By Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters – Valerie Pecresse quelled a student revolt over university reforms 15 years ago with the same combination of consensus-building political and reformist mettle she hopes will take her to the French presidency.

Pecresse, who was elected to run by members of the conservative Les Republicains group last month, has been surveyed and voted for in voter polls. She is expected to defeat President Emmanuel Macron in April’s election. France’s first women head of state would she be if she is successful.

Pecresse (54), sat in an office decorated with posters from cinemas, and listed a number of problems facing France. These included poor control over national borders, violence in cities, and growing debt.

According to her, “We have to restore order both on our streets” and in our national finances.

Pecresse, who was minister of higher education during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency and later the budget, said last week that “the powerhose” would be used to cleanse troubled areas in which the state lost its authority and lawlessness had prevailed.

Pecresse criticised Macron for “burning an hole in the State coffers” during pandemic. Pecresse promised to reform France’s generous pension system as well as to cut a huge public wage bill. These are both promises that she believes Macron has not kept.

She says her style is “two-thirds Angela Merkel, one-third Margaret Thatcher”.

She said, “I’m a woman who consults decides and acts.” The one-part Thatcher’s speech is to say “I’m for not turning,” which refers to an expression in 1980 that the Conservative British leader refused back to accept liberalizing reforms.

Pecresse cited the elimination of hundreds of jobs in her head office as evidence that she is capable of getting things done. This was to allow for increased spending, more staff at high schools and greater investment. She was elected to the second term as mayor of Greater Paris in 2020.

She said that the “blond” opponents who called her “the opponent” were paying for it. When asked if France is ready to have a female president, she said that voters on the right had shown their willingness and could be reluctant to believe a woman.

‘UNBENDING’

Pecresse’s party, which has its roots to Charles de Gaulle in France, was dominant during the French postwar period. However, it was unable to unify its center-right and conservative groups after Macron redrawn the political landscape in 2017.

The defection of a senior conservative lawmaker https://www.reuters.com/article/france-election-zemmour-idUKKBN2JJ073 to the campaign bid of far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour on Sunday underscored the challenge she faces keeping a feuding party together.

According to opinion polls, she is in a tight race against Marine Le Pen (leader of the traditional far right) for second place in the run-off vote. Zemmour is close behind. According to surveys, if she wins, she will be Macron’s most dangerous adversary.

Pecresse was born in Paris’s suburbs and studied at France’s ENA school of politicians and civil servants. She is considered a moderate within a conservative party. Pecresse has been a victim to the right-wing extremists who fuel anti-immigrant sentiments and desire for tougher law enforcement.

Pecresse has toughened her language on immigration and identity, seeking to neutralise the threat from Le Pen and Zemmour, whose promise to “save France” https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/french-far-right-commentator-zemmour-announces-presidential-run-2021-11-30 from Islam has polarised France.

Elle says that she will end French citizens born abroad the right to French citizenship and would increase the severity of sentences for those who have been beaten by police.

Pecresse has a photo of Samuel Paty on a table in his office. This is a photo of Samuel Paty who was decapitated in 2020 by a Chechen teenager living in Paris. He used cartoons of Prophet Mohammad as part of a lesson about free speech.

Pecresse claimed that the portrait of her teacher would travel with her to Elysee Palace in the event she was elected.

Pecresse stated, “We must be firm in our respect for our values.” In the public realm, law prevails over faith. They have equal rights for everyone and share the same obligations.