By Richard Lough
PARIS (Reuters) – Jean-Luc Melenchon, a hardleft veteran and longtime admirer of the late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan former president Hugo Chavez, is polling third in France’s presidential race.
Here are his main policy proposals https://melenchon2022.fr/programme:
ECONOMY
* Freeze the prices of gas, petrol and food in short term
* Raise the minimum wage to 1,400 euros net per month
* Lower retirement age to 60, with a minimum pension of 1,000 euros per month
* Restore disbanded wealth tax and impose levy on polluters
* Guaranteed employment for longterm jobless
* Impose controls on capital movements
EUROPE, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
* Withdraw from NATO
* Use veto in EU to block new free trade agreements, as well as enlargement without social and fiscal alignment
* Offer asylum to whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden and Julian Assange
* Renegotiate the Touquet accord, which gives Britain a border in France
ENERGY
* End market determination of energy prices with a price stability guarantee
* Scrap plans for new EPR nuclear plants
* End nuclear and fossil fuel-generated power by 2050
INSTITUTIONAL
*Enter into a Sixth Republic, handing more power to parliament and reducing presidential powers
*Lower voting age to 16
*Allow citizens to trigger a referendum changing the constitution or proposing a new law if support threshhold met
(Compiled by Richard Lough; Editing by Ingrid Melander)
