Fillon wants united Europe, not Frexit

Macron holds onto narrow lead

PARIS, April 6, (Agencies): Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon is campaigning for a tougher, more united Europe that can defend itself against violent extremists and unfair trade — and warns that a “Frexit” would lead to chaos and the death of the EU.

Most of the 11 French presidential candidates are skeptical about the 28-nation European Union, amid growing nationalist sentiment around Europe and Britain’s pending exit from the bloc, called Brexit. Some, like far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, even support “Frexit” — a French departure from the EU.

But Fillon argued Thursday the EU is “indispensable to ensure the French, and all Europeans, security and economic prosperity.”

Fillon warned that Le Pen’s proposals to leave the EU and the shared euro currency “would be assured chaos, and the implosion of Europe.”

If France were to quit the EU — founded 60 years ago to prevent future world wars — the bloc would likely collapse.

Fillon was once the frontrunner in the French presidential race but corruption allegations have hurt his chances in the two-round April 23-May 7 election.

Fillon acknowledged that the “Brussels machine” has become too powerful and that the bloc has become too heavily regulated and needs to “recreate itself.”

So he proposed tougher protection for the EU’s external borders and said EU members should align their asylum and deportation practices.

He also said Europe should defend itself against trade threats, arguing for tougher EU rules against possible trade dumping and tax evasion by US or Asian companies.

Fillon

Competition

“We are in a world of competition where each defends its interests tooth and nail. We should do the same,” he told reporters in Paris.

Pledging to boost French defense spending, he said European countries should stop assuming that NATO or the US will defend Europe.

Several of the 11 candidates argue either for a “Frexit” — a French departure from the EU — or some other reduced role for the EU.

Rival independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, seen as the front-runner in the presidential race, says the EU needs to defend its common ideals of peace, prosperity and freedom. He wants the EU to stand up to those who “openly want a weakening of Europe: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, as well as the main authoritarian leaders of the Middle East.”

The top two vote-getters on the April 23 presidential ballot will go into a presidential runoff on May 7.

Meanwhile, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is threatening to turn France’s presidential election into a four-way race, the latest opinion polls show, confirming a surge of support for him after a strong showing in a TV debate this week.

Two polls conducted after a televised debate among candidates on Tuesday night showed the 65-year-old Communist party-backed candidate just a percentage point or two behind third-placed conservative Francois Fillon in an unpredictable contest in which over a third of voters are still undecided.

A Harris Interactive poll published on Thursday showed centrist Emmanuel Macron holding onto a narrow first round lead over far-right leader Marine Le Pen, with the two frontrunners on 25 and 24 percent respectively.

The two-stage election will be held on April 23 and May 7.

With just over two weeks to go until voting starts, the big move, however, was the surge by Melenchon, a veteran campaigner of the far left.

Intentions to vote for him climbed to 17 percent in the first round, up from 13.5 percent two weeks ago, while Fillon, whose campaign has struggled as he faced nepotism allegations, saw his score hold steady at 18 percent.

Gap

A separate Elabe poll published on Wednesday evening showed Melenchon up 2 points on a week ago, also at 17 percent, and also narrowing the gap with Fillon, who was up 1 point at 19 percent. It had Le Pen and Macron on 23.5 percent each.

Both polls showed Macron beating Le Pen comfortably in the second round.

A political showman who excoriates establishment politicians with his rapid-fire discourse, Melenchon was seen by pollsters as the most convincing performer in the four-hour TV debate on Tuesday night that was watched by more than 6 million people.

He clashed with Le Pen during the debate over her focus on the tensions created by religion in politics, but his policies advocating greater worker protection, and his hostility to the European Union in its current form, are similar to hers.

He would also pull France out of NATO and called during the debate for the debt of troubled euro zone states to be effectively written off to allow massive new investment to spur growth.

Founder of the “France Unbowed” party, he has split the left-wing vote and turned the Socialists into also-rans after five years of rule by Socialist President Francois Hollande marked by high unemployment and low economic growth.

Pollsters say Melenchon is gaining votes from Hamon, who is struggling to stay above a 10 percent rating in the polls, but he is also getting votes from further afield.

Gianni Pierson, 38, from the staunchly conservative town of Provins where Fillon campaigned on Wednesday, had traditionally voted on the right, and plumped for ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy at the last election in 2012.

Partly as a result of losing his job as a salesman, he has turned more to the left – first Hamon, but now, he told Reuters, “almost made my choice for Melenchon” after being inspired by his performance in debates.

In a potential boost for Hamon though, Socialist Finance Minister Michel Sapin confirmed on Thursday that he would vote for the party’s official candidate.

Some other senior Socialists, including Jean-Yves Le Drian have jumped ship to join Macron.

The 39-year-old ex-banker was until 2016 a minister on the Socialist government, but is running as an independent having formed his own political movement called En Marche! (Onwards!)