The current president, the centrist Emmanuel Macron (27.6%) and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen (23%) went to the ballot in the first round of the French elections which, although with some changes, redrew the same scenario as in the previous presidential appointment, in 2017. The key date now is April 24, when the French are called to elect their new president for the next 5 years. We review the key lines of the electoral programs of the candidates.
‘Deja vu’. The first round of the French elections drew a scenario almost identical to that of 2017, when the now president, Emmanuel Macron, and the far-right Marine Le Pen also won the majority of the support in their race for the Elysee.
This Sunday, April 10, Macron, the centrist candidate of La República En Marcha, won 27.6% of the support compared to 23% obtained by Le Pen, the ultraconservative of National Regroupment.
Leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon was left a little less than one percentage point behind, who won 22.2% of the support among the electorate of the European country.
The key date now is April 24, the date on which the second round will take place, in which both candidates will measure their forces in order to see who will govern the second largest economy in the European Union and the seventh largest in the world for the next 5 years. years.
Most of the candidates who failed to pass the cutoff of this first appointment have already shown their support for the current president in the run-up, creating a sort of “sanitary cordon”, as happened in 2017, when Macron, with 66.1 % of the votes, was imposed on Le Pen, who obtained 33.9% of the support of the voters.
“I will vote in conscience for Macron,” said Valérie Pécresse, the candidate for the Republicans. She was joined by Yannick Jadot, the representative of the Greens, and Fabien Roussel, of the Communist Party. Even Mélenchon, from France Insoumise, said during his speech after hearing the first projections of the results that his voters “know who we do not have to vote for” and that they should not give “not a single vote for Le Pen”.
While awaiting the final decision of the French on April 24, the candidates for the Elysée have different programs, which they will have to defend during the next two weeks in the final stretch of a campaign, in which the president has not participated in a active to date. The key lines of his electoral programs will define the course of the country for the next five years.
Economy
“The policies I want to implement are not aimed at the stock markets, which will be a change from Emmanuel Macron,” said Marine Le Pen during the election campaign. The candidate mocked investors’ “catastrophic claims” and called her economic agenda “serious.” Le Pen is committed to increasing support for companies and “giving money back to the French” with reductions in VAT and France’s contributions to the common budget of the European Union.
Among the far-right’s priority measures is the reduction of energy taxes from 20% to 5.5% to “give oxygen to the French.”
For his part, President Macron arrives with economic data that supports his management, after the French economy rebounded strongly after the hardest moments of the cononavirus pandemic.
In 2021, French GDP rebounded by 7% from the previous year, when a contraction of 8% was recorded. And although the average growth for the year was 1.6% below the GDP of 2019, in the last quarter of last year, the second largest economy in the eurozone managed to exceed its pre-pandemic activity and the outlook for 2022 , although more moderate, point to a growth of 3.9% compared to 2021.
Thus, Macron is betting on a revaluation of pensions this coming summer if he gets re-election and, in an interview with the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’, he announced a pension reform in the fall if his permanence in the Elysee is assured.
Another of the centrist’s measures is to delay the retirement age from 62 to 65, unlike Le Pen, who wants to lower it to 60.
⚡ 🇫🇷FLASH – Interrogé sur France Inter, E.#Macron annonce that in case of reelection, he will launch the reform of withdrawals [report à 65 ans] “From the debut of the mandate”. Selon Elabe, seules the people aged 65 years and + are mostly in favor of retiring at 65 years (54%).
— Breves de presse (@Brevesdepresse) April 4, 2022
Macron has also promised to continue fighting against unemployment, whose rate at the end of 2021 was 7.4%, the lowest since 2008, and to combat the fiscal deficit, one of the economic blemishes of his legislature.
Security
In terms of security, the president proposed a program in January to compete with the postulates of the most radical right. The centrist proposes an increase of 15,000 million euros in the allocation of funds for security in the next 5 years, an increase of 20%. He also aims to multiply the resources allocated to the security forces and double the number of agents “before 2030”.
Macron has promised the creation of 200 gendarmerie units in rural areas and an increased police presence in “difficult neighborhoods” to “dismantle the main drug trafficking points.”
For its part, Marine Le Pen’s security program goes through the establishment of legitimate defense for law enforcement agents, the registration of street harassers in the file of sexual offenders, the creation of 25,000 new prison places by 2027, the elimination of the possibility of reducing prison sentences, the establishment of minimum sentences and the multiplication of the number of magistrates.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Le Pen is committed to a “moderate” position and has spoken of the “serious consequences” that a hypothetical embargo on Russian oil and gas would have, although she has been in favor of economic sanctions against the Russian regime. of Vladimir Putin. For his part, Macron has been leading the diplomatic stance for weeks, holding phone calls and even face-to-face meetings, before the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, with the Russian president and also with the Ukrainian leader Volodímir Zelensky.
Migration
Migration is once again at the center of the electoral contest. Marine Le Pen maintains her strong-arm position and includes in her electoral program the organization of a referendum on a bill to include in the Constitution the “control” of immigration, the “national priority” and the primacy of French law over international and European.
The far-right is committed to reinstating the crime of illegal stay and wants to force officials to “report” the presence of irregular migrants. She also wants to promote the abolition of the residence permit for those foreigners who have not worked in the last year and wants to reserve social aid for the French as well as make solidarity subsidies conditional on immigrants having been working in the country for at least 5 years. .
Macron’s proposals also go along the lines of reinforcing border controls in the European Union, making the long-term residence permit subject to passing a language test and job placement.
The president advocates in his program for the expulsion of foreigners who contribute to the disturbance of public order and wants to speed up asylum procedures, as well as speed up expulsions in case they are denied.
Environment
In environmental matters, Emmanuel Macron intends to promote, if he is re-elected, renewable energies with the implementation of 50 offshore wind farms by 2050, the mass production of hybrid and electric vehicles and the construction of six new generation nuclear reactors.
Among his proposals is also to condition the salary of the leaders of large companies to their commitment to meet environmental and social objectives.
For her part, Marine Le Pen opts in her program for the elimination of subsidies for “intermittent energies”, for the relaunch of the hydroelectric and nuclear sectors, as well as for strengthening investment in hydrogen.
The far-right also wants to paralyze projects related to wind energy and intends to progressively dismantle all the currently existing parks.
With information from EFE and local media
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