Anti-immigration Copé succeeds Sarkozy as UMP leader – but don’t rule out a comeback

After the crushing defeat of the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy after just one term in power six months ago, members of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) have finally voted on a new leader this weekend. 

The two candidates were former prime minister François Fillon and UMP Secretary-General Jean-Francois Copé, with support split the party down the middle, resulting in allegations from both sides of electoral fraud, despite judicial staff overseeing the process.

At one stage during the process, both candidates declared themselves the winner.Eventually the underdog, 48-year-old Copé, was declared the winner on Monday by just 98 votes, despite widespread predictions of Fillon’s win.

Copé’s first task will be to unite the party and ensure they are not overtaken by Front National and Marine Le Pen. Copé will also hope Sarkozy’s recent troubles will not have an impact on public support.

Copé is seen to have a strong anti-immigration stance having produced “A Manifesto for an Uninhibited Right” in which he claimed gangs in the city suburbs were fostering “anti-white racism”. The party was founded in 2002 by former president Jacques Chirac.

There does, however, seem to be an open door for Sarkozy to return as the candidate for the 2017 elections as he remains very popular among UMP members, with many among them publicly calling for his return.

A recent survey by Ifop found 53 per cent of right-leaning voters would like to see Sarkozy and not Fillon or Copé be the UMP’s presidential nominee in 2017. Yesterday, however, Sarkozy summoned by a Bordeaux judge to answer questions over party donations.

Downfall of a President: Nicolas “Mr Bling” Sarkozy in bribe scandal

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be questioned by a judge in Bordeaux this week over bribery allegations.  The charge is that Sarkozy - affectionately known as “Mr Bling” – accepted more than half a million pounds from Liliane Bettencourt to help fund his 2007 presidential campaign and promised Bettencourt tax breaks in return.

If the allegations prove to be true, this would be illegal as French law limits donations to parties to 7,500 euros per person per year with only 150 euros to be given in cash.  Sarkozy was known for his lavish presidency, as opposed to the current president Francois Hollande who was dubbed “Mr Normal”.

Bettencourt, who is the heiress of the cosmetics giant L’Oreal and currently the richest woman in France, has had a number of former employees testify against her, stating Sarkozy attended her private residency to pocket the cash deposited in brown envelopes.

Sarkozy, who lost the French presidential election in May, denies the allegations. There are other corruption allegations against Sarkozy who is no longer immune from prosecution following his election defeat, including one that alleges he accepted millions of euros from the deceased Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
His home and offices were searched in July by French police in relation to the investigations. If Sarkozy is found guilty of corruption, he could face a spell in prison.

Will foreign residents get the right to vote in France?

At the Socialist Party conference in Toulouse on Saturday, recently elected Socialist Party leader Harlem Désir caused a stir when he reminded the crowd of President François Hollande's pledge to give foreign residents the opportunity to vote in local elections. This certainly would help foreign residents to participate and become more involved in public life and seems fair seeing as they pay full taxes. Only residents that reside within the EU can vote in local elections. The UK currently allows citizens of the European Union and commonwealth citizens to vote in local elections in the UK.

                                               

This longstanding bill has been in the pipeline for a number of years now and was originally promised by former Socialist president François Mitterrand during his 1981 campaign. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposed the bill even though he backed it during his presidential campaign in 2007.  Further delay has now occurred with it looking unlikely that the bill will have enough support over the next six months for it to become law in time for the 2014 local elections. In 2000, France’s lower house agreed a bill giving all legal foreign residents the right to vote in local elections—but it was never finalised with the upper house. There is now a petition on the UMP website to oppose the bill with one of their reasons being that this will thwart the "blue" tidal wave at the next local elections.

75 Socialist French MPs presented a petition in Le Monde urging the current government to move faster on plans to give foreign residents the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections. Not all Socialists are in favour of the bill however, with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault describing the bill as “controversial” and “lacking support in parliament” in an interview with radio station France Inter last Wednesday. Adopting this bill would need another get over another major hurdle which would be a change in the French constitution which states that electoral rights are reserved to "French nationals “only. There are also fears that if the bill is adopted the Front National could use it as a platform for negative campaigning against the Socialists.

A poll on the topic by French daily le Parisien in late 2011 found 61% of respondents agreeing that foreigners should have the right to vote in France’s local elections. A more recent poll published last month found the exact opposite result, with 61% of respondents against the bill. Time will soon tell whether Hollande’s election promise can be fulfilled.

Hollande plans first major trip to Africa

François Hollande is in Africa for the first time as president to begin “a new chapter” in French relations with the continent. Before his trip to open the 14th Francophone summit in which it was not sure that he would attend, he gave a major interview to France 24, where he stated that he would not be sending further troops to Mali but would provide logistical help, equipment and training. The north of Mali militants allied to al Qaeda, have declared this region’s independence since April 2012. Hollande said that it should be Africa that should decide what the response should be.

Hollande will acknowledge on his trip the role that France had played in colonisation and the trans-atlantic slave trade. There will also be a focus on growth; many African economies are growing at a faster rate than those within Europe. Hollande will promote French economic interests in the continent, which already accounts for 1/5 of business operating in Africa. Hollande declared in a speech which was well received, that it was time for new, “sincere” relations between his country and the fast-growing economies of Africa. Hollande went on to say:

“I didn’t come to Africa to give an example, or to give moral lessons. I consider Africans to be partners and friends”

The speech was in stark contrast to Hollande’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who said in a speech that was criticised by many and had members of the audience walking out in protest, in Dakar five years ago that the African man “has not fully entered history (...) never really launched himself into the future.”

The future of the French language will also be debated. Today 220 million people speak French across the world, but by 2050 there will be 700 million French speakers, most whom will be in Africa.

The summit will host 75 delegations in Kinshasa the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, where the transparency of the presidential and legislative elections that took place in November 2011 have been questioned.

Strasbourg killing raises fresh questions about integration in France

The killing in Strasbourg on Saturday by French police once again raised the issue of integration and immigration in France, particularly as this is the second terrorist killing by police in the past year.
There are also 11 members of a suspected terrorist cell being questioned by police following dawn raids in Nice, Paris and Cannes.

These raids were sparked by a grenade attack on a Jewish shop on September 19th, where police traced DNA results to the prime suspect, Jeremy Sidney, to inform their raid operation on him in which Sidney opened fire on the police.

Sidney, a recent convert to Islam, was 33 years old and a French national. He was also an ex-prisoner, who was convicted for drug-trafficking.

Earlier this year, in March, Mohamed Merah was killed by police in Toulouse after a sickening attack on members of the Jewish community, in which where four soldiers, three Jewish children and a Rabbi were killed. Merah claimed his actions were directed against France’s military presence in Afghanistan, the killing of Palestinians and the ban on wearing the full face veil.

The weekend’s shootings have once again brought race and immigration to the top of the political agenda.
After the raids, President Francois Hollande said:

“The state is determined to protect the French people against any terrorist threat.”

The threat is still ongoing as the raids found money, ammunition and a list of Jewish groups throughout the Paris region. In response to Merah’s killing in March, France’s cabinet is currently reviewing a new anti-terrorism bill targeting French citizens who travel abroad, notably to Pakistan or Afghanistan, for possible terrorism training.

It is anticipated that if passed, the bill will allow authorities to prosecute French citizens who return to the country after:

“…having committed an act of terrorism abroad, or who travel overseas, particularly to the Afghan or Pakistan region, to train in terrorism camps with the intention of coming back to France.”

The situation at present is that police can only act when offences are suspected or committed in France.  This is just one measure France seeks to undertake to tackle the terrorist threat within its borders and the rise of attacks targeted towards the Jewish community.

Hollande’s pursuit for tax capital set to raise €20 billion

François Hollande, rested from his summer holiday, this week outlined his plan to France’s Court of Audit of how the tax system will operate under a socialist government. His intention is to raise €20 billion in new taxes - which include a 75% tax on millionaires – and has assured the French public this will not be reneged on.
This, coupled with his €30bn savings plan, sees Hollande aim to reduce the deficit to 3% over the next two years. The French public will keep a keen eye on his plans to whether austerity measures and public sector cuts will feature alongside.

His taxes have seemingly already sent the rich packing. The world’s fourth richest man, Louis Vuitton, Moët and Hennessy boss Bernard Arnault, is currently pursuing Belgian nationality, but states this is so he can conduct business more easily over there. Arnault has pledged to continue living in France.
Hollande’s response to Arnault was a firm one:

“He must weigh up what it means to seek another nationality because we are proud to be French.”

There would be no exceptions in a 75 per cent tax on incomes above one million euros, the President added.
There is speculation Hollande plans to exempt sports stars and artists from the new 75% tax rate although this has not been confirmed. There were protests in July when the state auditor of France said unemployment benefit payments to artists and other creatives were unsustainable.

Recent opinion polls show the public has lost some confidence in the government four months after Hollande won presidential office.

Nationalist’s parties set lose EU funding

In February 2012 I reported an announcement from the European Parliament recently had political parties like the UK’s BNP and France’s Front National party, rubbing their hands in glee.  Their positions would have potentially been strengthened by gaining monies of 289,266 Euros for 2012 funded by the European Parliament.  They would have gained this money from a 30 million euro fund, because the Alliance of European Nationalist Movements of which the BNP and Front National are members was officially recognised by the European Parliament for the first time.  Other parties such as the European Socialists have been receiving this money for some time and their funding was set to decrease because of this development.  The funding would have served to strengthen the Nationalists position and campaigns within the European Parliament.  This was worrying given their stance on immigration including the free movement within the EU.

At the end of last week however the European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefcovic announced new rules for the funding of pan-European political parties and their associated think-tanks. One of these changes now requires EU funding only be given where these parties and foundations observe the values of the European Union, “namely respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities”. The last part, on minority rights, is a new addition.  This will make it harder for parties like the BNP to gain this funding.  It will depend on whether they are able to convince the European Parliament and European Commission that they meet all of the conditions.  British MEP’s along with the campaigning organisation Hope not Hate lobbied for this change.

Having campaigned against the BNP in the 2010 local elections in Barking and Dagenham and against the London Regional Coordinator Robert Bailey for my own council seat, I have experienced first-hand how nasty the BNP and parties like them can be.  And having received racial abuse just last week from a BNP supporter in Dagenham confirms my fears.