Elitism and Far-Right Advance to Runoff in France by Stephen Lendman
Former Rothschild & Cie Banque investment banker; Hollande economy, industry and digital affairs minister Emmanuel Macron is strongly favored to become France’s next president.
A self-styled centrist, an elitist establishment favorite, he ran as an En Marche! (forward) candidate, the party he formed in April 2016 - favoring continuity, not responsible change.
His pledge to address high unemployment and social injustice, improve relations between French youths and police, stress education, promote gender equality socially and politically, among other domestic issues he discussed are promises made to be ignored if elected.
Internationally, he said “Europe is at the heart of our project. Our responsibility…is to be able to rebuild the European dream” - unattainable for ordinary people under Brussels control, French sovereignty abandoned.
An Opinionway poll published last week showed him defeating Le Pen with a 63% majority - strengthened by his Sunday victory.
Preliminary results had him winning 23.75% of the vote to Le Pen’s 21.5%, a disappointing result for her despite moving on to May 7’s runoff.
A previous article discussed her far-right platform, including France leaving the EU and NATO - opposed by Macron.
As a Hollande Socialist Party minister, he supported its neoliberal and belligerent agenda, policies similar to how America, Britain, Germany and most other European countries are governed.
His anti-establishment-sounding pledge “to serve the public interest” resembled Trump’s rhetoric and other US politicians - a platform to get elected, then abandoned if successful.
Earlier he said France needs a more “balanced” policy toward Syria, included talks with Assad. In April, he proposed military intervention to oust him.
He’s pro-business, pro-banking monied interests, pro-Israel, anti-BDS, and hostile to Palestinian interests.
In June 2015, he and his then-German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel (currently Foreign Affairs Minister and Vice Chancellor) published a platform, advocating continued European integration.
For the first time since Charles de Gaulle established France’s Fifth Republic in 1958, no major center-right or center-left candidates qualified for runoff voting.
It hardly matters. Macron’s likely May 7 triumph will assure French political continuity - dirty business as usual again winning, ordinary people losing, along with a lost chance for France to regain its sovereignty.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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