Who will become the president of France and how will this affect Ukraine?

The closer the elections, the more dirt – this rule is true not only for Ukraine and the countries of the former USSR. The relatively democratic French Republic also suffers from wars of compromising material. This country is important for us as well because the outcome of the elections in France unofficially tied the decision on obtaining Ukraine’s visa-free regime. ProGolovne tried to consider the main contenders for the French presidency and to understand how their coming to power will affect the future of Ukrainian visa-free travel.

Francois Fillon

Who is he: Former Prime Minister of France, French National Assembly deputy from Paris. He is a protégé of French center-right liberal conservatives. His wife is Welsh, he has five children. He advocates conservative family values, a tougher but still balanced policy towards migrants. For increasing the retirement age and against same-sex marriage. He considers Russia to be a part of European culture, but he is against its integration into the European community. However, according to the press, he has very close relationships with the Kremlin.

Scandals: His wife, Penelope Fillon, has fallen under the investigation. She is suspected of supporting her husband in embezzlement of public funds. The fact is that she did not go to work, but she was officially registered as an employee of the French parliament. And so through about 680 thousand euro was deduced, it’s a considerable amount even for France. The second scandal is connected with his son Charles and daughter Marie; they are also accused of being fictitious in public positions, receiving salaries, but not working.

Prospects for Ukraine: Judging by everything they are neutral. Thus, he will not lobby for Ukraine’s receiving of a visa-free regime, but he will not prevent it either. Moreover, against the backdrop of accusing him of links with Moscow, each of his views towards Russia will be viewed under a microscope. We can see it on the example of Donald Trump.

Marin Le Pen

Who is she: Member of the European Parliament, leader of the French party “National Front”. She is tough against migrants and multiculturalism in general. And also against the policy of enlargement of the European Union and for the greater degree of freedom of France from it. For the withdrawal from NATO and even (for horror) is ready to discuss the return of the death penalty. She is friends with Putin personally and has already met with him. She did it last week.

Scandals: In addition to traditional accusations of anti-Islamic and racist rhetoric, she is accused of being a protege of Putin. In addition, the European Parliament removed her immunity from her for too cruel images in her Twitter.

Prospects for Ukraine: There is a high probability in case of victory of Marin Le Pen, visa-free regime will be blocked by France. Nothing prevented this woman from recognizing Crimea as a part of Russia, which means that nothing will stop her from helping her friends in the Kremlin. Especially if they have already allocated a tidy sum for her election campaign.

François Macron

Who is he: a former investment banker, former Minister of Economy and Industry of France. He is quite young (39 years old). A former socialist, represents the leftist modernists from the party “Forward!”. He is a supporter of the European Union and an ardent Atlanticist. He stands for modernization and liberalization, but with the preservation of the policy of social security.

Scandals: He hasn’t been noticed in political and economic scandals, perhaps, because of his age. However, there are a number of sexual scandals. A number of yellow editions accused him of homosexuality. A number of conservative publications do not like the fact that his wife is older than him for 24 years.

Prospects for Ukraine: Most likely, he will be in favor of an early visa-free agreement with our country. First, he himself, as a person, is a Eurofil, and therefore, stands for the maximum implementation of European values ​​in the world. Secondly, this corresponds to the values ​​of his party.

Photo taken from open sources facebook.com