François Fillon

François Fillon
Prime Minister of France
In office
17 May 2007 – 10 May 2012
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Preceded by Dominique de Villepin
Succeeded by Jean-Marc Ayrault
Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing
In office
22 February 2012 – 16 May 2012
Preceded by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet
Succeeded by Nicole Bricq
Member of the National Assembly
for Paris' 2nd constituency
Assumed office
17 June 2012
Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research
In office
31 March 2004 – 31 May 2005
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Preceded by Luc Ferry (National Education and Research)
François Loos (Higher Education)
Succeeded by Gilles de Robien
Minister of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity
In office
7 May 2002 – 30 March 2004
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Preceded by Élisabeth Guigou
Succeeded by Jean-Louis Borloo
President of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire
In office
20 March 1998 – 16 May 2002
Preceded by Olivier Guichard
Succeeded by Jean-Luc Harousseau
Minister responsible for Posts, Telecommunications and Space
In office
7 November 1995 – 2 June 1997
Prime Minister Alain Juppé
Preceded by Office re-established
Succeeded by Christian Pierret
Minister of Information Technologies and Posts
In office
18 May 1995 – 7 November 1995
Prime Minister Alain Juppé
Preceded by José Rossi
Succeeded by Franck Borotra
Minister of Higher Education and Research
In office
30 March 1993 – 11 May 1995
Prime Minister Édouard Balladur
Preceded by Hubert Curien (Research)
Succeeded by François Bayrou
President of the General Council of Sarthe
In office
20 April 1992 – 20 March 1998
Preceded by Michel d'Aillières
Succeeded by Roland du Luart
Personal details
Born François Charles Amand Fillon
(1954-03-04) 4 March 1954
Le Mans, France
Political party The Republicans (2015–present)
Other political
affiliations		 Union for a Popular Movement (2002–2015)
Rally for the Republic (Before 2002)
Spouse(s) Penelope Clarke (m. 1980)
Children 5
Alma mater University of Maine
Paris Descartes University
Signature

François Charles Amand Fillon (French pronunciation: ​[fʁɑ̃swa ʃaʁl amɑ̃ fijɔ̃]; born 4 March 1954) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.[1][2] He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union for a Popular Movement), the country's largest centre-right political party, for the 2017 presidential election.

Fillon became Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Minister of Labour in 2002 and undertook controversial reforms of the 35-hour working week law and of the French retirement system. In 2004, as Minister of National Education he proposed the much debated Fillon law on Education.

In 2005, Fillon was elected Senator for the Sarthe Département. His role as a political advisor in Nicolas Sarkozy's successful race for President led to his becoming Prime Minister in 2007. Fillon resigned upon Sarkozy's defeat by François Hollande in the 2012 presidential elections.

Running on a platform described as conservative,[3] Fillon entered the 2016 Republican presidential primary. He placed first in the first round on 20 November, defeating Alain Juppé in the primary run-off a week later. Following his victory in the primary, opinion polls showed Fillon as one of the frontrunners for the 2017 presidential election along with Marine Le Pen (FN) and Emmanuel Macron (EM). In March 2017, François Fillon became one of the first candidates of the most important French party to "be formally charged in a widening embezzlement investigation"[4] due to allegations "that he had paid his wife and children hundreds of thousands of euros from the public payroll for little or no work" during the presidential race, in a case that became known as "Penelopegate". Nevertheless, he decided not to resign and continues to declare his innocence, denying that he embezzled any money.[4] On 23 April 2017, he was eliminated at the first round of the presidential election, and subsequently acknowledged that he did not have the legitimacy to lead the party through the legislative elections in June.

Early life

Fillon was born on 4 March 1954 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. His father, Michel, is a civil law notary, while his mother, Anne Soulet Fillon, is a celebrated historian of Basque descent.[5][6] His youngest brother, Dominique, is a pianist and jazz musician.[7][8]

Fillon received a baccalauréat in 1972. He then studied at the University of Maine in Le Mans where he received a master's degree in public law in 1976. He subsequently received a master of Advanced Studies (diplôme d'études approfondies) in public law from Paris Descartes University.[9]

François Fillon speaking in the National Assembly.

Political career

Governmental functions
Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Senate of France

Regional Council

General Council

Municipal Council

Community of communes Council

Prime Minister

François Fillon speaking in Warsaw.

The day after Nicolas Sarkozy became President he appointed Fillon as Prime Minister of France, charging him with the task of forming a new cabinet, which was announced on 18 May 2007.[10] By appointing as Secretary of State André Santini, who had been indicted in the Fondation Hamon affair on charges of corruption, Fillon made the first break since 1992 with the so-called "Balladur jurisprudence", according to which an indicted governmental personality should resign until the case is closed.[11] On 13 November 2010, Fillon resigned, paving the way for a cabinet reshuffle.[12] One day later Sarkozy reappointed Fillon as Prime Minister, allowing Fillon to formally name a new cabinet.[13]

Following the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy to François Hollande in the 2012 presidential election, Fillon resigned on 10 May. Following the inauguration of Hollande as President on 15 May 2012, Jean-Marc Ayrault, mayor of Nantes, was appointed to succeed Fillon as Prime Minister.

UMP presidential election

Aiming at building consensus within the diverging views at the UMP after Francois Hollande's victory in the French presidential elections in 2012, Fillon declared his candidacy to become the President of the UMP party. On the day of the vote, both candidates (Fillon and Jean-François Copé) claimed victory and accused the other of cheating. This led to a major political crisis within the party with votes being recounted twice and Copé finally being declared winner.

Fillon threatened to split from UMP unless new elections were organised. In December 2012, Copé agreed to organising elections in 2013, thus putting an end to the crisis.[14]

Presidential bid

Fillon entered the 2016 Republican presidential primary, held on 20 November 2016, and seemed a likely third as late as a week before the vote.[15] In early counting, Fillon emerged as the clear frontrunner, with Alain Juppé in second place. Third place Sarkozy conceded, bringing his support to Fillon, and Fillon and Juppé went into the run-off on 27 November 2016.[16] Juppé conceded to Fillon, pledging his support for him as the Republican nominee in the 2017 presidential election.[17]

As of November 2016, Fillon was seen as the frontrunner for the Presidency against the Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. However, a series of revelations of political scandals at the end of January shattered his presidential bid, being outed of the second round behind Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron in polls. Fillon's visits on the ground then attracted far-left protesters to destabilise his campaign. The news provocated consternation in Germany where Fillon was seen as a serious and trusted candidate.[18][19]

On 23 April 2017, he secured 20.0% of the votes at the first round of the French presidential election, arriving third, and failing to enter the runoff.

Political positions

Economy, budget and taxation

Fillon has been described as a reformist liberal. For many observers, he is more liberal than his mentor Philippe Séguin.[20][21] A few months after taking office as prime minister, he declared that he was "at the head of a state that is bankrupt financially, [...] which for 15 years has been in chronic deficit, [...] that has not voted a balanced budget for 25 years." He then committed publicly to "bring the state budget to balance by the end of the five-year",[22] and reiterated this promise in 2012[23] and proposed a referendum on registration of the fiscal golden rule in the Constitution.[24] In defending a policy of controlling the deficit, Fillon is in favour of abolishing the wealth tax, which he considers one of the causes of the debt of France. According to him, this tax discourages foreign entrepreneurs.[25] This tax would be offset by the creation of a top slice of income tax to 50%, which would be included in the CSG.

As a presidential candidate, Fillon aims to reduce the public sector and cut 500,000 civil-service jobs.[26] Fillon has been compared to Margaret Thatcher due to his ambition to reduce the size of the state.[27][28][29] He says in 2016 that he wants the state healthcare program (securité sociale) to work better with fewer payments.

Fillon is in favour of increasing the retirement age to 65.[30] During the 2012 presidential election, he proposed that each job seeker should be offered vocational training and be forced to accept the employment offered to them after training.[23]

Domestic policy

As member of the National Assembly Fillon voted against the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexual relations in 1982, against civil solidarity pacts in 1999, and against the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013.[31][32] However, he says he will not ban the same-sex marriage law if elected President. He opposes adoption by same-sex couples.[32]

Fillon has stated that he is personally opposed to abortion but would not vote to ban it.[32]

Fillon blamed the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana on President Hollande's policies, which he said had failed.[33]

Foreign policy

Fillon is an advocate of cracking down on Salafism and Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups[34] and has stridently warned against the threat of "Islamic totalitarianism".[35] He has called for dialogue with Syria under Bashar al-Assad[35] and with the Russian Federation, under Vladimir Putin. Putin has been described as a friend of Fillon's,[36][37] although Fillon himself rejects that description.[38]

Personal life

Fillon lives with his wife, Penelope, and five children, Marie, Charles, Antoine, Édouard and Arnaud, in the 12th-century Manoir de Beaucé, set in 20 acres (8 ha) of woodland on the banks of the River Sarthe 4 km east of the monastery village of Solesmes, near Sablé-sur-Sarthe, and about halfway between Le Mans and Angers. They had lived in various other properties, always in the Sarthe, throughout their marriage, before buying Beaucé in 1993.[8][39]

Fillon has a reputation as an Anglophile.[40] His wife Penelope Kathryn Fillon, née Clarke, was born in Llanover in Wales, the daughter of a solicitor.[41] They met while she was teaching English during her gap year in Le Mans, and they were married in the bride's family church in June 1980.[8][42][43][44]

François Fillon has spoken at a wide variety of universities in Britain, notably King's College London and the London School of Economics.[40][45]

Fillon's younger brother, Pierre, an ophthalmic specialist (and now President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest), later married Penelope Fillon's younger sister, Jane.[46]

Fictitious employment allegations

In January 2017, Le Canard enchaîné published an article in which Penelope Fillon was accused of alleged fictitious employment, as her husband's "assistante parlementaire" for a total salary of €500,000 over eight years on the one hand, and as a "literary adviser" of Revue des deux Mondes on the other, with a monthly salary of €5,000, amounting to a total of another €100,000.[47] A preliminary hearing immediately opened. The public outcry around this so-called "Penelopegate"[48] was such that doubts were voiced about François Fillon himself, who was the frontrunner for the 2017 presidential election,[49] with an immediate sharp decline in the opinion polls.[50]

On 31 January, new reporting by Le Canard enchaîné found that Penelope Fillon was actually paid €300,000 more than previously reported, for a total sum of €831,440 for 15 years of her parliamentary assistant work.[51] It also reported that Fillon had paid two of his children €84,000 for little apparent actual work.[51]

On 6 February 2017 Fillon held a press conference. He said "It was a mistake and I apologize to the French [people]" but also said that the salary of his wife was "perfectly justified".[52]

On 3 March 2017, the OCLCIFF (Central office for the fight against corruption and financial and fiscal crime) executed a search at the Château de Beaucé where François and Penelope Fillon reside in the Sarthe department.[53] This followed a search by the same agency on 2 March 2017 at the Fillons' Paris residence in the 7th arrondissement.[54]

On 6 March 2017, the inner circle of Fillon's party had a crisis meeting. Beforehand, Alain Juppé had definitively excluded becoming a replacement candidate. Fillon continues his candidacy,[55] despite his promise (given on 26 January on TV) to withdraw from the race if subjected to criminal prosecution.[56]

On 23 March, Fillon said on national television that Bienvenue Place Beauvau, a book co-authored by Didier Hassoux of Le Canard enchaîné, suggested President François Hollande ran a shadow cabinet to spread rumours about his opponents.[57][58] Hassoux denied this was the case.[57][58]

2F Conseil affair

In its edition of 22 March 2017, satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné reported that Fillon introduced a Lebanese billionaire to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a business forum in St. Petersburg in 2015 as part of a $50,000 contract for Fillon's consulting firm 2F Conseil.[59]

Le Mans race

Having lived all his life in the Le Mans area and represented it politically, Fillon is an enthusiastic supporter of the city's famous 24-hour sportscar race, which he has attended nearly every year since he was a small child. He is a member of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which stages the event, and is on the race's organisation committee. He has also competed in the Le Mans Legend historic sportscar races on the full 24-hour circuit and in a number of other classic road rallies.[60] Fillon's younger brother Pierre currently serves as the President of the ACO, having been elected in 2013.[61]

Awards and honours

References

  1. ↑ "Communiqué de la Présidence de la République concernant la nomination du Premier ministre" (in French). Élysée Palace. 17 May 2007. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  2. ↑ "Décret du 17 mai 2007 portant nomination du Premier ministre" (in French). Legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "2017 : pourquoi François Fillon est une menace pour le FN". Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 "François Fillon, French Presidential Candidate, Vows to Run Despite Inquiry". The New York Times. 1 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Décès d'Anne Fillon, mère de l'ex-Premier ministre". Ouest France. France. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Média, Prisma. "François Fillon – La biographie de François Fillon avec Gala.fr".
  7. ↑ Olivier Nuc; Jean Talabot (15 March 2017). "Dominique Fillon, jazzman et petit frère de...". Le Figaro. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Willsher, Kim; Finan, Tim (7 May 2007). "Welshwoman prepares for life in French No 10". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  9. ↑ "François Fillon – Biographie – Le Parisien".
  10. ↑ Communiqué de la Présidence de la République concernant la composition du gouvernement de M. François FILLON, Premier ministre. Archived 20 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Élysée Palace, 18 May 2007
  11. ↑ La mise en examen de M. Santini n'a pas empêché sa nomination au gouvernement, Le Monde, 22 June 2007 (in French)
  12. ↑ AFP: Sarkozy clears decks for French government reshuffle
  13. ↑ "French Prime Minister Reappointed". The New York Times. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  14. ↑ Parienté, Samuel Laurent et Jonathan (18 December 2012). "UMP : l'accord entre Fillon et Copé décrypté". Le Monde.
  15. ↑ Willsher, Kim, and Matthew Weaver, "Who is François Fillon – the man who ended Sarkozy's dream?", The Guardian, 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  16. ↑ "Fillon shakes up France's unpredictable presidential race". 20 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "France's Juppe concedes defeat, backs Fillon in presidential election". Reuters. 27 November 2016.
  18. ↑ "François Fillon: now the favourite to be France's next president".
  19. ↑ "L'affaire Fillon vue d'Allemagne".
  20. ↑ UMP : Au-delà des postures, quelles différences idéologiques entre Copé, Fillon et Juppé sur atlantico.fr du 3 juillet 2012.
  21. ↑ Infographie : dans la tête de François Fillon sur rue89.com du 16 novembre 2012.
  22. ↑ Fillon affirme être à la tête d'un État en "faillite" sur google.com, article AFP, du 22 septembre 2007.
  23. 1 2 Castres. Fillon défend le bilan du quinquennat sur ladepeche.fr du 4 mai 2012.
  24. ↑ Règle d'Or: Fillon pour un référendum après l'élection présidentielle sur Huffingtonpost.fr du 14 février 2012.
  25. ↑ François Fillon: "L'assommoir fiscal tue l'économie" sur Parismatch.com du 27 août 2013.
  26. ↑ "France's Republicans choose François Fillon to battle Marine Le Pen for the presidency". The Economist. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  27. ↑ "French Thatcherite Upends 2017 Race Pledging to Shrink the State".
  28. ↑ "'France wants action': Thatcherite Francois Fillon promises radical reforms after winning presidential primary".
  29. ↑ "Thatcherite victor vows sharp shock for France".
  30. ↑ François Fillon : "L'assommoir fiscal tue l'économie" sur parismatch.com du 27 août 2013.
  31. ↑ "Quand Fillon votait contre la dépénalisation de l'homosexualité et le PACS" [When Fillon voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality and PACS]. Midi Libre (in French). Societe du Journal Midi Libre S.A. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  32. 1 2 3 Chrisafis, Angelique (23 November 2016). "How François Fillon became the French right's new hope". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  33. ↑ Breeden, Aurelien (27 March 2017). "Strikes Shut Down French Guiana, With Effects Resonating in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  34. ↑ ERASMUS (24 November 2016). "As European authorities target Salafism, the word needs parsing". The Economist. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  35. 1 2 "A Republican primary upset knocks Nicolas Sarkozy out of France's presidential race". The Economist. 20 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  36. ↑ "François Fillon and the danger of dancing with the Russian bear". Ties became particularly close between Messrs Fillon and Putin ....
  37. ↑ "François Fillon's win in France's Republican primaries upends the presidential race". The Economist. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  38. ↑ "François Fillon, Thatcherite with a thing for Russia". Politico. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  39. ↑ Chrisafis, Angelique (25 January 2017). "François Fillon faces inquiry over payments to wife from MP funds". The Guardian.
  40. 1 2 Chrisafis, Angelique (18 May 2007). "Anglophile Fillon is new French PM". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 18 May 2007.
  41. ↑ "Gwent woman Penelope Fillon could become France's 'First Lady'", southwalesargus.co.uk, 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  42. ↑ Campbell, Matthew (7 October 2007). "Madame Rosbif pricks Gallic pride". The Times. UK. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  43. ↑ Chrisafis, Angelique (6 May 2007). "Sarkozy's first hundred days". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  44. ↑ "François Fillon – Minister for National Education, Higher Education and Research". Embassy of France in the United States. 31 March 2004. Archived from the original on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  45. ↑ Chrisafis, Angelique (17 June 2015). "François Fillon in London on 17th June". France in London. UK. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  46. ↑ "UK – Wales – Welsh wife of new French premier".
  47. ↑ Emploi de Penelope Fillon : comment les fillonistes organisent la défense du candidat, on Libération (accessed on 28 January 2017).
  48. ↑ Willsher, Kim (4 February 2017). "François Fillon sinks in polls after 'Penelopegate' scandal". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  49. ↑ Les révélations du Canard Enchaîné sur les rémunérations perçues par la femme de François Fillon n’ont pas manqué de faire réagir, de Londres, à Moscou en passant par Berlin et Madrid, on Les Échos (France) (accessed on 28 January 2017).
  50. ↑ Affaire Penelope Fillon : la popularité du candidat en chute libre, d'après ce sondage, on tempsreel.nouvelobs.com (accessed on 28 January 2017).
  51. 1 2 Willsher, Kim (31 January 2017). "François Fillon faces fresh claims over paying wife and children". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  52. ↑ lefigaro.fr: Fillon: «Rien ne me fera changer d'avis, je suis candidat à l'élection présidentielle»
  53. ↑ Monde.fr, Le (4 March 2017). "Affaire Fillon : perquisition dans le château sarthois du couple". Le Monde.
  54. ↑ "Perquisition au domicile des époux Fillon à Paris". 23 April 2017.
  55. ↑ Hausser, Anita (6 March 2017). "Le jour où François Fillon a réussi à rebattre les cartes (et où François Baroin a gagné sa journée...)". atlantico.fr. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  56. ↑ FAZ.net 7 March 2017 / Michaela Wiegel: Der „Trump-Moment“ der Republikaner
  57. 1 2 ""Cabinet noir" à l'Elysée: Didier Hassoux dément les propos de Fillon". Le Figaro. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  58. 1 2 "François Hollande et le "cabinet noir" : "On n'a jamais écrit ça", dit un des auteurs du livre cité par François Fillon". France Info. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  59. ↑ "François Fillon aurait touché 50.000 dollars pour jouer l'intermédiaire entre Poutine et un milliardaire libanais, selon le "Canard enchaîné"". LCI. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  60. ↑ "Le Mans racer to be France's next Prime Minister?". GrandPrix.com. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  61. ↑ "behind the title Pierre Fillon". sportscar365.com. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  62. ↑
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