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Agence France-Presse

Francois Fillon, the man tipped to win the French rightwing presidential nomination on Sunday, is a free-market reformer, devout Catholic and motor sport fan who has promised to transform France.
Fillon, 62, has professed admiration for Britain’s 1980s prime minister Margaret Thatcher and vowed to slash public spending to shrink the French state.
“You have to tear the house down to properly rebuild it,” he has said.
His runaway victory in the first round of the centre-right Republicans party primary last Sunday was revenge on his former boss, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy, who crashed out in third place, had once dismissed Fillon as a “Mr Nobody” when he served as Sarkozy’s prime minister from 2007 to 2012.

I’m tagged with the label of an [economic] liberal in the same way they would daub crosses on the doors of lepers in the Middle Ages
Francois Fillon
But the man who himself admitted in a TV interview he had a “boring image” has emerged as the right’s best hope to retake power after five years of Socialist rule.
The winner of Sunday’s primary run-off will become the favourite for next year’s presidential election in May where he will likely face – and polls say beat – Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (FN).
With the backing of influential fellow Republicans leaders and favourable polls, Fillon has the momentum heading into Sunday’s vote to clinch the nomination against rival candidate Alain Juppe, 71.
Fillon, an amateur rally driver who was born in Le Mans, home of the world-renowned 24-hour race, believes he is “several laps ahead” of his adversary.
Perhaps because of his softly-spoken and understated style, Fillon was not taken seriously until his late acceleration in the two-month primary campaign.
At the start he was a distant third place in opinion polls, but after a series of assured television performances he surged to take 44 per cent of the vote last Sunday.
France’s Fillon touts himself as agent of change as he wins debate with presidential primary rival Juppe
Since then, he has picked up some heavyweight endorsements, including from Sarkozy.
Fillon has a radical economic reform programme, including scrapping the 35-hour week, one of the sacred cows of the French left.
He has also pledged to slash an eye-popping 500,000 jobs from the public sector, leading to charges from the more centrist Juppe that he wants to reform “brutally” when a more consensual approach is needed.
“I’m tagged with the label of an [economic] liberal in the same way they would daub crosses on the doors of lepers in the Middle Ages,” Fillon has joked.
He argues he is merely “a pragmatist”.

France is not a multicultural country. France has a history, a language and a culture which have naturally been enriched from outside
Francois Fillon
Fillon is also socially conservative, reflecting his life as a father of five children and practising Catholic who has been married to his Welsh wife Penelope for more than 30 years. They live in a 12th century manor house near Le Mans.
He voted against gay marriage when it was introduced by Socialist President Francois Hollande and has said he wants to amend the 2013 law.
His views on abortion – he is personally opposed but says he will not change the law or funding for it – have also been in the spotlight.
“My conscience is my business,” he said on Thursday during a final televised debate.
Compared with Juppe, Fillon also takes a harder line on questions of identity and Islam which have dominated the Republicans party primary campaign after a string of jihadist attacks in France.
He penned a book over the summer called Defeating Islamic Totalitarianism and believes “there is a problem linked to Islam” in France after a series of attacks by home-grown jihadists.
“No, France is not a multicultural country. France has a history, a language and a culture which have naturally been enriched from outside,” Fillon said on Thursday.

The self-declared “Gaullist” – a form of nationalism that proposes an independent and strong France – has been in politics for around 40 years.
He formed a bond with Russian President Vladimir Putin when both men overlapped as prime ministers from 2008-2012 and their closeness has led to questions about his foreign policy.
Former foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, who worked with Fillon, said this week that the two leaders would sometimes jog together and demonstrated “a friendship, a mutual understanding”.
Thatcher fan Francois Fillon, surprise frontrunner in France’s presidential battle
While Fillon maintains that France must keep its alliance with the United States, he favours closer ties to Moscow and has accused Europe and Washington of provoking Putin.
He is against sanctions imposed on Russia after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and he has resisted pressure to condemn alleged war crimes by Russian forces in Syria.
“The question is: must we continue to provoke the Russians, refusing dialogue with them and pushing them to be more and more violent, aggressive and less and less European?” he said in October.


Who is Francois Fillon, France’s right-wing front runner?

Francois Fillon, candidate for the right-wing primaries. Photo: AFP

Francois Fillon, former French prime minister and member of Les Republicains political party, attends a rally as he campaigns in the second round for the French center-right presidential primary election in Paris, France, November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

France's far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen attends a FN political debate in Paris, France, November 15, 2016. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

TOPSHOT - The two finalists in France's conservative presidential primary, Francois Fillon (L) and Alain Juppe, leave after posing for photographs prior to taking part in the first televised debate between the two remaining candidates for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party primaries in Paris on November 24, 2016, ahead of the 2017 presidential election. France's conservative presidential favourite Francois Fillon struck a confident tone ahead of a final televised debate on November 24 with his rival Alain Juppe. A poll published on November 23 showed Fillon would win 65 percent of votes in the final primary vote on November 27 against 35 percent for the more centrist Juppe. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Eric FEFERBERG

epa05647690 Bordeaux mayor and candidate for the French right-wing presidential primary Alain Juppe, delivers a speech during a public meeting at the Parc des Expositions in Nancy, France, 25 November 2016. The second round of the primaries will be held on 27 November 2016. EPA/LAYNA

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