About half a million euros in net assets for Emmanuel Macron, some 1.2 million for Marine Le Pen, 4.2 for Éric Zemmour and 9.7 for Valérie Pécresse: the declarations of assets and participations of candidates for the Élysée were unveiled on Tuesday by the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life.
In addition to these first four candidates in the polls, the following declared nearly 1.4 million for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 412,000 for Yannick Jadot, 220,000 for Fabien Roussel, 575,000 for Anne Hidalgo, some two million euros for Nicolas Dupont -Aignan, around 630,000 euros for Jean Lassalle, 219,000 for Nathalie Arthaud and finally 122,000 euros for Philippe Poutou.
These declarations of assets and interests are available on the HATVP website.
Real estate, assets over 10,000 euros, cars, bank accounts, but also participations in the capital of companies, possible debts, and still professional activities of the last five years: each of the 12 candidates had to fill in these sections and submit their declarations, certified on honor, to the Constitutional Council before last Friday evening. It was one of the conditions, with the 500 sponsorships, to be able to compete in the first round on April 10.
This is not the first time that the assets of presidential candidates have been revealed, the first exercise dating back to 2017. But it is a first for the collection and publication of their declarations of interests and activities, in under the law of moralization of public life of 2017.
The Elders transmitted these declarations to the HATVP, responsible for publishing them (excluding personal addresses and names of spouses) but not for checking them, so as not to “undermine equality in the face of suffrage”.
However, 10 of the 12 candidates have in fact already been subject to the control of the High Authority, an independent body created by the post-Cahuzac transparency laws of 2013 and chaired by Didier Migaud.
Emmanuel Macron has already submitted a declaration of the financial situation at the end of his term of office and the HATVP has judged that its variation since his entry into the Élysée Palace in 2017 was “not abnormal”.
In addition, Fabien Roussel, Jean Lassalle, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan were checked for their mandates as deputies, in particular, Yannick Jadot as an MEP, Valérie Pécresse and Anne Hidalgo as regional presidents.
The asset declarations of Philippe Poutou and Nathalie Arthaud had already been published in 2017 since they were already candidates.
After her election as a deputy in 2017, the HATVP “estimated that Ms. Le Pen had undervalued her real estate assets”. At the end of 2015, the High Authority had transmitted to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office the declarations of assets established in 2014 by Jean-Marie and his daughter Marine Le Pen during their election to the European Parliament because “manifestly undervalued”. A preliminary investigation had been opened.
All of these candidate statements will remain online on the HATVP website until the results of the first round, then only the statements of the two finalists will appear. The declaration of the winner will remain available for consultation until the end of his term.
Until 2012, the declarations of assets of candidates were submitted under seal to the Constitutional Council, but only that of the elected candidate was published in the Official Journal.
