Paris | French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) accused his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, of being in thrall to Vladimir Putin over a years-old Russian bank loan to her party during a fiery TV debate ahead of Sunday’s election.
While he also charged Ms Le Pen with harbouring an undiminished desire to pull France out of the European Union, she struck back with a pledge to put money back in the pockets of millions of French made poorer during his five-year presidency.
