With just days left to convince French voters of their credentials, the candidates vying to become president kicked off the final week of the campaign with attacks on each other designed to woo over wavering or undecided voters.

At a rally in Paris, frontrunner Emmanuel Macron launched into a tirade against his right-wing rival Marine Le Pen, condemning her politics as that of fear, hatred and violence.

Calling her "the anti-France candidate", he insisted a stronger Europe would mean a stronger France.

He told a crowd of several thousand supporters that Ms Le Pen would reduce workers' rights and the ability of French farmers and businesses to trade and export effectively.

Accusing Ms Le Pen of exploiting the anger of voters, centrist Mr Macron criticised what he called her rude manners and labelled her "the heir" to her father's politics.


Jean-Marie Le Pen co-founded the National Front party his daughter now leads but she expelled him for his anti-Semitism.

Mr Macron told his supporters "Don't boo her, fight her", insisting her policies as president would be "to fight against press freedom", "against women's rights, the right to abortion" and "against same-sex couples' rights".

:: Thousands march in rival rallies days before France presidential election

He was trying to resonate with a broad demographic and even told those tempted by Ms Le Pen that he would not judge them if they voted for the far-right out of desperation.

But he insisted she did not deserve their votes and his team rejected her accusation that after serving under the current President he is simply another establishment candidate.

Profile: Emmanuel Macron vs Marine Le Pen

Mr Macron's spokeswoman Anne Lebreton told Sky News: "She pretends to be the people's candidate. She is everything but that.

"Emmanuel Macron on the other hand, he created a party from scratch a year ago and all the electoral figures that came out shows that we are now a mixture of what used to be the right and used to be the left.

"The electoral map has completely changed.

"We are the real renewal party and she has a really hard time with that."

:: Sky Views: EU may be doomed even if Macron wins

But Ms Le Pen knows Mr Macron's time as economy minister in Francois Hollande's socialist government helps feed the narrative that he is the current President's lapdog.

She told people, at what is thought to have been her final major rally of the election: "Mr. Macron, I am telling you, is the outgoing candidate.

Le Pen: 'Seize the historic moment'

"Since December French people thought they had gotten rid of Francois Hollande, that President so hated by the French people, that president who failed France, that president who never presided for the people.

"People had seen him leaving by the door, and there he is back through the window."

That is a narrative Ms Le Pen will continue to push in the final days of the campaign, trying to convince voters Mr Macron is not just 'same old' but is a puppet of the world of finance whose pro-business policies would not create jobs in France but send them abroad and leave French workers struggling.

Macron: 'I will need your trust'

Mr Macron is campaigning on a pro-European, pro-free market, liberal agenda that is in stark contrast to Ms Le Pen's anti-globalisation, anti-European Union stance but both candidates have been noticeably trying to shift their public positions to entice more voters.

Despite Ms Le Pen gaining a few points in the last few days, the polls still have Mr Macron trouncing her on Sunday after what looks set to become an increasingly tense and nasty campaign.