Fillon vows to fight to the end despite probe

French presidential hopeful summoned by magistrates on March 15; suffers fresh blow as top adviser quits

Conservative Francois Fillon promised yesterday to fight “to the end” in France’s presidential election despite a deepening investigation into a financial scandal, but his campaign suffered a new blow as a top aide resigned.

The former prime minister revealed that investigating magistrates had summoned him to appear before them on March 15 to be placed under formal investigation over allegations that he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money to do very little work.

In a defiant speech at his party headquarters, he repeated his denials of wrongdoing, complained of judicial and media bias amounting to a “political assassination”, and appealed directly for the support of the French people.

“It’s not just me being assassinated. It’s the presidential election,” he said, flanked by senior party members, after a morning of speculation he was about to quit the race.

In a new setback for Fillon, Bruno Le Maire resigned as his adviser on international affairs, saying the candidate had gone back on his word to withdraw from the election if he was placed under formal investigation.

Emmanuel Macron’s spartan presidential campaign headquarters in western Paris is abuzz with rows of young recruits busy at their laptops. Just two months ago the offices of En Marche!, the centrist party that has shaken up France’s traditional left-right political scene since it was launched last April, were empty.

It now has 200,000 members and opinion polls show that 39-year-old Macron could become France’s youngest leader since the Second World War by nearly 10 years after the presidential election, expected to be decided in two rounds in April and May. He is also drawing support away from the mainstream parties.

“When you’re in here I really feel like we’re in a young political start-up. We do things completely differently,” said Maelle Charreau, a political science student at En Marche’s headquarters. “And then there’s the personality of Emmanuel Macron which appeals to all of us here, his youth but also his political courage.”

His supporters see him as a breath of fresh air in a political field full of seasoned insiders such as Socialist President Francois Hollande and The Republicains presidential candidate Francois Fillon, a former prime minister. Although admirers see Macron as something different, he graduated from the elite ENA school, a training ground for many French politicians and businessmen, before working in the finance ministry and becoming economy minister for Hollande.

He was also an investment banker at Rothschild, a factor which could make him vulnerable if he up comes directly against farright anti-establishment candidate Marine Le Pen.

But with En Marche! membership swelling — the Socialists are down 40,000 at 86,000 since the unpopular Hollande took office, The Republicans have 200,000 and there are 83,000 members of Le Pen’s National Front — Macron has also caught the eye of established politicians from other parties.

only launched his political movement “En Marche” (“On the Move”) last April, is currently shown as the winner of a run-off vote on May 7.

He urged the justice system to be “allowed to do its work as normal” while reminding Fillon that victory in the election

Backtrack on pledge

He has also had to backtrack on a previous pledge to withdraw if ever he was charged.

“I submit myself before the French people, because only the ballot box, and not an investigation directed against me, can decide who will be the next president of the republic,” he said yesterday.

Fillon had postponed a visit to a key farm show earlier in the morning and announced the press conference, sending the rumour mill into overdrive amid speculation he would withdraw.

Though employing a family member is not illegal in France, Fillon has not published evidence publicly of Penelope’s work beyond her contracts which show various periods of employment since 1988.

British-born Penelope, or Penny as she is known, and two of their five children were paid around €900,000 (Dh3.48 million or $950,000) from public funds from Fillon’s office budget, the Canard Enchaine newspaper has reported.