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@mooshld Thanks mate. Very interesting. For me as a very interested outsider it seems that neither candidate has come out with too much detail at all, not just this debate. Just a load of "This can't continue" sort of vagueness. I also can't decide who I want to win as I quite like the idea of Le Pen throwing a further spanner in the EU debate which may be good for our own exit negotiations, but do I really want to see what was ostensibly such a far right party in power and do I trust them not to revert to mean? The there is Macron, what does he stand for and what are his credentials?
As I say, very interesting and please keep up the good work in providing a Gallic view of things.
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@Catogrande said in French Politics:
@mooshld Thanks mate. Very interesting. For me as a very interested outsider it seems that neither candidate has come out with too much detail at all, not just this debate. Just a load of "This can't continue" sort of vagueness. I also can't decide who I want to win as I quite like the idea of Le Pen throwing a further spanner in the EU debate which may be good for our own exit negotiations, but do I really want to see what was ostensibly such a far right party in power and do I trust them not to revert to mean? The there is Macron, what does he stand for and what are his credentials?
As I say, very interesting and please keep up the good work in providing a Gallic view of things.
There were some details on some of Macrons Policy but they were things about certain taxes and what not and changes to some systems that would not be interesting to you.
Brexit was brought up and it was interesting Le Pen thinks France pays 9 billion a year and would use that money to revamp retirement and healthcare, sound familiar? In fact the net figure is more like 4.5 billion according to Macron and the fact checkers. He also pointed out that the UK is now facing a rather large bill that even at its lowest estimate would take 10 years to recoup the savings. Assuming your economy doesn't shrink.
She went on to call him a fear merchant. Which got them into a quite testy exchange where he accused her of being the high priestess of fear and the FN of spending decades of trying to profit of fear.
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Yip In a way he or Le Pen would have the same problem. But on the flipside they would have no party loyalty's to adhere to.
The National Assembly elections are later in the year. I think En Marche will have candidates in those. But who knows how well they would do.
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@Catogrande Its first past the post just for president you need a majority as well. This way you can never claim you don't have the mandate of the people I guess.
Interestingly both are in favor of reducing the number of deputies in the parliament, Macron by 1/3 Le Pen refused to say.
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@mooshld said in French Politics:
@Catogrande Its first past the post just for president you need a majority as well. This way you can never claim you don't have the mandate of the people I guess.
Interestingly both are in favor of reducing the number of deputies in the parliament, Macron by 1/3 Le Pen refused to say.
OK I see that but how does he then dictate policy? How does he wield power? Who has to agree to allow implementation of his policies and how are those people put into that position?
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@Catogrande Its like the US system his office can write bills as can the other members of the house. But the 2 chambers have to support them to get made into law. Thats my understanding of it anyway. I grew up like you with the british model of democracy. So all this republic stuff is new and difficult for me as well.
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@mooshld said in French Politics:
@Catogrande Its like the US system his office can write bills as can the other members of the house. But the 2 chambers have to support them to get made into law. Thats my understanding of it anyway. I grew up like you with the british model of democracy. So all this republic stuff is new and difficult for me as well.
OK I get that I think. I assume that members of the two chambers are elected in separate elections and that they are usually part of a particular political party? If so then Macron or Le Pen would need to get a party or parties onside I assume?
This could get messy.
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@Catogrande Exactly
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Last day of campaigning here. Media blackout going into the election on Sunday. Not much to report really. All the papers are calling the debate to Macron. Same with all the polls. Looks like she probably won't make up any ground on the basis of her performance there.
Macron is suing several right wing websites that claim he has an off shore account in the Bahamas. A claim Le Pen repeated in the debate. If its not true some people may be getting some nasty bills in the nail. The were only asking questions defense probably won't fly with the French judiciary.
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@mooshld said in French Politics:
Last day of campaigning here. Media blackout going into the election on Sunday. Not much to report really. All the papers are calling the debate to Macron. Same with all the polls. Looks like she probably won't make up any ground on the basis of her performance there.
Macron is suing several right wing websites that claim he has an off shore account in the Bahamas. A claim Le Pen repeated in the debate. If its not true some people may be getting some nasty bills in the nail. The were only asking questions defense probably won't fly with the French judiciary.
How the media call debate is just irrelevant.They would never call a debate for LePen. Ever.
Polling will also likely be wrong.... but prob not 20% wrong! -
@Baron-Silas-Greenback Seriously you think Minute or Le Figaro would not call it for Le Pen if they thought she even got close. I don't know how well versed you are in the French media, but I disagree with you on this point there are news papers here in France that absolutely support her.
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@mooshld said in French Politics:
@Baron-Silas-Greenback Seriously you think Minute or Le Figaro would not call it for Le Pen if they thought she even got close. I don't know how well versed you are in the French media, but I disagree with you on this point there are news papers here in France that absolutely support her.
Thanks for the on the ground assessment mate. How is the general mood in Paris these days? Mrs C.F. is heading up there in 6 weeks for work
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The Times this morning had an article talking about how Le Pen had spoken about Macron having offshore accounts & within hours a French Pro Trump twitter user had linked to a (fake) story showing his funds which was then liked by 200 odd Russian linked twitter accounts. Luckily the French appear to not be morons -
Mr Macron lost no time in tracing the origin of a fake contract in his name with First Caribbean bank in the Cayman Islands, which apparently prompted Marine Le Pen to suggest that he was evading taxes “in the Bahamas”.
The French government and security services alerted Mr Macron and the other presidential candidates late last year to a Russian cyberoffensive to sway the election. “This is typical of fake news,” Mr Macron said in a radio interview yesterday. “Marine Le Pen comes up with this. She has troops behind her on the internet who take up positions. Some of these sites are linked to Russian interests . . . People talked and got organised.”
Mr Macron’s team said that a tweet about the supposed account came from a militant pro-Trump Twitter user and was amplified via 213 French-language accounts that are used to disseminate articles from the Kremlin-run media outlets RT and Sputnik. Nicolas Vanderbiest, an expert at Louvain university in Belgium, said that the fake bank contract and calls to spread the word had come mainly from “influential accounts of Russian propaganda and international accounts that carry out pro-Trump and pro-Russian propaganda”.
French Politics