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[webfact]

France's Le Pen launches election bid with vow to fight globalisation

By Ingrid Melander

REUTERS

 

Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, attends the 2-day FN political rally to launch the presidential campaign in Lyon, France February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Robert Pratta

 

LYON, France (Reuters) - France's far-right party leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday told thousands of flag-waving supporters chanting "This is our country!" that she alone could protect them against Islamic fundamentalism and globalisation if elected president in May.

 

Buoyed by the election of President Donald Trump in the United States and by Britons' vote to leave the European Union, Le Pen's anti-immigration, anti-EU National Front (FN) hopes for similar populist momentum in France.

 

With hitherto favourite Francois Fillon, a conservative, embroiled in scandal over his wife's job, and rising centrist star Emmanuel Macron as yet untested, Le Pen's FN says it can thwart polls that see her losing in a second round run-off.

 

"What is at stake in this election ... is whether France can still be a free nation," Le Pen told supporters at her campaign launch rally. "The divide is not between the left and right any more but between patriots and globalists."

 

In 144 "commitments" published on Saturday, Le Pen says she would drastically curb migration, expel all illegal migrants and restrict certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens.

 

An FN government would also take France out of the euro zone, hold a referendum on EU membership, and slap taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners.

 

"Past leaders chose deregulated globalisation. They said it would be happy, it turned out to be atrocious," Le Pen said. "Financial globalisation and Islamist globalisation are helping each other out ... Those two ideologies want to bring France to its knees."

 

While Le Pen has sought to make the FN more palatable to mainstream voters since she took over from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011, her speech on Sunday made clear that its anti-migration, anti-EU policy remained at the core of her agenda.

 

Le Pen received some of the loudest applause during her speech, with standing ovations to the sound of "France! France!" and "On est chez nous!" ("This is our country") when she pledged to expel all foreigners condemned for a crime or misdemeanour, and when she said migrants without identity papers could never be legally allowed to stay in France or get free healthcare.

 

The crowd chanted in response: "We're going to win! We're going to win!"

 

On the other side of town, far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon held a rally, as did Macron, as candidates keep a close watch of each other's moves as the very unpredictable French election heats up.

 

Le Pen, Melenchon and Macron are all trying to attract voters disillusioned with mainstream parties.

 

There are some similarities between Melenchon's platform and Le Pen's, both sceptical of the EU and globalisation, but with very different answers as the former Socialist staunchly criticises Le Pen's views on migration.

 

"What we don't want are some combinations and arrangements ... I will be intransigent," said Melenchon, who is fighting with Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon for the left-wing vote.

 

Meanwhile, heavyweight centrist Francois Bayrou joined calls on Sunday for Fillon to withdraw from the race, as his own conservative camp mounted pressure over a deepening financial scandal around his family.

 

(Additional reporting by Simon Carraud in Lyon and Maya Nikolaeva in Paris; Editing by Louise Ireland)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-06

[Retiredandhappyhere]

Vive la France!  Marine le Pen could just possibly cause an eventual Frexit, leaving the "United States of Europe" ideal in tatters. Whatever the result of the elections in France and Germany this year, it is time for some major changes to the way in which individual countries' electors are basically ignored when so-called leaders of their countries make decisions supposedly on their behalf. I think that the establishments in both countries will at the very least be receiving an urgent "wake-up" call, just like the Government in the UK did last June. The politicians have completely lost touch with their electorates and only show any interest in them at all at election times. It is time to shake them all out of their complacency! The UK and the USA managed to do it in spectacular fashion, so why not others?  Despite all the negativity surrounding both decisions, I believe that both countries will survive and emerge in the long run much better off,

[Aforek]

Only foreigners think she will be elected : on the second round, she will have maximum 30 %

You should read French press

[jollyhangmon]

2 minutes ago, Aforek said:

Only foreigners think she will be elected : on the second round, she will have maximum 30 %

You should read French press

And good it is! 

One of her catching phrases seems to be lowering of pension age, just for an instance. Now, could that be aimed at the brighter part of the electorate? Hardly, as it's clearly just not going to work.

 

A Frenchmon recently told me it's up to 62 from 60 there now, but to quit at that very young age in comparison and still getting away with full pension you'd have to show 43 years of work, civil servants included.  

I mean, what's there that could be 'lowered'? That plan is spoiled clearly & entirely by simple mathematics ...

 

The rest of her program pretty much copies Trump Donnie's and is just as populist and unrealistic, to keep it polite. 

 

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

restrict certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens.

As the word Free is a favorite word in any country I think the cancellation of free education for French citizens will be her undoing. Time will tell. Voters want more not less. 

[Aforek]

Besides the people who will vote for her ( 30 % ) , a majority of French are attached to Euro ( the currency ) and don't want a Frexit

 

as said above, " The rest of her program pretty much copies Trump Donnie's and is just as populist and unrealistic, to keep it polite.  " totally "démagogique " retired  at 60 years old ? impossible

 

her model is Trump  555 !   she will lose versus Emmanuel  Macron

[Thaidream]

Iam no expert on France or its politics but I listened to an interview with Le Pen last night and her agenda is similar to Trump's. I believe what will determine whether she can be elected is just how angry the French people are regarding immigration and jobs. I believed Trump had no chance to become President because I did not understand the depth of American anger at the establishment. I wouldn't count Le Pen out. This will be a very interesting election and if she wins- I expect France to pull out of the EU and when that happens the EU will crumble.

[dick dasterdly]

4 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Whatever the result of the elections in France and Germany this year, it is time for some major changes to the way in which individual countries' electors are basically ignored when so-called leaders of their countries make decisions supposedly on their behalf. I think that the establishments in both countries will at the very least be receiving an urgent "wake-up" call, just like the Government in the UK did last June. The politicians have completely lost touch with their electorates and only show any interest in them at all at election times. It is time to shake them all out of their complacency!

I've deleted a small part of the above post (and hope this is acceptable), but only quoted the above as there's little doubt now that those with power have lost touch with the electorate.

 

We can only hope that the brexit and Trump results will force those in power to realise that they need to start taking into consideration the 'little' people who have have finally reached 'breaking point' - and started voting for ANY alternative to make it clear to the elite that they have finally realised that their policies only enrich the elite....

[simple1]

3 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

As the word Free is a favorite word in any country I think the cancellation of free education for French citizens will be her undoing. Time will tell. Voters want more not less. 

What she said was "restrict certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens". Even with this caveat sounds rather stupid to restrict access to education for migrants, plus additional taxes for imports, linking up with Russia etc etc. God only knows why people vote for these types pf policy platforms, really comes across as cutting of your nose to spite your face.

 

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

What she said was "restrict certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens". Even with this caveat sounds rather stupid to restrict access to education for migrants, plus additional taxes for imports, linking up with Russia etc etc. God only knows why people vote for these types pf policy platforms, really comes across as cutting of your nose to spite your face.

 

Thanks for correcting me in a civil manner.