Édouard Philippe : présidentielle 2027

Horizons · Mayor of Le Havre, president of Horizons

Statut : Declared on 3 September 2024 (“I will be a candidate in the next presidential election”); campaign organization chart presented on 10 May 2026 in Reims, first major rally on 5 July 2026 in Paris. On 29 October 2026, he was placed under the status of témoin assisté (assisted witness) in the investigation into the Le Havre urban community (misappropriation of public funds, favoritism, moral harassment). This status is less incriminating than being formally charged (mise en examen) and may change. His lawyer sees it as a favorable decision (franceinfo, AFP, 29 and 30 October 2026).

Former mayor of Le Havre and deputy for Seine-Maritime, from the right (UMP, then LR), he served as Prime Minister under Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2020 before founding Horizons in 2021. Targeted by a judicial investigation into the management of the Le Havre urban community, he was placed under the status of témoin assisté (assisted witness) on 29 October 2026, a status less incriminating than being formally charged (mise en examen).

Average first-round voting intention: 13,9 %.

Sondage présidentielle 2027 : toutes les intentions de vote pour Édouard Philippe

Édouard Philippe: ten key proposals

  1. Gradually raise the legal retirement age to 65 and the contribution period to 45 years, with one third of employees exempted (Retraites)
  2. Do not replace one in three public employees who retire, or about 250,000 posts over five years (Dette et finances publiques)
  3. Cap unemployment benefits for those under 50 at 12 months maximum, compared with 18 months today (Travail et emploi)
  4. Halve legal immigration to stay well below 200,000 residence permits a year (Immigration)
  5. Exempt two overtime hours per week from contributions, or about 1,000 euros more per year at the SMIC (Pouvoir d'achat)
  6. Cut 50 billion euros in production taxes, offset by an equivalent reduction in business subsidies (Fiscalité)
  7. Create a single family allowance of 350 euros per month from the first child, decreasing according to income tax (Pouvoir d'achat)
  8. Create a single fund for climate adaptation endowed with 2 billion euros per year (Écologie)
  9. Introduce public-order waiting days, unpaid, for short-term sick leave (Santé)
  10. Pass around twenty ordinances in an extraordinary session in July 2027, for entry into force as early as the autumn (Institutions)

Campaign team

  • Christophe Béchu : Campaign co-director (relations with other political forces), mayor of Angers, secretary general of Horizons
  • Gilles Boyer : Campaign co-director (organization)
  • Marie Guévenoux : Campaign co-director (fundraising and financial management)
  • Arnaud Péricard : Spokesperson for Horizons
  • Gérald Darmanin : Supporter, Minister of Justice, gave up running (August 2026)
  • Maud Bregeon : Supporter, government spokesperson

Positions for the 2027 election, issue by issue

Energy

Édouard Philippe calls for reviving nuclear power alongside renewables and the electrification of uses.

  • Launch eight additional EPRs, on top of the six already planned.
  • Develop renewables and massively electrify uses.
  • Open preferential access to decarbonised energy for French and European industrial firms.
  • Merge the PPE, SNBC and adaptation plan into a single strategy running to 2050 (Horizons, June 2026).

Ecology and environment

Édouard Philippe focuses on adapting to global warming and decarbonising industry (July 2026).

  • Double the Fonds vert and refocus it on adaptation and cooling public buildings.
  • A national bathing plan to make rivers safe for swimming.
  • A carbon price at European borders to protect industry.
  • Create 100 “food sovereignty territories” and abolish agricultural over-transposition of EU rules.

Immigration

In an interview with Le Point published on 27 October 2026, he proposes halving legal immigration and restricting family reunification.

  • Halve legal immigration over the next five-year term (October 2026, according to L'Express, interview with Le Point of 27 October).
  • Reserve residence permits for professional reasons and students, and restrict family reunification (October 2026, according to L'Express).
  • Judges the failure of integration "undeniable" and proposes reinstating compulsory national service (October 2026, according to Le JDD).
  • Denounce the 1968 agreement with Algeria and reform the processing of asylum applications (October 2026, according to L'Express).
  • Have Parliament vote each year on a list of safe countries.

Purchasing power

Édouard Philippe wants to increase net pay through exemptions linked to working time.

  • Exempt overtime from contributions and income tax, or about 1,000 euros a year at the SMIC.
  • Abolish employer contributions beyond the 37th hour.
  • Rebalance the funding of the social welfare system to ease the burden on work.
  • Favour temporary, targeted fuel aid and the electrification of the car fleet.

Employment and work

Édouard Philippe wants to reduce the burden of social security financing on labour to increase take-home pay.

  • Reduce the financing of the labour-based social model to raise net wages (July 2026).
  • Gradually exempt overtime from contributions and income tax (October 2026).
  • A right to retraining and training adapted to artificial intelligence (July 2026).

Critical metals and industry

No measure published on critical metals. Édouard Philippe addresses sovereignty through taxation and trade protection.

  • Cut production taxes by 50 billion euros, offset by fewer public subsidies.
  • Introduce a carbon price at European borders to protect industry.
  • Raise the number of engineering graduates from 40,000 to 100,000 per year.
  • Adopt a “Buy European Tech Act” and joint technology purchasing.

Innovation and digital

Édouard Philippe is betting on sovereign European AI, supported by public procurement and decarbonised energy.

  • Double computing capacity to build a sovereign European AI infrastructure.
  • Adopt a Buy European Tech Act and joint technology purchasing.
  • Give preferential access to decarbonised energy to national and European players.
  • Simplify the European legal framework for AI without giving up ethical regulation.

Pensions

Édouard Philippe wants to raise the legal age to 65 and add a funded pension tier.

  • Raise the legal age to 65 and the contribution period to 45 years in less than ten years.
  • Maintain departures between 60 and 64 for a third of workers (long careers, hardship).
  • Generalise mandatory collective funded pensions, neutral for labour costs.
  • Pay €500 from the State into a retirement savings plan from the first job.

Health

Édouard Philippe aims to control health spending, with no detailed health programme published so far.

  • Stabilise health spending “by spending better” (July 2026).
  • Turn State Medical Aid (AME) into a more restricted emergency aid (August 2026).
  • Focus half of the budget effort on social spending (October 2026).

Security and justice

In Le Point of 27 October 2026, he calls for very short but effective prison sentences from the first offence for rioters.

  • Very short but effective prison sentences from the first offence for rioters (October 2026, according to Focus-news citing Le Point).
  • Mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offences against persons holding public authority (October 2026, according to Focus-news citing Le Point).
  • “State of emergency” against drug trafficking, time-limited and under judicial control (September 2026).
  • Financial “S files” to monitor the assets of people suspected of drug trafficking.
  • Mandatory minimum sentences for the most serious offences (May 2025).

Education and youth

Édouard Philippe relies on school autonomy and higher teacher pay.

  • A 20% increase in average teacher pay over the term.
  • School autonomy (timetables, uniforms, recruitment) in exchange for publishing their results.
  • Fines for parents who harass teachers, skip school or are highly disruptive.
  • Improve Parcoursup without scrapping it (October 2026).

Gender equality

Édouard Philippe has not published a measure on gender equality; his group backed enshrining abortion in the Constitution.

  • The Horizons group mostly voted to enshrine abortion in the Constitution.
  • No other detailed position published so far.

Debt and public finances

Édouard Philippe is betting on spending cuts, with no new tax, framed by a golden rule.

  • Replace one civil servant in three who retires, or about 250,000 fewer posts.
  • Cut production taxes by 50 billion euros, offset by fewer business subsidies.
  • Constitutional golden rule and no new tax over the five-year term.
  • Opposed to the Zucman tax, which his group rejected in 2025.

Europe

Édouard Philippe wants full European sovereignty and a better-protected European market.

  • Build European sovereignty in AI, technology, energy, defence and finance (July 2026).
  • Impose on Chinese companies the conditions they impose on European ones (November 2025).
  • Build a European capital markets union.
  • European blacklist of non-cooperative countries on drug trafficking (May 2026).

Defence

Édouard Philippe wants to expand the size of the armed forces with a “massification” programming law.

  • New military programming law focused on “massification” (July 2026).
  • Increase reservists from 45,000 to 250,000 and volunteers to 50,000 per year.
  • Mass-produce tactical drones and exceed 100,000 shells a year.
  • Target 3% of GDP for defence, with no timetable specified.

International

Édouard Philippe unreservedly supports Ukraine and calls on Europe to depend less on the United States.

  • Remain “alongside Ukraine, without compromise” (July 2026).
  • Judges Ukraine “betrayed by Trump's America” (March 2025).
  • Stop depending on the United States for European security (January 2025).
  • Considered the conditions for recognising Palestine not met (2025).

Latest statements

  • 2026-10-23, Message on X after the attack in Trappes and La Verrière (Yvelines) : « Terrorism must be fought relentlessly, with absolute determination. »
  • 2026-10-18, Interview on BFMTV after the violence of 17 October : « LFI bears considerable political responsibility for this violence. »
  • 2026-10-17, Reaction to the looting on the sidelines of the 17 October demonstrations : « He calls for those responsible to be “all hunted down and punished with great severity.” »
  • 2026-10-08, “L'Heure de vérité,” France 2, asked about Parcoursup, which he launched while at Matignon : « Parcoursup is stressful and doesn't work the way it should. »

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Updated: 2026-10-31T08:51+01:00