French billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin has used his first appearance before lawmakers to lay bare his “meta-political” campaign to bring free-market and conservative ideas into power to battle “socialism, wokism, Islamism and immigration”, less than a year before France’s presidential election.
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The self-made entrepreneur and tax exile was summoned to appear before the Senate as part of an inquiry into political finance that is investigating in part whether Stérin’s organisations are abiding by regulations.
“Our aim is to spread free-market, conservative ideas as widely as possible,” Sterin told senators on Thursday, 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.”
Stérin, who has previously declined to appear in response to parliamentary summons, denied any wrongdoing. “There is no ongoing legal procedure, no investigation, no breach of the law,” he said.
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Support for re-migration
Through his organisation Pericles, Sterin 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 the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) Jordan Bardella, as a special adviser.
Sterin, 52, a devout Catholic and father of five, lives in Belgium. During his Senate appearance he confirmed his stance on immigration.
“I am in favour of the re-migration of foreign criminals, undocumented migrants or those unemployed for more than 12 months,” he said, adding that these positions 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”, in reference to the former Socialist president.
Hollande came to power in 2012 promising to slap a 75 percent tax on millionaires, prompting Sterin to Belgium that year.
While France’s Constitutional Council struck down the tax in December 2012, saying it violated equality rules, Sterin did not return to France.
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Plans to introduce the high tax were scrapped altogether in 2015.
“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.
(with Reuters)
