FRENCH ELECTION: Fillon’s camp urged to move on from ‘Penelopegate’ and focus on winning
VICE president of François Fillon’s centre-right Republican party asked members of his own camp to stop referring to ‘Penelopegate’ as a “plot” masterminded by France’s ruling Socialists and to focus instead on winning the election.
Francois Fillon’s camp have been urged to move on from ‘Penelopegate’ and focus on winning
Laurent Wauquiez added the scandal-hit presidential candidate, under fire over payments to his wife for an alleged fake job, still had a “chance of winning power”.
He said: “We must stop saying that we are the victims of a plot and focus on telling voters that Mr Fillon is the one who will best defend the values of the right and the centre-right.”
The former Sarkozy supporter also launched a scathing attack on Mr Fillon’s closest rival, Emmanuel Macron, and said the centrist’s camp was “teeming with unabashed opportunists”.
In a separate interview with France Info radio earlier this week, Mr Wauquiez said it was “not his place” to tell voters that the outgoing Socialist government had been leading a smear campaign against his Mr Fillon in a bid to destroy his chances of being elected, and added that his job was to “help the right win the election”.
He said: “I want to help protect French values, cut unemployment and fight against radical communitarianism practices.”
Francois Fillon fights back as pressure grows to quit race
The comments came from vice president of Fillon’s centre-right Republican party, Laurent Wauquiez
The hardline right-winger also told France Info that the French would soon “forget” about ‘Penelopegate,’ but admitted that the scandal had cast a dark shadow over Mr Fillon’s presidential campaign.
We must stop saying that we are the victims of a plot
He said: “The fake jobs scandal has engulfed the campaign, but people will have forgotten all about it in six months’ time.”
Mr Fillon, for his part, told RTL radio on Wednesday that judges would “never” be able to prove that his wife’s job was fake and that the accusations were “baseless”.
Mr Fillon and his wife Penelope who are at the centre of the 'fake job' scandal
Mr Wauquiez also launched a scathing attack on Mr Fillon’s closest rival Emmanuel Macron
Mr Fillon was accused of paying his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for a ‘bogus’ job as his parliamentary assistant in January, and charged with a string of fraud-related offences, including misuse of public funds, earlier this month.
His wife, Penelope, for her part, was charged with embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and aggravated fraud on Tuesday evening.