Fillon’s campaign marred by ‘gifts’

Ex-PM outlines plans

PARIS, March 13, (RTRS): Francois Fillon outlined his plans to streamline the state’s role in France’s economy on Monday as he sought to revive his faltering presidential campaign, but again found himself on the defensive, this time over expensive suits he accepted as gifts.

With six weeks to go until the first round of voting, the former prime minister who was once favourite to win the presidency is battling to rally supporters and keep his centre-right alliance on his side after allegations of financial impropriety.

In a blitz of media interviews and a news conference, Fillon, an open admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, spelled out his plans to reinvigorate France’s regulationladen economy.

“I want to make 100 billion euros ($107 billion) of savings over five years and reduce by 500,000 the number of public sector jobs,” he said at the news conference.

“My programme is based on an ambition to make France a great political and economic power.” He reiterated policies to end the 35-hour working week, a move that would be fiercely opposed by France’s muscular unions, and gradually raise the retirement age to 65 from 62 at present.

Fillon’s new offensive to put his campaign back on track comes two days before he is due to meet judges investigating the hundreds of thousands of euros of taxpayers’ money that he paid to his wife Penelope and his children for work they did for him.

The scandal, dubbed “Penelopegate” by France’s media, has tainted his reputation as a clean politician and knocked him from first to third place in opinion polls.

That would see him knocked out in round one of the ballot on April 23 in favour of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is campaigning on a platform to pull France out of the euro, and centrist Emmanuel Macron, the new frontrunner.

Fillon

Fillon has said that magistrates are likely to put him officially under investigation on counts of suspected misuse of public funds but, contrary to what he initially announced, has declared he will not drop out of the race if that happens.

Once again, however, Fillon’s attempts to revive a flagging campaign were troubled by potentially damaging stories of high living that sit awkwardly with his claim at his party’s primary last November to be beyond reproach ethically.

A newspaper at the weekend said he had received close to 50,000 euros worth of suits and clothing since 2012.

“I cannot see this as anything other than a manhunt,” he told Europe 1 radio.

Over the weekend, Fillon’s party apologised for tweeting a caricature of Macron that Fillon himself admitted was anti-Semitic.

Fillon made no mention of the fake jobs scandal besetting his campaign.

He has already accused the media and the justice system of bias in the affair. He insists he did nothing illegal and that he is the victim of politically motivated reports designed to destroy his bid for power after five years of Socialist Francois Hollande.

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For two straight months this winter, France was a net importer of electricity for the first time in five years, a trend that could continue during periods of peak demand no matter who wins the April-May presidential election.

France, usually a net exporter of electricity, imported a record 950 gigawatt-hours of power on a net basis in January, the highest level since 1980, as a cold snap increased demand for heating amid a series of prolonged nuclear outages.

Dependence on its neighbours during peak winter demand could accelerate if France fails to develop renewables further or extend the lifespan of its 58 nuclear reactors, while cross-border exchange capacity continues to grow.

France’s capacity to import electricity from its neighbours increased by 30 percent to 12.2 gigawatts (GW) in the 2016/2017 winter period, compared with winter 2015/2016, French grid operator RTE said in its winter outlook.

Data from the finance ministry showed France spent 290 million euros ($307 million) on electricity imports in January, compared with 56.5 million euros for the same month in 2016.

France passed an ambitious energy law in 2015 with a target of cutting the share of nuclear in its electricity mix to 50 percent by 2025 from 75 percent currently, while investing in renewables and efficiency to curb consumption and heat loss.

Although the share of renewables has increased to about 16 percent, it lags its peers and is well below the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) average of 24 percent, the IEA said in its January review of French energy policies.

“Reaching the (50 percent target) will require careful policy guidance, effective markets and strong measures for renewables and energy efficiency,” the IEA said.

Analysts say the situation in December and January was exceptional, blaming prolonged outages of about a dozen nuclear reactors for safety checks and low hydropower output as a lack of rain and snowfall pushed reservoir levels to new lows.

“However, given the high sensitivity of French electricity consumption to cold temperatures and the fact that the French production fleet has fallen due to coal plant closures, this issue will be present every year, maybe not to the extent we saw this winter,” said Utomi Odozi of Freepoint Commodities.

While President Francois Hollande has begun implementing some of the measures in the energy bill, tougher decisions such as shutting nuclear plants and increasing investments in renewables would have to be made by the next government after the April-May election.

Independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, the frontrunner to win the presidency, plans to stop coalpower generation by 2022. He would keep the 50 percent nuclear target while launching 26 GW of renewables development.

The cornerstone of Macron’s energy plan is 15 billion euros of investments with objectives that include immediate help for low-income earners to renovate about 2 million old homes to cut heat loss and curb consumption.