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‘Villiers Prepares His Offensive’
Philippe de Villiers is preparing his campaign for the 2007 presidential election, Le Figaro recently reported, after having conducted an informal tour of holiday spots around France to bring his candidacy to vacationing voters. As the articles notes, one of the most important challenges for de Villiers and his Mouvement pour la France (MPF) is carving out a niche in the media for his campaign. Press coverage of the 2007 competition has portrayed the election as a showdown between the Socialist Party’s Ségolène Royal and the UMP’s Nicolas Sarkozy, a lack of fundamental differences between the two candidates on the major issues notwithstanding.
Despite a number of recent high-ranking defections to the MPF from the populist/nationalist Front National, the party which usually takes third place after the UMP and the Socialists, it’s unknown whether a significant portion of the Front‘s electoral base with follow through and vote for de Villiers instead of the FN’s Jean-Marie Le Pen. During last year’s referendum on the EU constitution, de Villiers swept the rug from under Le Pen’s feet by masterfully organizing the right wing of the successful ‘No’ campaign himself. If the Vendéen can repeat such a performance and seize the electoral momentum from the misanthropic FN leader, there’s a chance of both making it to the second electoral round and putting the ugly spectre of Le Penisme in its grave.
Le Figaro: Philippe de Villiers will carry out a tour of France this fall with MPF secretary-general Guillaume Peltier.
In an interview with le Figaro, the MPF’s second-in-command Guillaume Peltier proclaimed that “France needs a candidate who personifies the real Right and who will commit the country to a break with socialism”. When asked about the MPF’s policy on the impôt sur la fortune (ISF) tax on wealth, Peltier refreshingly replied “We propose its repeal, pure and simple”.
“The ISF strikes great fortunes less and less while striking middle-class homeowners more and more,” Peltier claimed. “Because of real estate prices are on fire, one finds farmers who do not even qualify to pay income tax who are stuck with the ISF. The UMP, with the capability for four years, has not done anything to end this unjust situation.”
And Europe? “Instead of an incomprehensible constitution, we propose a European charter on three points: 1) A truly European Europe, without Turkey; 2) A democratic Europe directed by the parliaments and by the peoples, and not by the technocrats of Brussels; and 3) A Europe of free cooperation against terrorism, drug trafficking, and organised crime.” The MPF would also support a referendum on whether to continue France’s participation in the Euro monetary union.
And finally, his prediction for 2007: “I consider that Philippe de Villiers will be in 2007 what the ‘Non’ was in 2005. Villiers is the only candidate of rural France, the candidate of the France of common sense. I’m persuaded he can make it to the second round. I see a Villiers/Royal run-off, the real Right against the real Left.”
Previously: On Walkabout with Philippe de Villiers
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I see a Villiers/Royal run-off
The best thing about that would be that one way or another, whether by sentiment or subconsciously, all Frenchmen would have to vote for a Royalist option.
Quit trying to show off the fact that you can (almost) read and (almost) understand French. It is not something to brag about, what with French being the un-official language of the failed concept called ‘international diplomacy’. Vive la guerre!
Sincerely,
Chris Cruden
Imbécile!
My father having been born in la belle France, I have had a more than passing interest in that nation, and have for some time now admired M. de Villiers. I’m not sure I understand your reference to “the ugly spectre of Le Penisme.”
Surely a debt of gratitude is owed the doughty paratrooper for making a right wing possible in France. One needn’t always agree with one’s progenitors, but one ought to atl least acknowledge them. In any event, most “moderates” and men of the left are, frankly, unable to distinguish between Le Pen and de Villiers, and it sometimes appears that Le Pen’s critics on the right are groveling for public approval in their repeated “surely not I” denials.
Well I like neither the Sarko-Socialists nor the Le Pen nationalists, but I am willing to concede that the spectre of continued ‘UMPS’ rule is uglier than that of Le Penism. Likewise I am suspicious of nationalism, but more suspicious of socialism. (Though, naturally, all socialism in practice is national socialism).
I’d like to know whom the Left-wing French MSM will support in case of a Villiers-Le Pen showdown (after the MSM finish shrieking in horror, of course).
Excuse me but what is MSM? I only ask because apart from my being French and my living in France I just can’t figure out what this refers to…
Oh and as much as I would love a “Villiers-Le Pen showdown” I am a little sceptical as to its actual happening (sigh…)
I will never forgive you for this Cusack! You have made me jealous of the French! At the next election I have to choose between lib-lab or comrade cameron! What I would give for a viable Right wing candidate.
MSM stands for the mainstream media.