Posted on 04/06/2007 12:13:24 AM PDT by Cincinna
LYON, France (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac's wife Bernadette joined Nicolas Sarkozy at a campaign rally on Thursday, displaying support for the rightist presidential hopeful who has had a tumultuous relationship with her husband.
Smiling broadly, Bernadette Chirac and Sarkozy walked side by side into an exhibition hall in southern Lyon, where Sarkozy thanked her for healing a split in the centre-right camp that could have threatened his bid for the presidency.
"I want to tell Bernadette Chirac that for us two, this is a form of achievement," Sarkozy told some 10,000 supporters, at one point taking the first lady by the hand to wave at the crowds.
Jacques Chirac has given Sarkozy his backing as he is their party's candidate. But the two have been bitter rivals since Sarkozy backed a former Chirac ally for president in 1995.
"We've had moments. I never lost your confidence. We have always talked to each other. And if today, our family is reunited, that's because at moments when the going was rough, you have managed to bridge the gap," he told her.
"This unity of the family, I want to dedicate it to you tonight."
Bernadette Chirac said Sarkozy was the best candidate.
"If I'm here, it's obviously because I support him," she told journalists after singing the Marseillaise, the national anthem, with Sarkozy at the end of the rally.
(snip)
"I think Nicolas Sarkozy is the best to address the challenges of the France of tomorrow, to carry the hopes of the France of tomorrow. So I'm doing all I can to help him win."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...
French election update: I didn’t stay up until 12:15 for nuthin.
The support of Bernadette Chirac, wife of French President Jacques Chirac is an important gain for Sarko.
Bernadette is a popular figure in her own right.Even though Chirac had almost no support for another run, he has a reservoir of good feelings and fondness and remains a politician best had as an ally, not an opponent.
Sarko has succeeded in unifying the Chirac/Villepin/Juppe currents in his party. Even maverick intrepreneur Bernard Tapie, once a candidate himself on the Extreme Left,an extremely popular and charismatic personality in France has thrown his support to Sarko.
Royal unveiled the Presidential Pact with 100 propositions
[this is all I could find of the 100]
From: Sego’s Manifesto
10% per year increase in budget for research and development (France lags behind other Western economies in this aspect);
free loans for young people designed to help them start up a business (again, the French have lost their entrepreneurial spirit due to the costs involved in crossing all the Ts and dotting the Is when registering a business);
a youth benefit to allow young people to establish some independence from their parents (but would that create a dependency on the state?);
a guarantee that no one should earn less by taking up employment and letting go of their benefits;
increasing the number of housing to be built every year and beefing up the powers of the state to intervene and build more social housing where locals oppose the move
yitbos
boost small pensions by 5 per cent;
consolidate the 35-hour maximum working week;
lift the minimum wage to €1,500 (£1,000) from €1,254 [per week?]
tax breaks to encourage trade union membership;
military-style training camps for young offenders;
“citizen juries” to evaluate the work of central and local government;
new rules to ensure “fair competition” in international and European trade (“Europe cannot just be a free-trade zone appended to Nato,”)
revamp of the Common Agricultural Policy to strengthen its support of smaller farmers and protecting the environment;
But who is Chirac’s mistress supporting?
Which one?
Extreme Left meets Extreme Right.
The 100 propositions is copycat of Mitterand’s 110 Propositions in 1981. In fact, Royal is a Mitterand disciple, a throwback to another age.
Aside from giving away tons of Euros to everyone for everything, some of her other propositions have met with total disapproval and ridicule.
“Citizen Juries”, in which average citizens convene to investigate and pass judgement on elected officials sounds like a throwback to the French Revolution show trials. That resulted in the guillotining of tens of thousands of innocent French people, including teenagers and the elderly.
Internment Camps for juvenile offenders run by the Military is another dud.
Sarko’s policies are very different. He has a modern, realistic world view, and aside from seeing unchecked immigration as a threat, economically, socially, and security-wise, he is openly pro-capitalist in his ideas.
Helans to change the 35 hour work week before it gets totally entrenched and gets lowered to 30 hours . He will allow everyone who wants to work more hours to do so, without paying more taxes and charges. In essence, work more to earn more. Most French people support the idea.
Sarko has succeeded in uniting his party, no small task, and gaining support from some of the other parties, UDF and even a few Socialists. There is little chance any of his support will slip.
It shows his strength as a leader and as someone who is able to get people together to work towards a goal.
Liberation is even further left than le Monde.
If these people want to pay more taxes, I am sure there is an address where they can sent in their checks.
Something more the French elite have in common with our American elite like Bill Gates,Warren Buffet et al. They have no objection to paying more in taxes either.
I am sure the two income family making 50-60K or the Euro equivalent and paying 30% of that in taxes and charges does not agree.
“I want to tell Bernadette Chirac that for us two, this is a form of achievement,” Sarkozy told some 10,000 supporters
:’)
“ensemble tout devient possible”
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