France: Who are the five candidates for the presidency and what do they want?

Uncertainty remains high today, on the eve of the first round of the presidential election in France, where the candidates will abstain from the public stage until the announcement of the result of the vote on Sunday, with the confrontation being announced ambiguously between the outgoing president Emanuel Macr. far-right candidate Marin Lepen.

According to opinion polls, the two candidates, who went to the second round of the 2017 presidential election, secure the first place in tomorrow’s election, although the candidate of the radical left, Jean-Luc Melanson, bets that he, like Lepen, in a positive dynamics.

Who are and what do the five main contenders for the presidency of the French Republic want?

Emanuel Macron

Emanuel Macron is 44 years old, a graduate of the French School of Public Administration, Inspector of Public Finance and was a friend of the Socialist politician Jean-Pierre Sevenemann. Under Sarkozy, he co-authored a report on “growth liberalization” and then left the public sector and was an investment adviser at Rothschild & Co.

In 2012 he became Deputy Secretary General of Socialist President François Hollande and in 2014 he was appointed Minister of Economy. He then founded his own movement, the “En Marche!” and was elected President of the Republic in 2017.

Suggests:

Raising the legal retirement age to 65

Increase in teachers’ salaries,

Increase the purchasing power bonus up to 6,000 euros

Establishment of proportional representation for the parliamentary elections

Stricter access to residence permits

Inheritance tax reductions

Construction of new nuclear power plants

Abolition of the audiovisual media license fee

Marin Lepen

Marin Le Pen is 53 years old and after a short legal career she joined the legal department of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s father, the National Front. She then began her political rise in the shadows, until she took over the reins of the party in early 2011.

In 2012 she came third in the first round with 17.9% of the vote but managed to qualify for the second round in 2017, with 21.3% of the vote. In the second round he received 33.9%.

Suggests:

Organizing a referendum on immigration

Reduction of VAT on energy products from 20% to 5.5%

Exemption of persons under 30 from income tax or corporate tax

Re-nationalization of highways and privatization of public service broadcasting

Introduction of the citizens’ initiative referendum

Establishment of proportional representation in the parliamentary elections

A € 20 billion health emergency plan

Jean-Luc Melanson

Melanson is 70 years old, he was a teacher and then a journalist. He has been in politics since the late 1970s when he joined the Socialist Party which he left in 2008 to found the left-wing “Parti de gauche” and then the France Insoumise in 2016.

A candidate for the 2012 presidential election, he finished in fourth place with 11% of the vote. In 2017 he finished fourth again, but won 19.6% of the vote. He assures that 2022 is his last campaign.

Suggests:

Constituent Assembly for the establishment of the Sixth Republic

A sixth week paid leave

Return to retirement at age 60

Increase of the minimum wage to 1,400 euros net.

Price ceiling for basic necessities, gas and electricity

Investment of 200 billion euros for the ecological transition

Property tax reinstatement and income tax boost

Valeri Pekres

The center-right Valerie Pécres is a 54-year-old graduate of the School of Public Administration, a senior civil servant, and began her political career as an adviser to Jacques Chirac in 1998. She became a caretaker minister to Nicolas Sarkozy de-France) in 2015. It is her first participation in the presidential elections.

Suggests:

Raising the legal retirement age to 65

10% increase in small salaries

Inheritance tax exemption up to 200,000 euros

Abolish 200,000 civil servants, but create 50,000 in priority areas (such as health)

Build six new nuclear reactors.

Eric Zemour

Eric Zemour, 63, has been a journalist for the Figaro newspaper since 1996, but has been known for his television and radio appearances since the 2000s. The first leaf “(2006).

This is his first presidential campaign.

Suggests:

Referendum on immigration,

Make the European Union “Europe of the Nations”

Reduction of production taxes and employee contributions,

Strengthening the nuclear program

A “home indication” of the origin of the products

Raising the retirement age to 64 and raising small pensions,

Prohibition of the “headscarf” in public.

With information from AMPE