France's Mélenchon to stage major campaign rally for manifesto launch

Key Points:

• Jean-Luc Mélenchon published his book and manifesto "L’Avenir en commun" on 6 November, ahead of a major campaign rally, as he polls second with 17.6% support behind Marine Le Pen's 36% in the upcoming French presidential election.
• The manifesto takes a eurosceptic stance, advocating for scrapping EU rules that conflict with French interests, reducing France's net EU budget contribution by €9 billion, and promoting greater national sovereignty, paralleling some positions of the far-right National Rally but with different ideological foundations.
• On foreign policy, the manifesto emphasizes France's relationship with Israel, condemning alleged "genocide" in Gaza, supports a ceasefire in Ukraine with Russian troop withdrawal, and calls for France's gradual exit from NATO to pursue military independence and non-alignment.
• Domestically, Mélenchon’s party proposes retirement at 60, increased minimum wage, media ownership regulation, expanded public services, and tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, aiming to raise €106.4 billion annually to boost public spending and reduce the deficit.
• The manifesto’s controversial proposal to freeze or cancel part of France’s public debt held by the Banque de France has drawn criticism from financial authorities and the EU, who argue it would breach EU treaties prohibiting monetary financing of governments.