France — Forget about home court advantage In this economically depressed area of northern France there isn’t much love for the local boy who went on to become one of his country’s youngest-ever presidents several locals described him as a wealthy man who is out of touch with the everyday concerns of “little people.” Some said they were planning to vote for his rival in the final round of the presidential election on April 24 He’s a rich man’s president,” said retired accountant Didier Balesdens as he queued up at the market in Longueau on the outskirts of the northern city of Amiens where Macron spent his childhood “He lent money to big companies during the pandemic but couldn’t he have taken some of their profits to help people?” who voted for the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round isn’t comfortable voting for Le Pen and worries about the tensions her immigration policies would create if she became president But his hatred of Macron and “his inability to understand little people” trumps those concerns and could lead him to cast a vote for Le Pen in the final round Such contempt on his home turf underscores wider challenges for Macron For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls Mindful of the challenge, Macron has rushed to soften his image in the lead-up to the final round. He has backtracked on his proposal to push back the age of retirement to 65, and offered to rehire unvaccinated nurses who had been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic But Balesdens and others like him aren’t convinced by the last-minute changes Hostility toward Macron was widespread this week among locals who spoke to POLITICO in Longueau just a short drive from where Macron grew up in the Somme department “He hasn’t left good memories here,” said Longueau mayor and left-wing independent Pascal Ourdouillé, recalling Macron’s failed attempt to keep a local Whirlpool factory open. Even if Macron’s government boasts it brought unemployment down to its lowest point since 2008 it’s local job losses that made headlines here The closure of the white goods factory during Macron’s mandate became a symbol of his fight to keep industrial jobs in France During the campaign for the presidential election in 2017 both Le Pen and Macron met the Whirlpool workers and pledged to try and keep the factory open if they were elected made promises and didn’t keep them,” said Ourdouillé the factory closed despite several attempts to save it Others in Longueau said that despite their disappointment they would hold their noses and back Macron in the second round but particularly not Le Pen,” said pensioner Jacqueline Mast He makes promises and breaks them but the far right and their hatred of foreigners — no thank you.”  Mast echoes left-wingers like the Socialist mayor of Paris who are calling on voters to cast a vote for Macron to keep the far right out of power after being knocked out of the race in the first round Macron benefited from what’s called the “Republican front” against the far right by which left-wing voters loathe to see a far-right candidate gain power vote for the other camp despite their reservations But this time around things aren’t quite so simple Le Pen’s National Rally party is making inroads in low-income towns like Longueau this former commuter town for railway workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Socialist Party 27 percent backed Le Pen compared with 23 percent for Macron Many here say Le Pen’s strategy of detoxifying the National Rally is helping her Not only has she abandoned unpopular commitments to leave the EU and toned down her anti-immigration rhetoric but she has pursued a more down-to-earth agenda campaigning on bread-and-butter issues and promising to cut taxes on basic foodstuffs and fuel amid galloping inflation and they have been hard hit by inflation,” said Joël Brunet 60 percent of the voters in Longueau came out in support of Macron in a runoff vote against Le Pen though only 23 percent had voted for him in the first round Brunet thinks it’s unlikely Macron will benefit from the same backing this time “I don’t think it’s going to flip in favor of Le Pen but it’s going to be a lot tighter,” he said “It’s starting to chafe that every time we have to vote for a candidate we don’t approve of just to keep the far-right out of power,” he said Ourdouillé feels confident that the balance nationwide will fall in favor of Macron at the second round on April 24 EU executive is planning a two-track approach of incentives and retaliatory measures to convince the White House to strike a deal Paris accused Russia’s Fancy Bear group of conducting cyberattacks on the French president’s campaign team Paris and Berlin have been at loggerheads for years you’re horrible people” and walk away if Moscow or Kyiv don’t play ball By 2009-12-02T10:17:00+00:00 PIPC is to be rolled out nationally over the next 10 years AUSTRIA: Wien transport operator Wiener Linien has awarded Siemens Mobility a €25m contract to supply automatic train control equipment for two extensions to the city's metro network Work is underway to extend Line U2 by 5 km to Aspernstrasse by late 2010 CHINA: Beijing MTR Corp has awarded a consortium of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Beijing Hua-Tie Information Technology Development Co and Thales a turnkey contract to provide signalling for the Daxing Line the 11-station line will extend the recently-opened Beijing metro Line 4 south .. 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