Eric Zemmour passed his first major oral as a presidential candidate. The far-right contender was the guest of “Elysée 2022”, the political meeting of France 2, Thursday, December 9.
>> Presidential: the six sequences to remember from the passage of Eric Zemmour in “Elysée 2022“
In nearly two hours and thirty minutes of intense debate, some statements by the former columnist fell on the radar of the true or “fake” of franceinfo, which verified them.
Eric Zemmour assures that he did not say that Valérie Pécresse had a career as a minister “because she was a woman”. False
“No, I didn’t say that.”
Eric Zemmourin “Elysée 2022”
Léa Salamé reminded Eric Zemmour, perceived as misogynist by a majority of French people according to a poll, that he had, in the past, declared that Valérie Pécresse, the Republican presidential candidate, and now his rival on the right, had had a ministerial career because she was a woman. The extreme right-wing contender at the Elysee Palace denied, assuring that he had never said that, while explaining that he would not comment on sentences taken out of context.
Guest of Pascal Praud on CNews on September 13, Eric Zemmour nevertheless declared: “Madame Pécresse (…) she is a technocrat, grown up in seed because she was a woman and therefore she was able to have a career as a minister, etc … ”
Zemmour swears not to have said: “Pécresse could have had a career of minister because she is a woman”. And yet … # Elysee2022 pic.twitter.com/0pocKHVrgU
– Nabil Touati (@ salam93) December 9, 2021
Between 80 and 90% of children of foreign origin in the Parisian suburbs. False
“You know, in the Parisian suburbs, today, between 0 and 18 years old, there are 80-90% of children who are of North African or African origin.”
Eric Zemmourin “Elysée 2022”
Eric Zemmour draws this statistic from a report by France Strategy, released in July 2020 and widely used by the far right in recent months. This study shows the increase in the proportion of children of immigrant origin in the population. Except that the rates of 80 to 90% cited by Eric Zemmour are not found throughout the Parisian suburbs, but in certain cities of Seine-Saint-Denis.
“This department is not representative of France in general, but of a specificity of Ile-de-France, the gateway to extra-European immigration to France. Take the situation of the Seine- Saint-Denis to draw generalities for the whole of France, it’s problematic “, pointed out the economist Clément Dherbécourt, who worked for more than a year on the study, and who was questioned by franceinfo on the instrumentalisation by the far right of this study by France Strategy.
All media cases of sexual assault end in discharges or dismissals. False
“I would like us to establish all the famous cases. (…) All of them ended up being discharged and dismissed. (…) Men were insulted by women who were all finally denied. by the judges. “
Eric Zemmourin “Elysée 2022”
Asked about the accusations of sexual assault brought by several women against him, Eric Zemmour assured, moreover, that “all” media cases that touched personalities “ended with releases and dismissals”. It’s wrong.
A day before the candidate’s declaration in “Elysée 2022”, the former Secretary of State Georges Tron, for example, was definitively convicted of rape and sexual assault, after the rejection of his appeal in cassation. Yet another example, the one that #MeToo started with in the United States: Harvey Weinstein. The famous American producer is still being prosecuted in his country for charges of sexual assault and rape of several women. But he has already been serving a twenty-three-year prison sentence since 2020, after a first conviction for similar facts.
It is true that some high profile cases do not always come to court, but it is also because the facts are sometimes too old and therefore time-barred. The Olivier Duhamel affair has, for example, revived the debate on the statute of limitations for incest. Because it often takes victims several years to talk about these intimate facts.
The GDP per capita of France was higher than that of Germany and the United States in 1980. False
“You have to imagine that in 1980, we were above Germany and the United States on GDP. You see, the fall is even more pronounced.”
Eric Zemmourin “Elysée 2022”
Contrary to what Eric Zemmour argues, the gross domestic product per capita of France was already lower than that of the United States and Germany in the 1980s, according to data from the OECD. In 1980, the GDP per capita in the United States was 12,547 dollars, against 10,388 for Germany and 9,662 for France.
EU trade policy is taken by the European Commission alone. False
“Trade policy is not taken unanimously by governments. It is taken by the Commission, on its own.”
Eric Zemmourto franceinfo
According to Eric Zemmour, within the European Union, “Trade policy is not taken unanimously by governments, it is taken by the Commission, all by itself”. It’s wrong.
Here’s the process: The European Council, made up of heads of state from EU member states, authorizes the European Commission to negotiate a new trade deal on behalf of the EU. He gives him a “negotiation mandate”. The Council takes negotiating directives. The Commission then negotiates with the partner country on behalf of the EU, in close cooperation with the Council and the European Parliament.
The Commission submits the draft agreement to the Council for adoption. After discussion, the Council adopts a decision on signing the agreement on behalf of the EU. It transmits the signed agreement to Parliament for approval. When Parliament gives its consent, the Council adopts the decision.
Removing social benefits paid to foreigners would bring in 20 billion. Impossible to say
“I am removing the non-contributory social allowances given to foreigners. (…) According to the calculation of my teams, that makes 20 billion.
Eric Zemmourin “Elysée 2022”
Eric Zemmour argues that the state could save 20 billion euros by removing social benefits paid to foreigners. France 2’s “L’Oeil du 20 heures” tried to redo the calculation. Problem: no public body has the data necessary for a precise addition. The candidate’s team itself recognizes that it has had to make “hypotheses”. The costing is therefore approximate at best. Even erroneous, in the opinion of an economics professor requested by France 2.
Le Figaro (paid item) also looked at this figure regularly advanced by Eric Zemmour, but also recognized that precise information on the subject is lacking. “The 20 billion savings mentioned are based on calculations based in particular on press articles, often dating from several years ago, and sometimes on estimates impossible to verify”, says the conservative daily.
The Covid-19 vaccine does not prevent contamination. To qualify
“I understood that the vaccine did not prevent transmission and contagion and that it really only prevented severe cases.”
Eric Zemmourat “Elysée 2022”
Eric Zemmour said the Covid-19 vaccine “did not prevent transmission and contagion and that it only prevented serious cases”, therefore judging that the health pass “has become useless”. This is rather wrong.
The World Health Organization certainly confirms that the vaccinated “always run the risk of getting infected and infecting other people”, but the WHO recalls that the vaccine does reduce the transmission of the virus. “The data suggests that before the arrival of the Delta variant, vaccines reduced transmission by about 60%. With Delta, that number fell to about 40%.”