Macron angers French left, far right insists no NATO exit

PARIS - President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of transphobia on Wednesday after criticising an election manifesto while the leader of the far-right RN party insisted he would not question France's international commitments including on NATO.

With less than two weeks before the first round of polling in the snap elections called by Macron in response to his party's defeat by the far right in European polls, the president is struggling to make up ground.

His ruling alliance is forecast by opinion polls to come only third in the legislative elections on June 30 - followed by a second round on 7 July - behind the far-right National Rally (RN) and a new left-wing alliance.

This could put RN leader Jordan Bardella in a position to become prime minister in an awkward "cohabitation" with Macron, although the 28-year-old has insisted he will only accept this if his party and allies win an absolute majority of seats.

Visiting a major defence show outside Paris, Bardella insisted that he "doesn't plan to question the commitments France has made on the international stage" on defence if he takes power.

He added that France would keep up weapons deliveries to Ukraine under an RN government - although long-range missiles and other arms that could hit Russian territory would be ruled out to "avoid any escalation risk".

"Our credibility towards our European partners and NATO allies is at stake," he said at the Eurosatory arms trade show outside Paris, moderating the far right's historic hostility to the Atlantic alliance.

Opponents have long pointed to a massive loan the RN received from a Russian bank in 2014, which it has since repaid, and the past warm relationship between its figurehead Marine Le Pen and the Kremlin.

- 'Four times worse' -

The emergence of the New Popular Front (NFP), which groups left-wingers from Socialists to Communists, has been an unwelcome development for Macron since he called the snap elections in the hope of rallying moderates across the spectrum.

But Macron said Tuesday on a visit to western France that he had "confidence in the French" not to choose either extreme on the left and right.

"They see well what is on offer. The RN and its allies offer things which may make people happy but in the end we are talking 100 billion (euros) a year" ($107 billion), he said.

Bardella has tried to shore up his economic credibility by soft-pedalling costly promises including slashing VAT on energy and fuel.

France's public debt of 110 percent of GDP - over three trillion euros - was back in focus Wednesday with the European Commission opening an excessive deficit procedure against Paris.

Macron had on Tuesday also lashed out at NFP, charging that "with the extreme left it's four times worse" than the far right.

"There is no more secularism, they will go back on the immigration law and there are things that are completely farcical like changing your gender at the town hall," he said.

The left-wing coalition's programme includes a proposal allowing the change of civil status.

Anti-discrimination groups rejected the comments, with SOS Homophobie accusing the president of "transphobia".

"How is it possible that this man who was elected and re-elected to confront the extreme right is in reality repeating the discourse of the extreme right?" Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure told RTL.

- 'Scourge of Anti-Semitism' -

The fight against anti-Semitism was at the centre of the campaign Wednesday after two boys aged 13 were charged with the rape motivated by anti-Semitism of a 12-year-old Jewish girl outside Paris.

Macron told a cabinet meeting that a "scourge of anti-Semitism" threatens French schools and called for "dialogue" about racism and hatred of Jews in classrooms.

Strongly pro-Palestinian and regularly accused of anti-Semitism by opponents including Macron, hard-left LFI's former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted that he was "horrified" by the attack.

Meanwhile Marine Le Pen - whose party was co-founded by a former member of the Nazi Waffen SS paramilitary - said the gang rape "revolts us", accusing the "extreme left" of using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for political ends.

By Stuart Williams And Tom Barfield