round of its presidential election on sunday and the candidates have been staging some of their last major rallies. emmanuel macron, on the centre left, who is just ahead in most polls, told a crowd in nantes he was the only candidate capable of ensuring security. his closest challenger is the far right leader marine le pen. she s promising a referendum on france s membership of the european union and says she opposes all immigration. our correspondent hugh schofield was at her rally in marseille. for her last rally, marine le pen went back to the roots of the front national, the message was vintage fn, blaming immigration forthe country s many woes and promising a harder line when she is in power. we have to protect the unity of our people. we have to protect them from permanent social austerity. i want to protect the people i am part of. i want to protect the people who have seen me go grow and see my children grow and will see my children s children grow. this is marine le
russia was congratulating donald trump on becoming president, and expressing the hope that both countries would take their relationship to a whole new level. now, moscow s relations with the us and the west are so bad that the russian prime minister dmitri medvedev talks of them as ruined . that was after america s response to the recent chemical attack in syria. but even before that, there was the stand off in ukraine, and accusations of russian interference in american elections. now there are fears the russians could meddle in the french elections and other european votes this year. my guest is vladimir chizhov, russia s ambassador to the eu. will russia promise not to pervert democracy in europe? vladimir chizhov, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. france s foreign minister jean marc ayrault has accused russia of meddling in french democratic life. is that true? of course it s not. well, i m afraid that this wave of anti russian rhetoric has become contagious, and has sprea
why anti europe candidates are finding fertile ground in the french countryside. but first, one of your‘s most watched elections in years is in its fine final years. france holds the first round of its presidential election on sunday and the candidates have been staging some of their last major rallies. emmanuel macron, on the centre left, who is just ahead in most polls, told a crowd in nantes he was the only candidate capable of ensuring security. his h is closest his closest challenger is the far right leader marine le pen. she is promising a referendum on france s membership of the european union, and says she will stop all immigration. our correspondent hugh schofield was at her rally in marseille. she has gone back to the rest of the front nationale. she bled immigration for the country s many woes and promised a new heart alone when she is in power. translation: we have to protect the unity of our people. how to protect them if we are in permanent social austeri