French Thatcherite Upends 2017 Race Pledging to Shrink the State

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Bloomberg:

Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon, the new front-runner in France’s 2017 presidential election, is offering voters an economic-policy revolution inspired by Margaret Thatcher.

 

Fillon, 62, vaulted from third position in most polls to win the first round of the Republican primary by 15 percentage points from the veteran Alain Juppe on Sunday with the most free-market platform among the seven candidates. They’ll face each other again in next Sunday’s runoff and the winner will be favorite to become president in May 2017.

 

Lifelong politician Fillon is pledging to lengthen the work week to 39 hours from 35, to increase the retirement age to 65 and add immigration quotas. He’s vowed to eliminate half a million public-sector jobs and cut spending by 100 billion euros ($106 billion) over his five years in office. And he proposes a 40 billion-euro tax-cut for companies and a constitutional ban on planned budget deficits.

 

“Who is Fillon? The classic conservative, right-wing candidate,” Bruno Cautres, a political scientist at the Sciences Po Institute in Paris, said in an interview. “He wants a deep reform of the French model: shrinking the role of the state and cutting the welfare system.”

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Viva le Fillon Revolution?

[Valin]

Fillon’s Victory Brings Uncertainty to French Race
Nov. 21 2016

More upheaval in European politics over the weekend—this time in France. Reuters:

 

(Snip)

 

Fillon’s win over Juppe was true to form in recent electoral contests insofar as it came as a surprise. With Sarkozy throwing his weight behind him, Fillon is now projected to win the run-off primary next weekend. What this means for the likely showdown with Marine Le Pen in the general election next year is hard to parse—all the more so given the sorry record polling has had this year.

Fillon’s market-friendly labor reforms might present an opportunity for Le Pen to set up a contrast with voters; Le Pen, for example has advocated a more gradual phasing out to the 35-hour work week, whereas Fillon has called for its abolition. On foreign affairs, however, Fillon has narrowed the distinctions. On Russia, for example, Fillon favors lifting sanctions (just like Le Pen). On Islam, he does not hold his tongue. “There are no problems with religion in France. There is a problem linked to Islam,” he has said. He favors joining forces with Russia to combat ISIS.

 

(Snip)