Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Manuel Valls

  • Macron Wins Support of Former French Prime Minister Valls

    Former French prime minister Manuel Valls has thrown his support behind the presidential candidacy of Emmanuel Macron, his former economy minister.

    “I don’t think we should take any risk for the republic and so I will vote for Emmanuel Macron,” the Spanish-born social democrat said.

    Valls sought the presidential nomination of his own Socialist Party but was defeated in January by the far-left Benoît Hamon. His center-left policies are closer to Macron’s, who served together with Valls in François Hollande’s government for two years. The two men cut taxes for employers and loosened labor laws. (more…)

  • French Socialists Nominate Far-Left Hamon for Presidency

    • French Socialists nominated Benoît Hamon, a former education minister, as their presidential candidate on Sunday.
    • Hamon got 58 percent support in a second voting round against 41 percent for his opponent, the former prime minister Manuel Valls.
    • Hamon is to the left of the party. His policies include the legalization of marijuana and the introduction of a universal basic income. (more…)

  • Hamon, Valls Push Montebourg Out of French Presidential Contest

    • Former education minister Benoît Hamon and former prime minister Manuel Valls have won the first voting round in the French Socialist Party’s presidential primary.
    • Arnaud Montebourg, a former industry minister, finished third. He has endorsed his fellow leftist Hamon.
    • Polls suggest Valls, a social democrat, would be more competitive in a general election. (more…)

  • Valls Jeopardizes His Credibility as a Reformer by Tilting to the Left

    With two weeks to go until the French Socialists elect their presidential candidate, Manuel Valls is not so subtly tilting to the left.

    The former prime minister, who made a name for himself as a reformer, now says neither the 35-hour workweek nor France’s high wealth taxes need to be reformed after all.

    Valls’ concessions to the left make short-term political sense. Benoît Hamon and Arnaud Montebourg, two far-left firebrands, are up in the polls. Valls is still the favorite to win the nomination, but only narrowly. Recent surveys suggest he could struggle in a second voting round against either of his opponents.

    But he takes a longer-term risk.

    Valls’ electability in a general election would hinge on his credibility as a social democrat. If he veers too far to the left, true believers may decide there is no point in supporting him anymore over Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the otherwise hopeless far-left candidate, while more moderate center-left voters could defect to Emmanuel Macron, the former economy minister under Valls who is running as an independent. (more…)

  • After Hollande Steps Aside, Valls Is the Only Serious Candidate

    François Hollande bowed to reality on Thursday, when the Socialist Party leader announced he would not seek a second term as president of France.

    No leader in the history of the Fifth Republic has been less popular than Hollande, whose approval rating hit a 4-percent low in one survey last month.

    Hollande squandered what little goodwill he had left when Un président ne devrait pas dire ça… (“A President Should Not Say That…”) appeared last month: a tell-all book in which the outgoing president is quoted disparaging other Socialist Party bigwigs, including his prime minister, Manuel Valls, and foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault.

    Both were reportedly outraged by the publication, which dumbfounded the entire French political class. It will only help cement Hollande’s legacy as an inapt and feckless president, who failed to balance competing interest in the ruling Socialist Party and was unable to revitalize the French economy.

    Unemployment, at 10 percent, is at the same level as when Hollande took office in 2012. Growth has been lackluster ever since. (more…)