Le Pen targets populist vote
CANDIDATE SELLS VISION TO PUT FRANCE FIRST High import taxes and clamping down on migrants part of campaign pledges.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen yesterday launched her presidential programme with a major rally that featured many of the themes that propelled Republican Donald Trump to the White House.
The blonde 48-year-old published a list of 144 “commitments” on Saturday built around putting France first, reclaiming sovereignty from the European Union (EU) and clamping down on immigration.
“French people on the whole share our vision of the country, the themes which are ours: the patriotism on which our project is built and the defence of our civilisation,” she said in the city of Lyon on Saturday.
Le Pen said France was “at a crossroads where tomorrow we might not recognise our country any more”.
But despite her confidence and the seemingly favourable international winds, Le Pen is seen as unlikely to emerge as winner in April and May’s two-round election, according to polls.
The anti-elite career politician is the favourite to win the first round, but a mainstream candidate would beat her in the second round when moderate voters are expected to close ranks to keep her out, surveys show.
The election was long seen as a two-horse race between Le Pen and long-time right-wing frontrunner Francois Fillon.
But the scandal in which Fillon’s wife earned a salary as his parliamentary assistant amid suspicions that she never actually worked has boosted the chances of 39-year-old centrist independent Emmanuel Macron.
A former economy minister under unpopular President Francois Hollande, Macron is running as an outsider from the system and has founded his own party, En Marche (On The Move).
Among the key proposals in Le Pen’s “commitments” is a pledge to hold a referendum soon after taking power on whether France should remain in the EU.
She favours an overhauled EU, which would repatriate almost all powers over economic policy, currencies and border control to member states.
Le Pen also proposes “zero tolerance” of crime, 15 000 extra police, higher taxes on foreign workers and imports, and freeing small firms from red tape.
She also wants to lower the retirement age and increase welfare payments in a bid to appeal to areas suffering from job losses. –