glimpse of the fault lines likely to define the campaign — and underscored just how wide open the race remains.