"The party will provide eight million euros for a campaign that had cost 15 million," said Mr. Jacob, judging that this call for donations from the candidate had been "understood by many French people".

The ex-candidate LR had relaunched this call on Monday, invoking "those who share (his) convictions" but also those who, "for fear of extremes have chosen the useful vote from the first round".

Valérie Pécresse had collected only 4.78% of the votes in the first round of the presidential election, under the 5% necessary to obtain a reimbursement of her campaign expenses for which she was "personally indebted to the tune of five million euros. euro".

According to data published in early March by the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), his assets amounted to 9.7 million euros at the start of the campaign.

Among these assets were nearly 6.5 million euros in life insurance, retirement savings plan, stock options, shares, current accounts and various savings products shared with her husband, an executive at General Electric.

Christian Jacob returned to this aspect on Sunday, stressing that the stock options constituting "her husband's retirement" are part of this heritage.

© 2022 AFP