#AJ2017: Alain Juppé takes poll position in race to become next president of France

Alain Juppé is now the front-runner in the race to lead the French centre-right (UMP - Union for a Popular Movement) for the presidential nomination. The second round of voting gave Juppé a 44% point lead over the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president of the UMP group.

Nicolas Sarkozy has increasingly adopted the rhetoric of the far right, it would be hard to put a cigarette paper between his pronouncements on immigration and those of Marine LePen. He would refuse medical assistance to illegal immigrants, suspend the right to family reunification and extend the period of naturalization from five to ten years. Juppé has taken a firm but more measured approach.

Juppé

As mayor of Bordeaux Juppé (1995 – 2004) has transformed it from a rather dusty old city that looked as if it had seen better times, to a spruced up and dynamic hub for the south-west of France. Juppé was a rising star in the 90s and served as prime minister between 1995 – 1997.

Juppé is not without controversy, in 2004, he was tried for the abuse of public funds. He was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail sentence, the deprivation of civic rights for five years, and the deprivation of the right to run for political office for ten years. This was appealed and the disqualification from holding elected office was reduced to one year and the suspended sentence cut to 14 months.

Europe

On Europe, Juppé adheres to the adage that "unity is strength", arguing that this applies to almost all challenges of the new century: migration, the fight against climate change, the development of the economy, control of finances , strategic relations with the Americans and the Russians or Chinese or Islamist terrorism. He wants to rekindle the European flame around a solid Franco-German alliance.

Brexit

On Brexit, he is phlegmatic about the negotiations ahead, considering that it is in the interests of the EU-27 and UK to strike a good deal that is not punitive. It is the confidence of someone who knows very well that the EU-27 hold the upper hand in future negotiations. Like other European politicians, he urged the UK not to stall on triggering Article 50 (the start of the negotiations).

Where he takes a harder line is the current agreement between France and the UK on border controls, the Touquet agreement. Juppé wants the British border put back on British soil.

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