Last Tuesday, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan met with members and supporters of his party, Debout la République, in Nice. In one of the conference rooms at the Campanile Nice-Arenas hotel, the candidate for the upcoming presidential election unveiled some points of his program and his assessment of France today.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan will indeed be present at the electoral meeting next April. In a cheerful tone, the deputy from Essonne and founding president of Debout la République announced that he had gathered “almost all the endorsements,” approximately 450 signatures from mayors. This news was warmly applauded by the small assembly present at the conference. For Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, this reflects “the will of the French to sweep away the major candidates,” because “France needs to be pulled out of the mess.” Before an enthusiastic audience, the candidate developed a few of the 52 measures he will reveal next Sunday:
Employment.
It is necessary to promote employment by stopping relocations. For Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it is crucial to “give ourselves the means to produce and buy French.” No further explanations were provided.
Enterprises. It is well known that Nicolas Dupont-Aignan is staunchly opposed to the liberalization of financial markets. Thus, he proposes to take control of the public sector by nationalizing companies like EDF-GDF and the highways. Major private companies, with Total leading, will have to accept state participation in their capital. At the same time, SMEs will be offered a tax deduction of about 50%.
European Union.
On the European issue, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan is very clear: Europe needs to be reestablished. The European Union is considered “illegitimate” since the ‘No’ vote in the 2005 referendum. The candidate proposes to “renounce the agreements” signed so far and “rebuild the EU on sound bases.”
Education.
National education and research will receive more resources. On one hand, to promote professional integration, and on the other, to provide better future prospects in the face of French demographic growth.
Security.
One of the major themes of this campaign. The candidate proposes to reinstate the 10,000 positions cut in the police and gendarmerie due to retirements.
Voting.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan wishes to make voting mandatory, similar to Belgium. According to him, this would bring more than 10 million voters back to the polls.
