Politics in France

[BlackLabel]

Has Le Pen's party actually changed? It wasn't too long ago that they held some pretty vile views - holocaust denial, repatriation of legal immigrants etc. Can that sort of stuff really disappear from the psyche of a political party within a decade or so?

[Craigyp79]

The problem Le Pen has now it that the FN have put all their effort into attracting working class people to their party and despite their nasty far right-wing views they are at heart a socialist part.

Macron does so well in the second round polls because he is a socialist and will attract French people who want the policies of FN without the anti-immigrant and anti-EU rhetoric, although he is hardly whiter than white himself and does come from a financial background with all the political baggage that that entails.

Le Pen however is no outsider anymore, she's the daughter of one of the most hated men in France and FN have had a few scandals in the recent past.

Marine is also disliked by some people that would otherwise be staunch FN voters, the real danger in the future will lie with her niece Marion, who really is a chip off the old block....

[hyphen]

Im sure there will be some extreme views lurking, but Marie has gone as far as expelling her dad from the party
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34009901

[hyphen]

More twists and turns.

Macron who, erm unusually, is married to his former high school teacher Brigitte who is 24 years his senior has denied ongoing persistent rumours that he is in a homosexual relationship with the CEO of Radio France. This was after a Russian government (yes them again) controlled news site printed quotes from a French MP.

So thats Sarkozy in criminal court, Filion with dodgy payments, LePenn with alleged dodgy payments and now Macron with an alleged double life.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/07/emmanue...

[smifffymoto]

Believe it or not,there are laws protecting people from the press but these days with social media,Russian hackers etc it is very difficult to keep a lid on it.

[B'stard Child]

Einion Yrth said:

Hold tight, it's going to be a wild ride.

It's certainly going to be interesting

[hyphen]

Final nail in Filions coffin? In 2012 his wife received severance pay from her alleged fake job of 16,000 Euros. which was above the recommended amount She was then hired by him again in another alleged fake job just 2 weeks later and then after a year more she got another severance payment of 29k.

Prosecutors are also investigating a second job in which Mrs Fillon was paid large sums between 2012 and 2013 by a literary review owned by a billionaire businessman friend of Fillon, but where she was alleged to have only written two book reviews. Fillon has denied any wrongdoing and insisted her consultancy job was real.

Le Parisien reported on Tuesday that for a period between 2012 and 2013, Penelope Fillon’s two contracts overlapped and she simultaneously held two full-time jobs - as a parliamentary assistant and for the literary review.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/07/fren...

Edited by hyphen on Wednesday 8th February 08:18

[Username888]

BlackLabel said:

Has Le Pen's party actually changed? It wasn't too long ago that they held some pretty vile views - holocaust denial, repatriation of legal immigrants etc. Can that sort of stuff really disappear from the psyche of a political party within a decade or so?

THe vile views you reference were held by her father who she disagrees, and, has fallen out with. If you took the time to research the party, you'll see that they are very different compared to ~10 years ago.

[JagLover]

Interesting, but long, article on the political background.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/02/frances-long-st...

[FrenchSpider]

JagLover said:

Interesting, but long, article on the political background.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/02/frances-long-st...

Agreed. Best article I have read on the French elections by some way. Convention wisdom is that Macron will be elected in the second round over Le Pen but the conventional wisdom was that Brexit wouldn't happen and that Trump had no chance.

[cayman-black]

Username888 said:

THe vile views you reference were held by her father who she disagrees, and, has fallen out with. If you took the time to research the party, you'll see that they are very different compared to ~10 years ago.

This . She will be great for France and if i where French she would be getting my vote!

[Atomic12C]

cayman-black said:

This . She will be great for France and if i where French she would be getting my vote!

It would however be the end of the EU... good if that is something one hopes for , but bad if one then starts to look at the economic impacts of the EU failing.
Especially for short to medium term prosperity of the UK. (Knock on effects of failing banks - not something we need again so quickly after 2008)

[Murph7355]

Atomic12C said:

It would however be the end of the EU... good if that is something one hopes for , but bad if one then starts to look at the economic impacts of the EU failing.
Especially for short to medium term prosperity of the UK. (Knock on effects of failing banks - not something we need again so quickly after 2008)

There are a thousand scenarios possible even IF the French wanted to pull the plug. Just as there were for Brexit. Half are probably bad. Half not. Just as with Brexit.

[Puggit]

Marine le Pen has refused to wear a scarf to visit the Grand Mufti in Lebanon (highest Sunni Muslim). She turned around and walked out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-...

Defining moment in the election?

[hyphen]

Puggit said:

Defining moment in the election?

Don't see why? France already bans head scarves in public/school kids according to the article, and her policy on Assad stated may play well with voters who just want the Syrian conflict resolved quickly based on their perception of the Calais mess.

Refusing to do the 'When in Rome' may lose her some french-arab votes, but guess many won't be that keen on her regardless.

[BlackLabel]

According to the so called BBC (tonight's newsnight) Emmanuel Macron is the European Justin Trudeau and could redefine liberalism in Europe.

He's leading in the polls too.

[anonymous-user]

BlackLabel said:

According to the so called BBC (tonight's newsnight) Emmanuel Macron is the European Justin Trudeau and could redefine liberalism in Europe.

He's leading in the polls too.

Well, if he's being bigged up by the Beeb and leading in the polls then he's probably fked.

[anonymous-user]

Puggit said:

Marine le Pen has refused to wear a scarf to visit the Grand Mufti in Lebanon (highest Sunni Muslim). She turned around and walked out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-...

Defining moment in the election?

So her approach is: "come to my country and you abide by my rules and ditch the religious gear. I go to your country and I will tell you to stick your rules up your arse".

[Wozy68]

Greg66 said:

Puggit said:

Marine le Pen has refused to wear a scarf to visit the Grand Mufti in Lebanon (highest Sunni Muslim). She turned around and walked out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-...

Defining moment in the election?

So her approach is: "come to my country and you abide by my rules and ditch the religious gear. I go to your country and I will tell you to stick your rules up your arse".

Well since the day that we became dictated to in Europe (sorry is that led by) by bloody naive simpletons who decided for us all that the majority, ie the unclean had got it wrong and gave the last 50 years to expecting us to live with and use the ethnic minority card within our societies and be damned if you don't agree; that we needed to treat others like we expect to be treated ourselves and let that policy dictate all our lives, of which (like we all knew wouldn't) hasn't worked, we've now started to turn the cards through utter frustration, and shout 'fk it', let' you have to deal with us on your territory and under our values for a change ...... and fair bloody play.

[Murph7355]

Greg66 said:

So her approach is: "come to my country and you abide by my rules and ditch the religious gear. I go to your country and I will tell you to stick your rules up your arse".

Doesn't sound the wisest thing to do really.

Why go there at all "to bolster foreign policy credentials" if you disagree with their ways enough to make the trip somewhat pointless...