Arnaud Montebourg, the firebrand French former government minister, has outlined plans for a supertax on banks and a curb on executive pay as he formally unveiled his campaign to represent the Socialists in this year’s presidential election, reports the Financial Times.
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch in Paris, the former industry minister said workers in French companies should be awarded the same annual pay rise as their executives, and insisted his proposed exceptional tax on lenders would raise €5bn a year.
The bank tax would be “very modest compared with what they cost us during the financial crisis”, he said, adding that he was also ready to nationalise banks if they did not start lending to the real economy.
Mr Montebourg, who has been a long-time critic of French companies who shift jobs abroad, also praised the way US president-elect Donald Trump convinced carmaker Ford to cancel plans for a new plant in Mexico and to instead increase production in the US.
“[Trump] has used the Montebourg method,” said the 54-year-old former lawyer, a critic of globalisation and economic austerity from the leftwing of the Socialist party.
As a minister Mr Montebourg clashed repeatedly with business leaders, at one point threatening to nationalise parts of steel group ArcelorMittal. He also campaigned to block a takeover of parts of Alstom, the French industrial group, by General Electric of the US.
There are just three weeks of campaigning left before the first round of the Socialist primary vote on January 22.
Mr Montebourg insists he would be the best candidate to represent the party against the other two presidential frontrunners: François Fillon, the centre-right candidate, and Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front.
His main primary opponent will be Manuel Valls, a business-friendly moderniser who was prime minister in President François Hollande’s outgoing government.