Le Débat

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Get your Sarkozy-Royal debate coverage here. The assessment: "Despite [some] clashes, neither candidate appeared to score a decisive blow."

Some key excerpts:

Royal: "I want to get France out of the situation it's in today... I want to be the president of the republic who's going to make a France where aggression and violence are in retreat, who's going to make a France that will win the battle against unemployment and a high cost of living, who will also enable inequalities to recede, because I believe that all these kinds of insecurity in daily life -- social insecurity -- call for new rules of the game, call for a new political system, call basically for more effective politicians than those of the last five years and, no doubt, beyond."

Sarkozy: "I want to create that change in France that others have conducted in other countries, so that France remains faithful to its identity. There's no reason why we should not have full employment, that we should not manage to have immigration under control. I want workers to be respected. I want to carry the question of purchasing power. I want to protect the French of companies moving abroad."

You can read more about their respective policies here.