French Far-Right Figure Eric Zemmour Confirms 2027 Presidential Run
Far-right French politician Eric Zemmour confirmed he will run in the 2027 presidential election, proposing stricter immigration controls and a public ban on kippahs.
Eric Zemmour, leader of the far-right Reconquête! party, confirmed on Thursday in an interview with BFMTV that he will run in the French presidential election scheduled for 2027. According to sources close to the 68-year-old former journalist, this is not yet a formal declaration, which is expected during the autumn, likely as early as October.
Zemmour joins the race alongside the more prominent far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party, who finished second against President Emmanuel Macron in the last two elections. Le Pen, who according to recent polls is expected to lead in the first round, now sees her best chance of coming to power with Macron stepping down, after a court reduced in July the sentence that banned her from holding public office following a corruption conviction.
Stance on Religious Symbols
During the interview on the French network, Zemmour, who is Jewish himself, addressed the issue of religious symbols and expressed support for banning kippahs in public spaces, similar to the ban on Islamic veils.
In the public space – yes, it should be banned.
Zemmour later spoke about his childhood, recalling how his parents would ask him to remove his kippah when leaving the synagogue, stating that this practice aligns with the spirit of French secularism. However, he claimed that today Jews rarely walk with a kippah in the street in France due to fear of attacks. Zemmour noted that his top priority is banning the Islamic veil, but his stance on the kippah is stricter than that of Le Pen's National Rally party, which plans to ban veils in public spaces but not kippahs.
Radical Proposals on Immigration
Zemmour, who finished fourth in the first round of the 2022 election with 7.07% of the vote, has previously been convicted several times of inciting racial hatred, inciting religious hatred against Muslims, defamation, and denying crimes against humanity.
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Deport all foreign nationals currently in French prisons, who account for 25% of inmates.
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Expel all foreign criminals, including those serving sentences with electronic bracelets or performing community service.
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Enforce a one-year unemployment limit, after which any foreigner, even those residing legally, would be deported.
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Deport anyone living solely on welfare benefits, citing a provision in immigration law dating back to 1945.
Furthermore, Zemmour once again praised advancements in artificial intelligence, reiterating his claim that robots could replace migrant labor in the future. He went so far as to state that he would prefer a robot over a foreigner when it comes to caring for the elderly at home.
