Twelve candidates are in the race with a run-off set for 6 May as none is expected to get 50 percent of the vote on Sunday. With one week to go, right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy remains in the lead followed by Segolene Royal from the left and then centrist politician Francis Bayrou.
Meanwhile, lurking in fourth place and hoping to create the same upset as in the 2002 elections when he got through to the second round is the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Illustrating the uncertainty felt by the electorate, swathes of voters have not yet made up their mind on whom they will vote for.
EU constitution Discussions on the EU constitution will feature once more this week with Czech president Vaclav Klaus set to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday. The Czech Republic has been one of the most vociferous critics of attempts to revive talks on the EU constitution, lobbying against setting a strict timetable for getting a new treaty and spelling out that Prague wants a simplified document.
Chancellor Merkel, who has been gaining a strong reputation for smoothing ruffled feathers on the European stage, has been working hard to disarm Mr Klaus.
Meanwhile, an equally vociferous politician, the prime minister of Poland Jaroslaw Kaczynski, will be in Brussels on Wednesday to meet commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
The meeting comes after a bumpy period in Brussels-Warsaw relations culminating recently in a high profile political showdown over a planned road through an natural beauty spot in Poland, which the commission has said is illegal.
Data privacy MEPs from the civil liberties committee will travel to Washington for meetings with the US administration and congress on data protection issues.
Euro-deputies have been particularly active on the air passenger information issue, forcing the matter before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ eventually struck down the deal which sees up to 34 pieces of information given to US authorities on air passengers coming from Europe on a technicality, but a new interim arrangement was agreed which some MEPs regard as having given more concessions to the US. The current deal is due to expire in July.
Vigil for BBC journalist On Monday, there will be a vigil in Brussels at 15.15 local time for the missing BBC journalist Alan Johnston outside the European Commission's Berlaymont building.
Mr Johnston has been missing since 12 March when he was abducted abducted in Gaza. His four-week captivity is the longest a kidnapped foreigner has been held in the volatile territory.
On Sunday (15 April) the BBC said it was "deeply concerned" about reports that Mr Johnston had been killed by a previously unknown Palestinian group "The brigades of Tawheed and Jihad" but the Palestinian government said there was no evidence to back up the claim.
