By Michel Rose
PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) – French billionaire Pierre-Edouard Sterin used his first appearance before lawmakers on Thursday to lay out his campaign to bring free-market and conservative ideas into power, less than a year before France’s next presidential election.
The self-made entrepreneur and tax exile was summoned to appear before the Senate as part of an inquiry into political finance that is probing in part whether Sterin’s organisations are abiding by regulations.
“Our aim is to spread free-market, conservative ideas as widely as possible,” Sterin told senators, describing his operation as “meta-political”.
“We hope it will, in the coming months and years, bring free-market, conservative right‑wing ideas to power in France.”
Sterin, who declined to appear in response to parliamentary summons in the past, denied any wrongdoing. “There is no ongoing legal procedure, no investigation, no breach of the law,” he told lawmakers.
Through his organisation Pericles, Sterin, a virtual unknown in France until two years ago, funds several initiatives designed to advance his agenda. Internal documents published in French newspaper L’Humanite in 2024 and confirmed by Sterin described his aims as fighting “socialism, wokism, Islamism, immigration.”
Pericles co-founder Francois Durvye has since joined far-right leader Jordan Bardella, who polls show is leading next year’s presidential election, as a special adviser.
On immigration, Sterin, 52, a devout Catholic and father of five living in Belgium, confirmed in his Senate appearance positions that have sparked controversy.
“I am in favour of the re-migration of foreign criminals, undocumented migrants or those unemployed for more than 12 months,” he said, saying these stances placed him “to the right of the (French) far right”.
Sterin, who made his fortune with a gift voucher company called Smartbox, described himself as a “tax exile of the François Hollande generation.”
That was a reference to France’s Socialist president from 2012 to 2017 who vowed to slap a 75% tax on millionaires. Sterin moved to Belgium in 2012. While the constitutional council swiftly struck down the tax, Sterin did not return to France.
“Hollande doesn’t like the rich, and I don’t like the social‑communists,” he said.
Sterin said living abroad had allowed him to save €100,000 to €200,000 a year in taxes and redistribute far larger sums to charity projects in France.
(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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