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Surprise duo in France’s rightwing primary runoff

Former prime minister Francois Fillon's stunning upset in France's rightwing primary set up a run-off duel with another ex-premier, Alain Juppe, that is widely expected to decide the country's next leader.

Published: 21 November 2016 08:14 CET
Surprise duo in France's rightwing primary runoff
Juppe, left, and Fillon. Photo: AFP
By leap-frogging to first place in the first round of the primary, Fillon caused the elimination from the nominating contest of his former boss, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.
   
Following are profiles of the two men who will contest next Sunday's runoff:
 
Francois Fillon 
 
The pro-business, reform-minded Fillon, 62, has campaigned as a compromise candidate, with more bite than the moderate Juppé but less punch than the pugnacious Sarkozy.
   
As premier under Sarkozy from 2007 to 2012, Fillon's unflappable demeanourmade him an antidote to his frenetic former boss.
   
He is best remembered for having warned about the dangers of running a big budget deficit a year before the 2008 eurozone debt crisis.
   
The eurozone's second-biggest economy was “bankrupt”, he declared — remarks he pointed to in campaigning as proof that he was a politician who pulls no punches.
   
Fillon, who became the youngest member of the French parliament at age 27 in 1981, went on to hold several ministerial portfolios under Jacques Chirac.
 
Fillon and Juppé knock out Sarkozy in French primary
   
Fillon has promised far-reaching reforms to kickstart the moribund economy.
 
He has pledged to cut 600,000 civil service jobs and increase the working week from 35 to 39 hours.
   
On social issues, the father of five who is married to a Welsh woman tacked to the right of both Sarkozy and Juppé, vowing to amend a 2013 law on gay marriage to prevent adoptions by same-sex couples.
   
He has also announced plans to reduce immigration to a “strict minimum”.
 
Alain Juppé 
 
Juppé, 71, has campaigned as a moderate and a sage who will unify a country divided by a deep economic malaise and a wave of jihadist attacks.
   
The man with the longest CV in French politics had stints as foreign and defence minister under his vanquished arch-rival Sarkozy.
 
Painting Sarkozy as a “prophet of doom”, Juppé has said he wants to be a “prophet of happiness”, risking ridicule in a country renowned for its pessimism.
   
“The French people need more than ever to unite to turn the page on a disastrous five years (under Socialist President Francois Hollande) … and to create a bulwark against” the far right National Front of Marine Le Pen, Juppé said after securing his second-place finish.
 
 
One of France's most popular politicians, the longtime mayor of Bordeaux was the frontrunner for the centre-right's nomination until a late surge by Fillon.
   
Tall, balding and considered a bit stiff by many, Juppé has reached out to the vast majority of Muslims who embrace France's secular values.
   
His messages have been aimed at the virtually rudderless left as well as the centre.
   
Juppé was the budget minister for two years in 1996-98 and foreign minister for the first time from 1993 to 1995, during France's involvement in wars in the former Yugoslavia.
   
He spent several years in the political wilderness after a party funding scandal in 2004, in which he was seen as the fall guy for his mentor Chirac.
   
Juppé was convicted and given a suspended jail sentence that forced him out of office for two years.
   
Resigning his posts as parliamentary deputy and Bordeaux mayor, Juppé handed the leadership of the centre-right UMP party — now the Republicans — to Sarkozy, who used it as his springboard for the presidency.
   
Juppé went to teach in Canada before returning to be re-elected mayor of Bordeaux in October 2006.
   
He has sought to shrug off a reputation as a detached technocrat two decades after his 1995 reform agenda sparked the largest protest movement France had seen since May 1968.
   
Juppé says he is a “changed” man and now more open to dialogue.
 
By the AFP's Adam Plowrights and Clare Byrne

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POLITICS

8 things you never knew about Andorra

The tiny statelet nestled in the Pyrenees mountains that mark the border between France and Spain hit the headlines with its new language requirement for residency permits – but what else is there to know about Andorra?

Published: 26 April 2024 15:11 CEST
8 things you never knew about Andorra

This week, Andorra passed a law setting a minimum Catalan language requirement for foreign residents. 

It’s not often the tiny, independent principality in the mountains makes the news – other than, perhaps, when its national football team loses (again) to a rather larger rival in international qualifying competitions.

The national side are due to play Spain in early June, as part of the larger nation’s warm-up for the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany. Here, then, in case you’re watching that match, at Estadio Nuevo Vivero, are a few facts about Andorra that you can astound your fellow football fans with…

Size matters

Small though it is – it has an area of just 468 square kilometres, a little more than half the size of the greater Paris area – there are five smaller states in Europe, 15 smaller countries in the world by area, and 10 smaller by population.

People

Its population in 2023 was 81,588. That’s fewer people than the city of Pau, in southwest France (which is itself the 65th largest town in France, by population).

High-living

The principality’s capital, Andorra la Vella (population c20,000 – about the same population as Dax) is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres above sea level. 

Spoken words

The official language – and the one you’ll need for a residency permit – is Catalan. But visitors will find Spanish, Portuguese and French are also commonly spoken, and a fair few people will speak some English, too.

Sport

We’ve already mentioned the football. But Andorra’s main claim to sporting fame is as a renowned winter sports venue. With about 350km of ski runs, across 3,100 hectares of mountainous terrain, it boasts the largest ski area in the Pyrenees.

Economic model

Tourism, the mainstay of the economy, accounts for roughly 80 percent of Andorra’s GDP. More than 10 million tourists visit every year.

It also has no sales tax on most items – which is why you’ll often find a queue at the French border as locals pop into the principality to buy things like alcohol, cigarettes and (bizarrely) washing powder, which are significantly cheaper.

Head of state

Andorra has two heads of state, because history. It’s believed the principality was created by Charlemagne (c748 – 814CE), and was ruled by the count of Urgell up to 988CE, when it was handed over to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The principality, as we know it today, was formed by a treaty between the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix in 1278.

Today, the state is jointly ruled by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and … the president of France, who (despite the French aversion to monarchy and nobility) has the title Prince of Andorra, following the transfer of the count of Foix’s claims to the Crown of France and, subsequently, to the head of state of the French Republic. 

Military, of sorts

Andorra does have a small, mostly ceremonial army. But all able-bodied Andorran men aged between 21 and 60 are obliged to respond to emergency situations, including natural disasters.

Legally, a rifle should be kept and maintained in every Andorran household – though the same law also states that the police will supply a firearm if one is required.

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