Zemmour Comes to London in Campaign Mode But Dodges Key Question
Zemmour Comes to London in Campaign Mode But Dodges Key Question
(Bloomberg) -- Far-right French firebrand Eric Zemmour ticked every box of the typical presidential campaign on a visit to London, but still refused to say he’s running against Emmanuel Macron in April.
Zemmour arrived in the U.K. capital on Friday morning, accompanied by a team of aides handling topics from communication to fund raising. He said he met with wealthy potential donors and acknowledged he’s busily collecting the 500 signatures from elected French officials legally required to run for president.
Yet during an interview that touched on topics from trade to business, Zemmour repeatedly declined to confirm his intentions:
“I’m not unveiling a program, I am answering your questions,” he said.
Asked if he’s a candidate, he replied, “not officially, at least.”
“I can’t tell you more,” he said when probed about financing for a campaign. “I don’t feel like it.”
It’s in Zemmour’s interest to announce his candidacy as late as possible -- just like Macron did in 2017 -- to stay in the media spotlight. Until then, he says he’s just promoting his latest book. “You’re talking to the ‘author’ Eric Zemmour,” he said.
The 63-year-old has until the end of February to gather the signatures, meaning he could remain a shadow candidate until then. In the meantime, more than 30 contenders have already officially entered the race.
Posters of Zemmour began cropping up all over Paris in June. And in the three months that followed, he shot up in some polls to about 17%-18% of voting intentions from virtually nothing, putting him in the second-round run-off against Macron. That momentum recently stalled, though, with one survey on Thursday giving him just 12%.
Zemmour declined to say if French billionaire Vincent Bollore, who’s effectively supported him by giving him air time on his Fox-like CNews network, would donate to a campaign.
And while Boris Johnson is certainly not the most popular political figure in France, Zemmour said he’d rather be compared to the U.K. prime minister than to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We have more intellectual affinities,” he said.
In Paris on Thursday, a Paris prosecutor said Zemmour was guilty of incitement to racial hatred for describing unaccompanied migrant youths as “thieves, murderers and rapists” on CNews last year, and recommended he be fined. A verdict in the trial is due in January.
During the interview, Zemmour’s more extreme views also surfaced.
He insisted that the French expatriates he’s meeting in London don’t care as much about the economy as immigration and referred to the “Great Replacement” -- a controversial theory that argues White people are being replaced by non-White immigrants and is used by some groups to justify violence.
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