Marine Le Pen and the current French president, Emmanuel Macron, will face each other in the second round. Given the chances that the former will win the elections, there are at least five points in its program that are causing concern in the markets.
The passage to the second round of the French presidential elections of the far-right candidate, Marine Le Penand the real possibilities of being elected on April 24, generate concern in local and international markets.
While the French president, Emmanuel Macronwho led the first round of the presidential elections, extended his hand to all the voters and said he was willing to “invent something new to unite diverse convictions and sensitivities” ahead of the ballot.
In Le Pen’s government program there are at least five points that would be generating “noise”.
The “national” preference
The so-called “national preference” seeks that, all things being equal, the French get ahead of the foreigners (including those from other countries of the European Union) when they opt for any job in the public or private sector, but also in the attribution of social housing or other benefits.
Foreigners would only be entitled to these benefits after five years of work in France.
Those “discriminatory” provisions contravene basic EU rules and conflict with the French Constitution.
Protectionism and ecological nationalism
Le Pen intends oblige the public administrations of your country to contract with French companies. It intends to nationalize the highways and one of the main concession companies is in the hands of the Spanish company Abertis.
In energy policy, he defends a renationalization of the market so that it is the French and not neighboring countries that benefit from the lowest production prices for electricity of nuclear origin.
It intends to prolong the useful life of atomic reactors in service and launch the construction of new ones, while promising to paralyze the deployment of new wind farms and dismantle existing ones, which it blames for making the landscape ugly.
Regarding the European and international commitments to reduce the emissions that cause the greenhouse effect, Le Pen warns that if she is president each year she will adjust the trajectory of France depending on what other countries do and the will of the French and their quality of life.
Tackling “uncontrolled immigration”
Le Pen affirms that in France there is an “uncontrolled immigration” and wants to submit a series of rules to a referendum to restrict the right to asylum, which could only be requested from abroad and put an end to family reunification. Also to prohibit the regularization of undocumented persons and allow their systematic expulsion, as well as penalize their irregular entry into France.
He considers that the Islamic veil is a sign of religious fundamentalism and that is why he wants to prohibit it by law in all public spaces, which would mean imposing fines and other sanctions on those who wear it or incite them to do so.
French legislation over the European
Marine Le Pen has abandoned her 2017 proposal to pull France out of the euro, but she continues to clash with some of the EU’s basic principles. For example, with her will to impose the primacy of French law over Community law.
He also wants to halve the French contribution to the EU budget; his opposition to free trade agreements; and his willingness to restore border controls in France and renegotiate the Schengen agreements that allow the free movement of people.
Proximity with Putin
In the past, the far-right leader has shown great proximity to Vladimir Putinwho received her in the Kremlin -in a gesture of implicit support- during the 2017 presidential campaign.
With the start of the war in Ukraine, which he has condemned, he has wanted to distance himself, but he has been more than lukewarm with the sanctions against Moscow and has distanced himself from the current position of France, in favor of a unanimous and hard position of the European Union.
Rejects an embargo on Russian hydrocarbons with the argument that it would harm the purchasing power of the French, whose defense has been one of its main electoral assets.
It is sympathetic to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and insists that in order to obtain a de-escalation, Ukraine must make concessions to Moscow’s demands, such as giving up joining NATO.