European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 781

On April 17 2017 02:09 HolydaKing wrote:
Lol, 64% of Turks living in Germany voted yes. In Austria it was even 71%. Not to mention France, Belgium etc... looks like people really like Erdogan.

A week before France's presidential election, the four top candidates began a final push Sunday to woo undecided voters who will determine the outcome of a tight race between the hard left, centre, right and far right.

On April 23, the French will vote in the first round of the country's most unpredictable election in decades. Two of the 11 candidates will go through to a decisive run-off on May 7.

The election is being closely watched in Brussels and around the world, with a duel between far-right leader Marine Le Pen and surging leftist radical Jean-Luc Melenchon, both eurosceptics, one of the possible outcomes.

Opinion polls show record numbers of voters -- one in three -- still undecided about who to back after a campaign that has been big on scandals but short on policy debate.

An ebullient Melenchon, leader of La France Insoumise (Unbowed France), drew tens of thousands of supporters at an open-air rally in Toulouse where he bashed his rivals, US President Donald Trump and the European Union.

Condemning Trump's recent airstrikes against Syria's regime the 65-year-old said "no people can accept that there is a world sheriff who decides alone who is murdered."

In a barnstorming speech stressing freedom and international solidarity, he defended his close ties to Venezuela and Cuba, saying his rivals kept worse company.

- 'Tea with Putin' -

"Do I have to answer to Marine Le Pen about my anti-Western friendships when she takes tea with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin?" he asked.

He stirred particular passions when he rapped scandal-hit conservative Francois Fillon and EU "austerity treaties" -- triggering chants of "Degagez" (Get lost), the rallying cry of the Arab Spring of revolts.

During a visit to a World War I battlefield, outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande appealed to the candidates not to "scapegoat Europe", saying it had "protected us against war".

Melenchon's spurt has shaken up the race, with many hesitating between voting with their hearts and a tactical vote for whichever candidate is given the best chance of barring him or Le Pen -- both of whom are threatening to quit the euro.

Will the real Jean-Luc Mélenchon stand up? On Tuesday, Mélenchon, the rising star of the French presidential election, will appear in the eastern city of Dijon. Simultaneously a 3D hologram of the veteran hard-left politician will be beamed to six other French cities. He may not literally be there, but just days from France’s heavily contested leadership vote “JLM” will be attempting to show that his programme has more substance than his ethereal appearance might suggest.

In an election where historic and “never before” moments have become commonplace, the spectacular rise of Mélenchon has crossed a new line. Pollsters agree he is now a serious challenger to Les Républicains candidate François Fillon, who is in third position. Whether he can go further is anyone’s guess.

The favourites to make the second-round runoff on 7 May remain far-right Front National candidate Marine Le Pen and the independent centrist Emmanuel Macron. But with up to one-third of France’s 47 million voters undecided, and another 30% so disillusioned with French politics that they say they will abstain, the field is still wide open.

Two months ago any suggestion that Mélenchon, head of La France Insoumise (Unbowed France), could be a serious contender for the Elysée would have been thought laughable. Now it is no joke. Mélenchon’s popularity is running level with the beleaguered, scandal-hit Fillon in some polls, higher in others.

Le Monde says France is in the unusual situation of having four presidential candidates, any one of whom could win. Like Le Pen, Mélenchon is appealing to young voters with his hologram meetings, his upbeat election messages and his entertainingly forthright approach to televised debates.

Les Echos, France’s financial newspaper, described Mélenchon as “the new French risk”. Mélenchon would dramatically raise public spending, partly through taxing salaries above €400,000 (£339,000) at 90%. He wants to renegotiate EU treaties and quit Nato, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, all of which are viewed by La France Insoumise as instruments of a failing globalised capitalism.