Seven declared candidates for the 2027 French presidential election will gather in Paris on Thursday, August 27, for the first major televised debate of the upcoming campaign season.
The event will take place starting at 4:45 p.m. at the Roland-Garros complex, the famous tennis venue in the French capital. Television news network LCI will broadcast the confrontation live and exclusively on channel 15, with presenter Amélie Carrouër moderating the discussion. Digital viewers will also be able to follow live coverage on the TF1info news portal.
The debate is organized by the Mouvement des Entreprises de France, known as Medef, which serves as the principal confederation of French businesses and employers. Held during Medef's flagship annual conference, La Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France, the meeting offers presidential hopefuls their first formal arena to outline and defend their economic vision directly before business executives.
The lineup features prominent political figures representing a broad spectrum of French politics: Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the left-wing La France Insoumise, Bruno Retailleau of the center-right party Les Républicains, Gabriel Attal representing the centrist Renaissance party, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Rassemblement National, Raphaël Glucksmann of the center-left Place Publique, Marine Tondelier of the green party Les Écologistes, and former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe of the center-right party Horizons.
LCI announces second weekend debate lineup
Following Thursday's opening debate, news channel LCI will host a second series of political discussions on Saturday, August 29. The weekend coverage is held in partnership with the third annual summer university of the Laboratoire de la République, a French political research institute and think tank focused on republican principles.
Journalist Darius Rochebin will present two separate debate sessions during the Saturday broadcast. The first debate, scheduled for 2:00 p.m., brings together Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and former Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer for a discussion centered on national sovereignty and state governance.
A second session at 4:45 p.m. will feature a head-to-head debate between former President of the Republic François Hollande and former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. Ahead of Thursday's gathering, Medef president Patrick Martin raised concerns over economic policy, criticizing what he described as an often failing state.
