“Two-thirds Merkel, one-third Thatcher”: meet Valérie Pécresse

COULD THE French for the first time elect une présidente when they go to the polls next April? Ségolène Royal nearly got there as the Socialists’ candidate, in 2007, but was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy. Ten years later Marine Le Pen, a populist-nationalist, was soundly beaten by the centrist Emmanuel Macron. Now the Gaullist political party is taking its turn. On December 4th the Republicans picked Valérie Pécresse, head of the Ile-de-France region around Paris, as their presidential candidate.