Fillon election favorite despite plotting Thatcherite course
"The state should only be a shareholder in strategic companies," Fillon said in an interview with French magazine 'Capital.'
The 62-year-old - who won the nomination of the center-right Republicans in November's primary in a last-minute upset - is leading most polls to win the first round of presidential voting.
Fillon is seen by his supporters as a combination of Gaullist - for those yearning for the nationalist qualities of Charles de Gaulle - Catholic, for those returning to Catholic roots as national identity is seen coming under siege - and at the same time Thatcherite, an appeal that has little connection with either.
Fillon plans to cut unemployment - stuck at around 10 percent, but falling in recent months - and reduce public debt, at almost 100 percent of GDP. He wants to raise the retirement age, cut taxes and red tape for companies and abolish the 35-hour working week.
Fillon said in December that France should sell out of "unnecessary investments" in private-sector companies, citing carmaker Renault as an example.
The French government holds just under 20 percent of Renault and has significant stakes in several other large companies including Air France, Airbus, Peugeot, Orange and Engie.
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"His platform combines cultural conservatism and traditionalism with free market radicalism and promises to shake up the French economy," Davies says.
"But the change Fillon is advocating is not the kind most of them want. France is seeing the emergence of a new electoral coalition that combines economic interventionism with social conservatism. The kind of conservatism that Fillon represents, combining cultural conservatism with economic liberalism, is declining because culturally conservative voters are increasingly deserting free market economics and globalization."
http://www.dw.com/en/fillon-election-favorite-despite-plotting-thatcherite-course/a-37131311
