Boost to Macron campaign as rival Bayrou offers support
Presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron has gained backing from François Bayrou of the MoDem party who stood at the last three presidential elections – this comes as Macron has visited Britain where he encouraged talented French people to move back
CENTRIST presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has had a boost to his campaign as rival François Bayrou declares he will support his candidature.
This comes as Mr Macron has been in London this week, where he said he was hoping to attract talented people to Paris after Brexit.
Mr Macron, who resigned as economy minister last year to pursue his presidential ambitions, called Mr Bayrou’s decision a “real turning point, both in our campaign and in French politics”.
Mr Bayrou of the MoDem party, who is mayor of Pau, was in fourth place in the first rounds in 2002, third in 2007 and fifth in 2012 (read our profile of him at this link). He has said this time he will not run so as to back 39-year-old Mr Macron “to give hope back to French people who are feeling disorientated”.
Mr Macron has no elected position at present, but leads a party he founded called En Marche! (note the initials which correspond to his own). En Marche! intends to field candidates for all constituencies in the parliamentary elections this year.
The support comes just in time for Mr Macron, who is suffering a slight dip in popularity according to the latest survey by BVA-Salesforce, which shows Marine Le Pen at 27.5% in the first round, followed by Mr Macron at 21%, François Fillon of Les Républicains with 19% and Socialist Benoît Hamon with 17%. Mr Fillon’s slump in the polls following financial scandals appears to have come to a halt.
British Prime Minister Theresa May met with Mr Macron at Downing Street this week, showing how the UK is taking seriously the possibility he may be France’s next president – however, comments he made afterwards show he may not see eye to eye with Mrs May when it comes to the post-Brexit relationship.
Mr Macron, a 39-year-old former banker, said outside Downing Street that he wanted “banks, talents, researchers, academics” to move to France after Britain leaves the EU and that he planned initiatives to encourage them – comments which he reiterated when he met some 2,000 French expats at Central Hall in Westminster.
He said he would usher in a “cultural revolution” what would make it more attractive for talented people, by teaching France to “love success”.
He wanted to change the “fear of failure” which he said is too often instilled in French schools.
Mr Macron said he would be confidently pro-Europe in his approach, criticising former British prime minister David Cameron for his “yes, but” approach to the EU, which he said “is not the best way to win against a ‘no’”. The French are “ready to move forward,” he said.
Mr Macron said he wanted to ensure the rights of French citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit and that he wanted “a fair execution of Brexit”, protecting French and European interests.
However, he said Britain should not have access to the single market without accepting freedom of movement, there should be no access of the City of London to ‘financial passporting’ without contributions to the EU and that Britain should remain subject to the European Court in any transition period.
He also warned that the Le Touquet accords, by which British border controls are carried out at Calais to limit the access of migrants to the UK, will have to be ‘reconsidered’ because it is ‘not fair’ that so many people have to be dealt with on the French side.
