When it comes to outrage over bloated corporate salaries and rising cost of living, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen, are more united than one might think. When it comes to Ukraine, it’s an active case of vive la différence.On Friday both Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen decried as “shocking” the multimillion-euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis.CEO Carlos Tavares’s remuneration package of 19.15 million euros, or about $21 million, just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern.Stellantis, formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, sought Friday to defend Mr. Tavares’s work in turning around the fortunes of the French carmaker — and his pay package. The company, in which the French government is the third-largest shareholder, reported net profits last year had tripled to $15.2 billion. Mr. Macron, a centrist perceived by many left-wing voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay.“It’s shocking, it’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info.“People can’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish they’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.”Ms. Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, said: “Of course it’s shocking, and it’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty.”“One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders,” she said Friday on BFM television.On foreign policy, the fault lines between the two candidates run deep. Earlier this week, Ms. Le Pen warned against sending any more weapons to Ukraine, and called for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow’s war in Ukraine winds down.An outspoken nationalist who has long ties to Russia, Ms. Le Pen also confirmed that if she unseats Mr. Macron in France’s April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO’s military command and dial back French support for the entire European Union.Mr. Macron, a pro-EU centrist, is facing a harder-than-expected fight to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households the hardest. France’s European partners are worried that a possible Le Pen presidency could undermine Western unity as the U.S. and Europe seek to support Ukraine and end Russia’s ruinous war on its neighbor.Asked about military aid to Ukraine, Ms. Le Pen said she would continue defense and intelligence support.“I’m more reserved about direct arms deliveries. Why? Because … the line is thin between aid and becoming a co-belligerent,” the far-right leader said, citing concerns about an “escalation of this conflict that could bring a whole number of countries into a military commitment.”Earlier Wednesday, a French government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said France had sent $109 million worth of weapons to Ukraine in recent weeks as part of a flow of Western arms.Earlier in his term, Mr. Macron had tried to reach out to Vladimir Putin to improve Russia’s relations with the West, and Mr. Macron met with Mr. Putin weeks before the Russian invasion in an unsuccessful effort to prevent it. Since then, however, France has supported EU sanctions against Moscow and has offered sustained support to Ukraine.Ms. Le Pen also said France should strike a more independent path from the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.Despite the atrocities that Russian troops have committed in Ukraine, Ms. Le Pen said that NATO should seek a “strategic rapprochement” with Russia once the war is over. Such a relationship would be “in the interest of France and Europe and I think even of the United States,” she said, to stop Russia from forging a stronger alliance with world power China.She did not directly address the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.
