Fillon fights on, Macron unveils policies in French leadership race
PARIS: French rightwing presidential candidate Francois Fillon tried yesterday to keep his embattled campaign on track after he revealed he is to be charged over a fake jobs scandal that has dogged his bid.
The 62-year- old conservative former prime minister was favourite at the turn of the year to become France’s next leader after clinching the nomination for the Republicans party in November.
But allegations that he used public funds to pay his Britishborn wife, Penelope, and two of their children around 900,000 euros for fake parliamentary jobs have eroded his support, and yesterday he announced that he would face criminal charges over the claims.
Fillon will meet investigating magistrates on March 15 but he issued a defiant statement, saying the charges were “entirely calculated to stop me being a candidate for the presidential election”.
“I won’t give in, I won’t surrender and I won’t withdraw,” Fillon said, claiming he was the target of a ‘political assassination’.
A source close to the case told AFP that Penelope, who shuns the limelight, would also be summoned to be charged.
Within hours of Fillon’s press conference, support began to ebb away.
A senior aide, Bruno Le Maire, quit his team and criticised him for backtracking on a pledge to step aside if he was charged.
A small centrist party, the UDI, said it was ‘suspending’ its support and would decide whether to withdraw its backing for good.
One poll showed yesterday that only 25 per cent of French people thought Fillon should carry on with his presidential bid, a sharp drop compared to early February.
Fillon’s woes are the latest twist in an extraordinary campaign that culminates in a two- stage contest on April 23 and May 7.
Yesterday, high-flying centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron unveiled his policy programme in an attempt to answer critics who say the 39-year- old former economy minister is all image and little substance.
As part of his agenda, he vowed to end nepotism in government by preventing parliamentarians from employing their family members.
Macron, who launched his political movement only last April, is currently shown as the winner of a presidential run- off vote in May, with polls indicating he would face far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Fillon meanwhile will visit the Gard region in southern France.
His advisor Jerome Chartier said he was also planning a rally in Paris on Sunday. — AFP