French president has yet to launch his campaign but rivals are finding it tough to compete with the global go-between on Ukraine
This time last year, the French presidential election was set to be a nail-biting race. Opinion polls suggested that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was closing in on Emmanuel Macron, threatening his bid for a second term. One even suggested she might win the first-round vote.
When the hard-right, hawkish Eric Zemmour joined the fray – but before he declared he was running – the political talk was dominated for several weeks by his anti-immigration, anti-Islam programme.
