French citizens because a legitimate sentiment has pushed me to do so. I understand the questions that are being asked. I understand the need for clarification. And i will do so. I will do so because i have nothing to hide. I will do so because i cannot accept the accusations and the baseless accusations that have been targeted at me after 32 years of political life. 32 years without any judicial problem, 32 years of irreproachable ethical behavior. I would like to tell all my fellow country men and women that over all these years i have worked for my country without ever breaking the law and without ever contradicting my values. Today, as a candidate for the president ial election, im facing an incredibly violent attack. To my knowledge, this has never occurred before, this is unprecedented under the fifth republic. I would like to say strongly it is the candidate for the president ial election of the right and the center who is aimed at who is targeted today. And i fully assume all my responsibility. All the facts are that have been mentioned are legal and transparent. I have i was questioned for four hours by the police penelope, my wife, for five hours. We told them everything. We answered all their questions. The reality of the facts are as follows. Yes, i employed my wife as an employee. She then worked for my replacement member of parliament, and then she became my Parliamentary Assistant again later on. She occupied this position for 15 years, altogether. And she was paid on average, on a monthly basis, 3,677 euros net per month, a perfectly justifiable salary for a person who is a graduate in arts and in law. Figures of up to a Million Euros have been bandied about to create a sensation, forgetting that this amount was a gross amount. Have you ever seen somebodys remuneration, accumulative remuneration of 15 years the gross salary is always much greater than the net salary and the family my family has been unjustly attacked in this regard. This job was described as fictitious. And a lot of socalled experts have decreed what a Parliamentary Assistant must do. Or not do. All elected officials know that this job covers a whole range of tasks. They know that it is not limited and cannot be limited to drawing up laws in the offices of the National Assembly in paris, and they know that this job requires a whole series of modest actions by the Parliamentary Assistant in the shadows alone and they may seem benign to some people, but these tasks are indispensable for the functioning of local democracy. During all these years, my wife took charge of all those simple but essential tasks. She, with my secretary, who managed my mail, all my mail, she managed my diary for local events, inaugurations, sports events, cultural events, and ceremony, she worked, she worked on my speeches in the county of she represented me in local cultural events. She also received and sent to companies the cvs and requests for jobs sent to me by the inhabitants of lasalle. She processed any claims, any complaints by my constituents when they faced administrative problems. The list of what she did doesnt stop there. Salary was perfectly justified because her work was indispensable to my activityies as an elected official. This work she did also forbe my replacement mp when i became a government minister. I wanted her to do that. I wanted to preserve the link with my constituency and it is my wife who played this essential role. People say she didnt have a pass to enter the assembly, meaning she didnt have a job. A lot of people who work in the dont have a pass. No personal email address. That doesnt mean she didnt have a job. We know this is often the case. I also know that a lot of comments have been made on my wifes statement that she has never been involved in politics. A Parliamentary Assistant does work in the field of politics, but the politics is actually undertaken by the elected officials. At the last elections, because she loves local politics, penelope decided to be elected as a municipal councselor. An interview in english she gave many years ago which has been taken out of context, in which she explained shes never been my assistant, yes, she has never been my spoubordinate. Shes always been first and foremost my work companion and my collaborator. Penelope has never claimed to be in the in the limelight. She has worked discreetly, refusing to speak in my place as some wives of politicians do. And today we she is being accused of seeking the limelight and i say that her way of working was dignified, so lets not exaggerate lets not judge the words that she made in an interview which do not correspond to 30 years of life. I implore two of my children who worked for 15 months in 2005 and 2006, and one of them for six months and the other as parliamentary employees for a monthly net salary of 3,000 euros each. Nothing was hidden. All the job contracts are legal, were legal, and are legal. The amounts received were declared to the tax and were taxable. And the amounts of remuneration respected the limits which are given the the credits given to each member of parliament. Members of parliament are allowed to work with whoever they deem has their trust and their and the required skills. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, all of this was legal. But does not mean that from a moral point of view i have nothing to reproach myself. This ethical question is so important that i have to examine my conscience in this regard. And visavis the french and only the french will decide, will judge. It is not up to the media to judge me. It is for the french to judge me. For the french to decide. The most important courage in politics is to recognize any mistakes you make. Working with your family, in politics, is a practice which the french now reject. What was acceptable in the past is no longer accepted today. By working with my wife and my children, i gave priority to relationship of trust, which today is called into question. It was a mistake. I deeply regret having made this mistake and i would like to apologize to the french citizens. Like many other parliamentari parliamentarians, i have acted and aligned with customs and legal customs. And to date, fellow citizens dont want this practice to continue. Three years ago, i put an end to all political collaboration with my the members of my family except this is not the case of all those who are criticizing me today. The system needs to be reformed, if it needs to be reformed, lets reform it by opening up the debate on the conditions in which parliamentarians do their job and how their teams work. I would like to remind you that i clearly indicated under great pressure from my fellow parliamentarians i will not allow parliamentarians to have several mandates. In other words, the status of the parliamentarians needs to be clarified. I have nothing to hide. I will publish on the internet this evening a table showing what my what the income which my wife earned. And i will also publish the information which i gave the authorities in december. My assets are made up of my home, in lasalle, which is valued to be worth 750,000 euros. I have a 44 stake in my Fathers House in the bask country, worth 130,000 euros. And one third of the value of his home in the south, which is worth 41,000 euros. Im not subject to the tax paid by wealthy people. Some people have joked about my bank account. Lets look at my bank account in detail. My wife and i are married under community of wealth. Our wealth we have a number of insurance contracts, savings accounts, current accounts, which we have in our names. Some of which we share. And we have various savings pass books. All these accounts are in a branch of the in the county of the south. With regards to my company, my between 2012 and 2016, i legally gave conferences, lectures in many countries, i advised companies to. Among them i was a member of the Supervisory Board of the company and their consulting adviser. The list of my customers does not contain a russian government or the russian government or Russian Company and all the lectures which i have given in russia were given free of charge. I have always made transparency a rule of my life. When i was Prime Minister, i tightened up the rules on transparency and ethics. I restrictioned use of the aircraft belonging to the state. I also clarified the rules governing flats, departments, occupied by ministers. I punished ministers who were excessive, who spent excessively. And regarding the size of the apartment which i had when i was Prime Minister hes an authority well known, and he can bear witness to the fact that the i did in fact give very accurate description of the flat which i occupied as Prime Minister. So everything is on the table, so transparency should apply to everybody. Everybody must be treated fairly and be treated by the media in the same way. The debate today must focus on my Political Action and on my project. All the rest is an operation which aims to distract our fellow citizens from the real challenges facing this election. The purpose is to make it very difficult for the electors who voted in the primaries who freed themselves from the system. They put me at the top. They elected me because i have a program which will break with the past. And the only one who can do that. I would like to tell the millions of french citizens who have chosen me that their choice will be respected. Nobody can deprive them of that choice, of their voice. The system requires as during the primaries that nobody can decide on the results in the place of the electors. So i have been described as a conservative where as in fact im proving a break with the past. I have been told as a member of the elite class, but in fact it is the im the only one who can prove come up with the right solutions. Danger is to entrust our future to the extreme right, which is led by a family, which has no program, and which is made up of a group of personalities who are fascinated by a guru produced by the system we have. What we are experiencing today is a desperate attempt to organize a face to face between these two powers. Does this mean the left has no responsibility for what it has done during the five years of president s mandate. Does france not have any problems with islamist terrorism . Is there no problem of unemployment over indebtedness, of excessive charges . Are there no problems of educati education . Nothing will diverge me send me away from my will to restore frances position and to give the french hope. I have been chosen by millions of french citizens and i am not the candidate only of a political party. Nobody can legitimately call into question the vote of our voters in the primary election. Thats why from this evening i announce this evening that a new campaign is beginning today. From this evening, i will be holding a meeting of my campaign committee. Tomorrow i will hold a meeting of parliamentarians, and tomorrow i will be in the city of toil and on thursday i will be therefore, ladies and gentlemen, it is with renewed energy and determination that i will be campaigning in the next few weeks and because frances destiny is at stake. I am now at your disposal to answer your questions. I would like to clarify i would like to make it clear i will answer no questions regarding judicial proceedings under way, which there is an inquiry, which is being held. I have indicated i answered the questions of the investigators for five hours. It is not the media are not a tribunal. Translator mr. Prime minister, you have just presented your excuses to the french. Do you feel that you are still the best candidate to win the president ial election or are you a handicap for the right . Translator i am the only candidate capable of enabling our country to impose to implement a break with the past. I have listened to a lot of people. I have listened to the judgments of the french. And i know that the french reprove. Many of our citizens reprove what after ten days of a media campaign, ten days during which the only the accusation, only the accusers have been speaking. I will not give you the list of all of the rumors that have been bandied about as some people said that as a Prime Minister i had my home listed as a historic monument and so on and so forth. The truth is that in spite of all that, the majority of right wing french citizens want me to continue defending my project based on a break with the past. Most the french of the right dont want to have to choose between marine la pen and an extreme left program and a program which is aims which only, of course, calls for more public spending. Im the only candidate who can enable france to reborn, to be reborn, to recover. Perhaps the violence of the attacks against me have strengthened in fact my determination so my cool anger will give me even more strength to defend my point of view. Translator mr. Fillon, you said on the 28th of august, last year, that there is no point of talking about authority when you have nothing to reproach yourself. Today, given the excuses you just have given to the french, do you consider yourself still as somebody who is irreproachable and do you think you have the legitimacy to ask the french to make any efforts . Translator yes, i have complied with the law. I was elected for the first time to parliament in 1981. I perhaps took more time than necessary to understand the changes that have occurred in french society. And yet i have not broken the law at any time. I have nothing to reproach myself in terms of complying with the law. Yes, i consider myself today to be able to implement a project including a project which requires at its base on the authority of the president of the republic and the do i have the legitimacy to ask the french to make an effort . Im not asking the french to make an effort. Im asking there should be work for all french people that the french people should have more purchasing power. I want them to increase their security. I want france to recover. I dont want france to continue as it is today in a situation where there are 6 Million People unemployed. 9 Million People under the poverty line. 2 million young people who are neither in training, nor at school, nor in work. The fight against terrorism has not been conducted with all the necessary vigor notably as regards our foreign policy. Im not asking the french to make efforts. Im asking the french to help me to restore the country to help the country to recover. Translator are you convinced and are you certain that no judicial judgment will counter your strategy . Translator yes, im absolutely sure of that. I know what ive done. Because i have clear conscience. And because ive always practiced total transparency, notably visavis the people responsible for the ongoing inquiry. Translator good afternoon. Rtl. Good afternoon, mr. Prime m minister, did your wife pen el nell pi know that she had the job as the parliamentarian assistant when in 2007 she said that i have never been my husbands assistant, and does that mean that she says that i have never been any husbands Parliamentary Assistant . Have you thought of reimbursing the money . How can you imagine that my wife who is an intelligent woman, a graduate and responsible person, and how can you imagine that she is unaware of the work she has done for me or how can you im e imagine that my wife who has been working with me for nearly 30 years, mainly in the county of la salken in my constituency has done so une beknownst to herself, and yes, my wife aware ha she was working with me and so when she made that statement in 2007 which was repeated in an accusation on a program where somebody knowingly took the words out of context, and it was a english broadcast, and english language broadcast aimed at the british viewers or listeners and the topic of the interview is that i will not be another cheryl blair. And the journal iist who intervw mud i wife has personally got in touch with my wife to say how shocked she has been from the usage of that interview. Why would i pay back the money earned by my wife through her le legitimate work. I would like to ask you the questioning because i said earlier that i know that the Public Opinion has evolved, and i regret not having understood it earlier, and i will parti participate in informing the state of the parliamentarians, and my wife has worked and earned the money, and she has provided evidence and proof of the work, and therefore in my view, there is no doubt, and no need for me to reimburse the money. Last week that you said that there was a constitutional coup det detat, and do you maintain that accusation . Do you have confidence in the Justice System . How can i not ask myself a numbnumb of questions with the violent press campaign against me orchestrated when i have been designated after a primary elections of the candidate at the right when the right has no other credible candidate. And an inquiry has been opened by the financial Prosecutors Office who is not competent to do so main the 24 hours in the short time. And finally, this afternoon, it is the secrecy of the professional is violated by the evening newspaper, and only the policing inquiries, and the prosecutors have access to the minutes of the not to the lawyers. So the secrecy, and the professional secrecy has been violated by people responsible for the inquiry who have all been appointed by the government. I think that a lot of the french people today understand that there are people obviously wor i ried about what has happened. On the 26th of january, you said that you hired u your wife in 1997. And you added that before that, she worked for you free without being paid. She had been working for you since 1981 when you were elected. A few days later, we learned that her first job contracts dated from 1988. Did you liehe tf1 channel . Translator in regards to your question, i would like to Say Something in this regard, because i never would have imagined being accused of what i am accused of. Im an honest man, and this is the reason why this accusation came out like a thunder in the sky, and sudden thunder in the sky, and out of the blue. It came out of the blue. This destabilize me. These accusations destabilize me, because i could not imagine that it would happen, that this would happen. And so, yes, my first responss s were not clear. It took me five days to recover all the pay slips of my employees in parliament in order to assess the situation. Yes, my work, my wife has been working for me since 1981. But she started to be a paid in 1988. The only figures i had were the figures from the newspaper. After five days of investigations, i was a able to reconstruct my wifes professional career which began 20 years ago and this afternoon on my website, i will be publishing all of the work contracts of my wife with the dates and the amounts of remuneration that she received. You alluded to the publication this after noon by the newspaper of extracts, and accord ing to the extracts, your daughter was employed by you, and your son, also, he campaigned for Nicolas Sarkozy, and do you confirm this information . Well, lets talk about the work of the parliamentary assistance and the second question concern s and the parliamentary rem remuneration in the senate that were over 11,000 euros paid to you from the senate. Regarding the second question, there are practices that i have announced in the preliminary announcements which are very old and no longer acceptable to the french people today that i did i institute the practices . No. Should i have be under investigation for those practices . No. Should they cease . Yes. And this is motivating me to propose to the fellow citizen that we should renew the status the of an elected official to be completely transparent. My son has never participated in any president ial campaign. I told investigators that he provided me with some documentation to help me to organize the campaign and notably regarding the institutional situation, and my daughter helped me on the documentation of a book which i published which allows me to come back to the work by the Parliamentary Assistants. In france, we have the separation of powers and nobody has the right, the right to judge the content of the work done by Parliamentary Assistants except for the member of parliament for whom they work. The member of parliament is in charge of recruiting assistants and are remunerating them within the limits set by the parliament, and the member of parliament is responsible for the content, for the work hours and for the place of work, and given the separation of powers, nobody has the right to monitor, of course, the Justice System which has the right to check to make sure there is a legal contract, real work being done, and the Justice System cannot judge the quality of the work. Yes, my daughter had every right to work on the documentation for a political book which i wished to write, and a book in which i raised the questions about the institutions. And i proposed some suppressing of the post of the Prime Minister, and she played her part, and i played my part in this. You said earlier that a new campaign is beginning this evening. Do you believe that you will be able to rally the republicans and all of those criticizing you, of what consequences will this have do you think . There is no plan b u and one of my friends said that it is not possible to have a plan b, and those who want me to withdraw from the president ial campaign are a small minority, and many of them who have not et voted for me in the primaries and perhaps wanted to not accept the results of the primaries and see me go. And what are the messages of the support that i have received and the what count sts votes of those who vote, and what counts is the men and women who work with me and participating on the first Strategic Committee meeting of the campaign. The list going to be published later, and all of the people who really count in my political family will be there. You asked for two week, and you said that if you fall further in the polls, could you go back on your word . Do you know what i think of opinion polls . I have had a lot of experience for opinion polls, and for two years, i was told that i had no chance whatsoever of winning the primary election, and so opinion polls will not get me to change my opinions, no. Nothing is going to change my decision, because i am a candidate for the election, and im in them campaign to wint. Prime minister, the opinion polls indicate that the majority of the french of the right still support you, but beyond that a president of the republic is not elected only by his political supporters, but he is elected to bring the french citizens together to unite the french citizens. Do you believe that you are in a good position to unite the french behind you. Yes, sir. When the truth is established and everyone will have seen that what i have been accused of is defamation is completely in contradiction with the facts. The french will h change their opinions. So after dozens of hours of television programs, where socalled experts talk about the role of parliamentary assistance and who all condemn me one after another, and i have heard few voices defending me, and that is is that what you call the normal functions of democracy . Three months beforer the president ial e llection, none o you have wondered why there is so much violence in the campaign obviously, it is the presss role to report on such event, and the Justice System must inquire and carry out the investigations where necessary. The right bodies must be laid responsible for this, but the public lynching, assassinating somebody as you have done for ten days, assassinating president ial candidate poses a problem to the dem kocracy. I am convinced that the french are beginning to realize this and that you have gone too far, and today, many of the french people consider because of the violence of the attacks against me, and the lack of balance in the judgments made that in the last resort, they must support the next candidate who is for real change for the right. Translator i would hike to go back to the accusation of the power, because you talked about an International Coup detat, and you have accused the government, but do you believe more precisely, are you thinking of the man you had the disagreement with, the secretary of jgeneral . Are you thinking of the minister of justice . Or the republicans second question, and you said that the people are legitimately challenged on the reality of employing mbs of the family as parliamenta Parliamentary Assistant. Do you envisage to pay back in part some of the money or the entire amount of money. Some of your friends have said perhaps that some of the money was legitimately earned by my wife and children who worked regarding the first question, i have no answer. I have no idea, and im not accusing anybody. But i am simply saying that there are troubling facts. Why . Is this campaign occurring now against me, and why didnt this campaign gaiagainst me occur 6, months ago and why did this information appear all of the sudden . Some facts go back over 20 years in the past relating to activities which were legitimate with what contracts, and income tax statements and so on, and if i add what i have already said that the public pros ecutors office were started to interview people within 48 hour, and l lawyers have themselves said that they are not competent. So that is, there are a lot of strange facts. If you are adding the leaks with whi which i have mentioned, it is look like the coup detat, but i dont have a body at any disposal to conduct an investigation. If you have the energy to do so, i invite you to do so. The question regarding what you have just said in this press conference, you are understood lined, again, that you are facing an institutional coup detat, and changed the strategy, and submitted it. And why didnt you do so earlier for the reason that i indicated earlier . It took me a few days to recover from this accusation, and i was destabilize and i was not expecting a violent campaign, and it did take me time to adjust to react. It did take me time to measure the catastrophe that i have suffered. I recognize that i am now standing up again, and i have chosen a new strategy which i have just presented to you and the french which leave ms. He to recognize that there are certain practices in our lives which are no longer acceptable, and to also indicate that i am not perfect by any means. But i have a long political career which has led to the project for the recovery of the country which has the support already of four million french citizens. You have long talked about the political assassination for you, and who is going to benefit from this crime . The crime will benefit those who dont want the right to be present at the second round of the runoff of the president ial elections. Can you imagine if the right has no credible candidates at the president ial election, and if we leave to madam le penn the role of defending the right of the face of the parties, and those who will benefit from this are those who dont support my program of change for france. You say that you are a victim of a media campaign. Do you regret having criticized Nicolas Sarkozy in the past, if you are a alluding to the phrase which i criticize mr. Sarkozy and i said that if i am placed under investigation, i will not remain a candidate for the election, and i did say that general de gaulle never would have stood for the presidency under investigation. The situation makes me think about it, but i will not retirement questions . These accusations that you refer to will probably generate tepgss among the people in your own camp. How do you plan to unite all of those who support you and the left . Translator well well, i am going chair a meeting of those gaiagainst you. And some people are still, and well, political life is like that and not my way of acting. What is going to count is that we are all going to come together and start a new campai campaign, because there is no other solution, and no plan b and the right of the center plan to be present at the runoff of the election, and so three months before we must unite. We must come together, and that is what the swrvast ma jo are tf the family have concluded. May i remind you earlier that i am not the candidate of a apolitical party, but i am now facing all french citizens, and i have been designated by the primary elections, so i am either to go on the tour of france everyday in both the parliament, and i have been campaigning that all of the forces that support me will come together and unite. Because deep down, and in spite of the am a bigss of one or another, they want france to recover. Thank you very much. Francois is addressing the public and answering the questions of the reporters almost two weeks after a satirical paper claimed that his wife penelope claimed that his wife had a fake jochblt here in the hall, he said that there is no way that he is dropping out of the race. He is of course, the conservative kapd date for the president is shall election, and the first round of which is in april, and he is staying in the race. He says that he has done nothing wrong and employing his wife was perfectly legal, and he did apologize po the french people and he said that he did not realize soon enough that it was going to be a real issue. Well, that is a perfect summary, and he staunchly denied the legally, and he said that he did nothing unfor the rid in his hirings over the years and decades with his wife. And he said that perhaps he had ethical considerations in that he had made perhaps a mistake, and perhaps in his words took more time than necessary to understand the changes in french society. It is an interesting acknowledgment, because we were talking about this earlier, the sense that there is an entrenched system perceived more and more within, and french abroad of nepotism, and perks and so if you are a elected official, a lot of the critics will say they enrich themselves before they enrich the public life and the people, and that is the criticism of the french offici officials. And clearly, a perception out there. And francois says he goes back to 1981, and he is 62 years old and been in politics for most of his life, his entire career practically, and he is part and parcel of the system. There was an interesting part of this press conference, and we watched it together here. It is easy in the narratives of the story of the way that it has been evolved to black and white thing, and corrupt politician, and outed, and touche to you, because we got you. And there is a moment when he says, i regret not understanding these things earlier, and i never imagined that i would be accused of what i was accused of and perhaps the delayed response on his part is that it took time literally for it to sink in what was happening to him, and what the accusations were about. He was so much a part of the system, and his life. So honestly from his telling of it, he did not honestly believe that he was doing anything wrong. He said that he was an honest man, and all politicians caught with the hand in the cookie jar might make the same statement, but this is a man who is reserved. He does not like the press, and this is probably one of the most painful political exercises of his entire career, and he spent five years in the shadow of Nicolas Sarkozy and being obedie obedient, and subservient, and not questioning the boss. So for him, this is against every fiber in his nature for many respect. And he had harsh words for media. Yes. And what is honest about it, i feel that when he says that he is feeling victimized. And obviously, the journalists will say he was not, and it is their ob gags to ligation to co. And he said that he acknowledges that he needs to be doing more in the way of the positions they are given and cognizant of it, but he was ek extremely vitriolic against the media, and also the victimization of the opponents of the plot, and the conspiracy, and people are out to get hima and a institutional coup de tat, and in a lot of n countries you would say it goes, but the sense of the plots, c conspiracies, and scheminging against one another, and the parties, and everybody is always on the kev in france and who is out the get him next. So he feels like he was wounded, unjustly wounded in many sense, and that the media spun this overly simplistic narrative without asking the deeper questions and acknowledging ethical errors and beyond all of the hot air that i spun, you could say that a poll before the press conference showed a are recent french poll of 68 of all of the french public, across all parties thought that it would be oe better for him to pull out of the race for president. As we heard from the conference, furthest thing from his mind. Nothing is going to make me change my mind. I am in it to win it. That is it for me, and back at the top of the hour. Thank you, doug herbert. Stay tuned. More now on the upcoming french campaign, and broadcaster france left 24 came together to reject candidates like marine le pen. She called to reject globalism, and call to