PARIS - Valerie Pecresse, the presidential candidate for the conservative Les Republicains party, has emerged as one of Emmanuel Macron's most serious challengers in April's election.
Here are her main policy proposals https://www.valeriepecresse.fr/mon-projet:
IMMIGRATION/ASYLUM:
- Immigration quotas per country and per type of job
- No automatic right to French citizenship for those born in France of foreign parents
- Asylum demands should be made only at French embassies abroad or at the border
SECURITY:
- Stiffen judicial sentences in tough neighbourhoods where police are under pressure
- Cut red tape in the judicial system; build more prisons
ISLAM:
- Ban women accompanying their children on school trips from wearing a Muslim headscarf
- Close down any mosque whose preacher is hostile to France
- Make radicalisation a firing offence from any job
ECONOMY:
- End the 35-hour work week, giving workers the right to negotiate working hours
- Raise the retirement age to 65 from 62
- Cut 150,000 public sector jobs by slashing 200,000 jobs and hiring 50,000 people in health, security and education; reduce unemployment benefits
- Sell the state's minority stakes in private companies
- Bring debt down to 100% of GDP by 2027 from an estimated 115.6% in 2021
EDUCATION/FAMILY:
- Step up sanctions for insulting or assaulting a teacher; give more autonomy to headmasters
- Give family allowances to all parents, independently of income
- Increase the threshold for tax-free donations to children and grandchildren
FOREIGN POLICY:
- "Constructive dialogue" with the United States
- "Strategic and firm dialogue" with China and Russia;
- Hire more border guards for the EU's Frontext border agency
- Pro-EU but would reserve the right to stop EU case law from infringing on France's values
ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY:
- Back plans for a European carbon tax at the EU's borders
- Build at least six new nuclear reactors to help meet greenhouse emission targets