Why Emmanuel Is Not Running Again
Macron, not candidate merely already campaigning for reelection
PARIS
He has a full campaign squad that'southward fanning out around France, meeting with voters. He makes speeches about his plans for the country in the upcoming years. The problem? Emmanuel Macron hasn't officially declared that he's a candidate for April'southward presidential election even so.
Critics say he's unfairly using his taxpayer-funded presidential pulpit to campaign for a second term while dragging out his widely expected announcement as long as possible.
Less than two months before April x'due south first round, Macron'south intention is no mystery. He said last month that he has "the desire" to run for a 2nd term, merely he wanted to wait for the COVID-19 state of affairs to improve before making a conclusion. The deadline to formally declare candidacy is March four.
Far-correct presidential contender Eric Zemmour accused Macron of trying to use the pandemic argument to make French voters forget about what he considers France's decline.
"Is Emmanuel Macron using the health crunch to start campaigning? The answer is yes," Marine Le Pen, the other far-correct candidate, charged. Similar the U.South. and virtually European countries, French republic recently started easing most virus restrictions equally the spread of the virus is slowing downwardly.
Macron as well explained he wanted to focus on the Ukraine-Russian federation crisis first. On the flying between Moscow and Kyiv final calendar week, he told reporters that he volition "call up nearly" declaring his candidacy later. "Everything comes in due time," he said.
Yet his contempo trips across French regions tend to increasingly look like campaign events.
A visit this calendar month to northern France, during which he announced an additional 100 one thousand thousand euros to boost the economy in a former mining area, was followed past dozens of journalists from national and international media, eager to see whether he would adopt a campaigning tone.
A meeting with local officials included a key political rival from The Republicans party, Xavier Bertrand, who is actively candidature with conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse.
And so close to the election, "that visit is a candidate's visit, with lies and untruths. The hypocrisy must finish. An electoral trip cannot exist paid for by the Republic," Bertrand said after listening to Macron's plans for the region.
The caput of The Republicans' political party, Christian Jacob, denounced "misuse of public money" and said he reported the event to the National Committee on Elections Financing.
French republic has strict rules about financing a presidential campaign. The corporeality of money a presidential contender is allowed to spend for the first round is 16.viii million euros ($19.ane one thousand thousand), with an additional 5.6 million euros ($half dozen.4 million) for those who qualify for the run-off. After the ballot, the French state reimburses candidates who won at least 5% of the votes one-half of their campaign costs.
In 2012, conservative sometime President Nicolas Sarkozy appear his bid for a second term _ which he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande _ but over two months before the election. The National Commission on Ballot Financing later ruled that some expenses he incurred months before to organize a rally in southern France were to be included in campaign counts, even though he had not formalized his candidacy at that time.
Sarkozy was terminal year sentenced to a year of firm arrest for illegal campaign financing. He appealed the ruling.
Macron's party has already launched a and then-called "campaign of the presidential majority" that is existence deployed across the land via posters and leaflets promoting a website called "With Yous." The website doesn't mention Macron's proper name but invites internet users to subscribe to a newsletter to follow "entrada news."
The Ramble Quango recently appear that Macron was the first to receive the 500 signatures from elected officials that are required under French law to allow someone to run in the presidential ballot. The rule is meant to limit the number of candidates.
Since January. i, French television and radio broadcasters are likewise required by law to provide "fair" exposure to all candidates and would-be candidates _ based on their estimated weight in the campaign. The rule includes Macron himself, yet its implementation is complex because all comments considered part of the political debate are to be counted but those attributed to the function of president are not.
The divergence tin sometimes seem subtle. On Thursday, Macron went to the eastern town of Belfort to announce the structure of vi new nuclear reactors. Information technology is up to the president to decide France's free energy strategy.
In his speech communication, he also harshly criticized "those who say we don't need nuclear (energy)," in a reference to the Greens and far-left candidates' campaign platforms.
"Can you imagine France in thirty years time with 40,000 windmills instead of 8,000 now?," he asked. "That'south what supporters of phasing out nuclear power are proposing today to the French. It'due south non serious."
Rivals too said Macron, a pro-European, is using French republic'southward half-dozen-month presidency of the European Union as a springboard toward reelection.
Source: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/macron-not-candidate-but-already-campaigning-for-reelection-171478
0 Response to "Why Emmanuel Is Not Running Again"
Post a Comment