The High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) published on Tuesday the declarations of assets and interests of the twelve presidential candidates. Overview of some ten million assets of Valérie Pécresse, the five apartments of Eric Zemmour or the Peugeot 308 of Philippe Poutou.
A long-awaited exercise in transparency. The HATVP, a body created in 2013 in the wake of the Cahuzac affair, published this Tuesday the declarations of assets and interests of the twelve presidential candidates. Bank accounts, vehicles, real estate or even professional activities had to be meticulously informed by the suitors for the Elysée, before being transmitted to the Constitutional Council.
Already in 2017, the candidates had to make their assets public. For 2022, the declarations also include professional interests and activities, under the law on the moralization of public life adopted in 2017. All the candidates – apart from Eric Zemmour – have already taken part in this type of exercise, depending on their respective local or national mandates.
We understand better why the far-right candidate assured in November on France Info that “1.3 million [d’euros] in Paris, it’s a 100 square meters […] it’s not what you call rich”: according to his statement, Eric Zemmour owns five apartments, four of which are in Paris and ranges from 27 to 165 m². He also declared 1,530,000 euros for his publishing house Rubempré. The Maurrassian author also declared his income to the Figarohis former employer: 65,443 euros net in 2017, 67,018 in 2018, etc.
1.2 million for Le Pen
Emmanuel Macron, who has already submitted a declaration of assets at the end of his mandate, declared around half a million euros in assets. The outgoing President does not hold any real estate in his name, nor a vehicle. But a copyright claim of 1,195 euros for his book Revolution released in 2016. According to the HATVP, the change in its heritage since its entry into the Elysée does not present “no abnormal character”.
By far the richest, the Republican candidate, Valérie Pécresse, who has pledged to “give back their money to the French”, via massive tax cuts, boasts a fine right-wing heritage with its 9.7 million euros. She owns a lithograph by Miro acquired for 14,000 euros and three houses worth just over 4 million euros. The Republican candidate also has nearly 2.5 million life insurance, a lithograph and two paintings by painters Jean Hélion and Joan Miro acquired for 59,000 euros. She also declared nearly a million euros in shares of the General Electric group, of which her husband Jérôme Pécresse, heads the renewable energy branch. Bingo.
The candidate of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, declared for her part some 1.2 million euros. In her statement, the boss of the RN mentions the loan of 10,691,775 million euros made to a Hungarian bank, as revealed by RTL in early February. She also presents as remuneration the 5,000 euros she receives for her presidency of the party where the RN evokes for its part a “reimbursement of fixed costs”.
Poutou’s Peugeot 308
Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo meanwhile declared a detached house worth just under 700,000 euros. In addition to her remuneration for her function as mayor of Paris, the PS candidate also declared her mandates exercised in the same capacity (AP-HP, Aéroports de Paris, Olympic Games Organizing Committee, etc.), which do not confer on her, in accordance with the law, no remuneration.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of rebellious France, declared for his part 1.4 million euros of heritage: an apartment, a house, his allowances as a deputy, etc. The ecologist Yannick Jadot declares, him, 412,000 euros of heritage: neither real estate, nor financial instruments but an electric scooter worth 4,000 euros for the ecological candidate.
The other candidates declared the following assets: 220,000 euros for the communist Fabien Roussel, some two million euros for the president of Debout la France (DLF) Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, around 630,000 for the deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Jean Lassalle, 219,000 for the candidate of Lutte Ouvrière (LO) Nathalie Arthaud and finally 122,000 euros for Philippe Poutou, candidate of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA). Among the twelve candidates for the Elysee Palace, the former Ford worker has the most expensive car: a Peugeot 308 SW Allure, listed at 22,500 euros at the argus.
Update : Wednesday, March 9, with the addition of the infographic.