France’s Sarkozy to stick to target budget in manifesto

PanARMENIAN.Net - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will stick to a target for 115 billion euros in savings up to 2016 when he presents his re-election manifesto in the days ahead, he said in an interview published on Monday, April 2, Reuters reported.

The conservative leader, who is lagging Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls, will outline his election program just weeks from the first-round vote on April 22. His goal was 75 billion euros ($100 billion) in spending cuts and 40 billion in new revenues over the next five years, he told regional dailies Est Republicain, Republicain Lorrain and Vosges Matin.

Sarkozy already has parliamentary approval for measures that would bring in 32 billion euros of additional income and he said he intended to secure the remaining 8 billion through new taxes on big companies and by making tax exiles pay contributions.

Sarkozy has opted to delay his re-election program until the last moment and instead unveil proposals one by one for maximum impact and to contrast with Hollande, who detailed a weighty program in January based around raising taxes on the rich to fund investment in education and jobs.

Seeking to capitalize on his verve as a campaigner, he has made headlines with proposals to hold policy referendums, cap immigration, make the long-term unemployed undergo training to keep their benefits and to push for a Buy European Act.

The Socialists say the blow-by-blow campaign strategy makes Sarkozy look ill-prepared. Hollande's campaign chief Pierre Moscovici told LCI television it was irresponsible to give budget figures without explaining where they came from.

Aides say Sarkozy's campaign chief Emmanuelle Mignon is preparing a 16-page manifesto which he could present at a news conference on Thursday. "This will be our reference document but there could be more proposals," said lawmaker Damien Meslot, a member of Sarkozy's campaign team. "In this campaign, our weapon is surprise."