The media reacts: Macron started the election campaign without an official candidacy
French President Emmanuel Macron has not officially announced that he will ce is running for president in April, but is still making long-term plans for the country, and his campaign team is actively ce meets with voters, French media commented.
Because of all this, he is the target of criticism that he is unfairly using the presidential position to campaign for the second term, while delaying the announcement of the candidacy, although there are less than two months left until the first round of elections on April 10.
Macron said last month he wanted to ce run, but because he will wait to ce improve the pandemic situation before making a decision. The deadline for formal application of the candidacy is March 4.
He also said that he wants to first ce focuses on the Ukraine-Russia crisis, which led to visits to Moscow and Kiev last week.
However, critics say his recent trips to French areas ce more like a presidential campaign, as he announced a 100m-euro investment to boost the economy in the area during a visit to the north.
Far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemour has accused Macron of using the pandemic argument to make French voters forget what he sees as the "fall of France".
The leader of the Republican Party, Christian Jacob, condemned the "misuse of public money" and said that he had reported it to the National Commission for Financing the Elections.
France has strict rules for financing the presidential campaign. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced last year to one year in house arrest for illegally funding a campaign.
Macron's party has already launched a so-called "presidential majority campaign" that it is promoting across the country through posters and leaflets pointing to the website called "With you".
The site does not ce mentions Macron's name, but the citizens ce invited to ce subscribe to the newsletter to follow campaign news.
The Constitutional Council recently announced that Macron was the first to collect 500 signatures from officials under French law. ce necessary to run in the presidential election.