By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) -French prime minister Gabriel Attal accused his far-right and leftwing political opponents of “promising the moon” in a three-way televised debate late on Tuesday forward of subsequent Sunday’s first spherical of early parliamentary elections.

In a muddled, complicated TV debate between leaders of the three top-polling blocs, Attal got here underneath strain from his far-right opponent, Jordan Bardella, who repeatedly interrupted him and accused him of “lecturing” and missing credibility.

“The difference between my competitors and me is that, as prime minister, I don’t want to lie to the French. I don’t want to promise them the moon,” Attal stated within the 90 minute debate that produced no main coverage bulletins.

Opinion polls present the far-right Nationwide Rally (RN) successful the two-round election on June 30 and July 7, however with out an absolute majority, doubtlessly sharing energy with centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who shocked the nation by calling snap elections earlier this month.

Bardella, who forged himself as a possible “purchasing power prime minister”, began the talk by producing the image of an electrical energy invoice he stated was making hundreds of thousands of individuals anxious, reiterating his pledge to chop VAT on energy and gas.

He and Attal traded barbs over the flagship cost-of-living proposal, with the prime minister repeatedly asking him to elucidate how he would fund a measure he stated would value considerably greater than Bardella’s 12 billion euros estimate.

However Bardella shot again, saying Attal, who’s main the marketing campaign for Macron’s camp, had zero credibility on public funds.

“I’m hearing you, Mr Attal, lecturing us on budget discipline, despite the fact you now have the biggest debt in the euro zone and you have created a public deficit of 5.4%,” he stated, including France was now in a state of “near bankruptcy”.

However Bardella, the 28-year-old who led Marine Le Pen’s profitable marketing campaign for the European parliament election earlier this month, additionally got here underneath fireplace.

The candidate for the left-wing New Standard Entrance alliance, Manuel Bompard, accused him of watering down and dropping expensive populist measures now that he was getting nearer to doubtlessly taking energy.

“The truth is that little by little, he has abandoned, over the past 10 days, all the cost-of-living measures in his manifesto,” he stated.

Bardella, who has promised to chop the minimal pension age to 60 for individuals who began work earlier than 20, was additionally pushed to make clear what he would do for somebody whose profession began at 24.

He stated that individual may retire at 66, the primary time he had talked about such an outdated age, inflicting a lot response on social media.

Bardella’s proposal of exempting the under-30 of revenue tax was additionally mocked by Attal, who stated it made no sense to exempt wealthy younger professionals, resembling one among France’s main soccer stars, who was signed up by prime Spanish membership Actual Madrid this month.

“Kylian Mbappé was wrong to go to Madrid, he should have stayed here, since with you he would have stopped paying taxes,” Attal stated.