Business-Oriented, Conservative Fillon Appealing to Rural France Voters

© REUTERS / Philippe WojazerFrancois Fillon, former French prime minister and member of Les Republicains political party, delivers his speech after partial results in the second round for the French center-right presidential primary election in Paris, France, November 27, 2016.
Francois Fillon, former French prime minister and member of Les Republicains political party, delivers his speech after partial results in the second round for the French center-right presidential primary election in Paris, France, November 27, 2016. - Sputnik International
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France's former Prime Minister Francois Fillon has gained support of electorate in rural regions, where people are attached to national identity and family values, promising to cut red tape for small and medium businesses, relax job market regulations and focus on traditional social policies, French lawmaker Nicolas Dhuicq told Sputnik.

Francois Fillon, candidate in Sunday's second round of the French center-right presidential primary elections, members of the conservative Les Republicains political party, delivers a speech during a meeting with deputies in Paris, France, November 22, 2016. - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On November 20, Fillon and Alain Juppe won in the first round of the primaries, leaving other politicians such as former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy and former Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, behind. On Sunday, Fillon succeed in winning the presidential primary nomination of The Republicans party in the final round.

"Fillon’s speeches were very reassuring for the French, who are not living in the third Bureau of Paris, but in small towns. He defends traditional family values and shares concerns of the businesses by proposing liberal microeconomic initiatives of cutting back excessive regulations and making it easier for companies to operate," Dhuicq said.

Proposed steps to make it easier for businesses to hire and fire workers along with public spending and public sector jobs’ cuts have been already largely criticized by the powerful trade unions. However, according to Fillon’s Sunday speech, he is ready for a fight. "I am plowing my furrow calmly, seriously with a precise, powerful project. I won’t deviate," Fillon said.

According to Dhuicq, Fillon who, in his own words, is a candidate of a "radical change," taps into a strong undertow of economic concerns in the French society where unemployment is stuck around 10 percent and public debt is nearing 100 percent of economic output. Fillon brands himself as a supporter of traditional conservative economic policies advocating minimal government debt, but with the twist on a stronger attachment to French identity and a greater role that state should play, the lawmaker outlined.

"I think that Fillon’s program is a mix of British conservatism with the French touch. The French touch implies bigger role of the state and the nation that is not a part of the British philosophy, which advocates for completely free market that is the answer for every serious problem. Fillon believes that along with free trade and deregulation of the economy, the country needs a strong state to guarantee equality between citizens meaning equality between people living in big cities and those living in the countryside," Dhuicq said.

He noted that Fillon accepted moderate government intervention to control creation and spread of monopolies, such as electric and mobile phone companies, and in distribution of public good.

Presidential hopeful Fillon, who pledged first of all to improve the economic situation, on multiple occasions warned that the French government was on the verge of bankruptcy from overspending and called for reduction of public spending from 57 to 50 percent of GDP.

Francois Fillon, former French prime minister and member of Les Republicains political party, attends a rally as he campaigns in the second round for the French center-right presidential primary election in Paris, France, November 25, 2016. - Sputnik International
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"I also fear that France could become second Ivory Coast where state for long had been borrowing money from the market, bankrupted and is no longer able to pay its public servants," Dhuicq warned.

Being also a social conservative, Fillon has promised to roll back parts of the gay-marriage law related to same-sex couples’ right to adopt children and expressed his concerns over surrogacy.

Dhuicq emphasized that Fillon’s social policies resonated with French general electorate that "is not against the principal that two men or two women can love each other but call for a change of the gay-marriage law concerning the right to adopt."

The French presidential elections will take place in April and May 2017. Fillon is expected to face the far-right Front National's Marine Le Pen and a nominee of the ruling Socialist Party, who will be picked in January.

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